CXOforce

Using AI every day at work? CTO John Vanko shares the one question he asks to check whether AI is still your tool — or whether you're becoming its tool.

In this episode, we sit down with John Vanko, CTO and Head of Product at Pavelka in Austin, Texas. He explains how AI is pushing bigger decisions up to leaders, why people break before software when a company scales, and what you should never hand over to automation. We dig into:

🔹 The one question that tells you if AI is still your tool

🔹 Tech problem or people problem? How to tell when a business feels chaotic

🔹 What not to automate: judgment, hiring and customer escalations

🔹 Why automating a broken process only leads to blaming the tool

🔹 Fix your legacy tech or migrate? Why AI has made migration cheaper

🔹 How to get real buy-in from non-technical teams

🔹 A practical action plan for overwhelmed leaders: separate signal from noise

Whether you're a tech leader driving change or someone using AI tools every day, this is a grounded, human-first conversation about working with AI without losing your judgment.

👤 Connect with John Vanko: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnvanko

🏢 Learn more about Pavelka: https://pavelka.global/

Chapters

00:00 Tech problem or people problem?

00:31 Meet John Vanko, CTO at Pavelka

01:18 Inside Pavelka's employee well-being approach

06:07 When gamification backfires

07:43 The biggest bottleneck in the AI era: decisions

10:10 The one question: is AI still your tool?

11:18 How Pavelka uses AI agents

13:12 How to tell a tech problem from a people problem

14:03 Why people break before software when you scale

17:15 Fix your legacy tech or migrate?

21:01 "Speed is king" and AI burnout

22:38 An easy first step with AI

23:59 What you should never automate

25:18 What you should automate but probably aren't

26:43 Getting non-technical teams to adopt new tech

28:54 One action item for overwhelmed leaders

Watch or listen:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cxoforce/id6830054153

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/42NDGKszDSiIfalRVbbsOq

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CXOforce

Follow CXOforce:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cxoforce/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cxoforce/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cxoforce

What if your new hire's first month is eaten up just trying to get a working laptop? In this episode, we sit down with Prashant Salian to explore how Agentforce is reshaping IT Service Management — and whether it's the right answer for your organization.

We break down a real-world scenario where companies lost nearly 4 weeks of productive time during onboarding, costing them not just money, but the entire new-hire experience. From delayed laptop setups to bottlenecked service tickets, the hidden cost of poor ITSM is massive — and largely avoidable.

🔑 In this episode, we cover:

• Why traditional ITSM workflows are breaking under the weight of modern onboarding

• How Salesforce Agentforce brings AI-native automation to IT service management

• The real cost of a 4-week onboarding delay — in dollars and in people

• Agentforce vs. ServiceNow: which one is right for YOUR organization?

• When ServiceNow wins — and when Agentforce changes the game

• How ITSM directly impacts workplace productivity, employee morale, and retention

💡 The honest answer: Agentforce isn't the right fit for everyone. ServiceNow remains a powerhouse for enterprise ITSM at scale. But for organizations already invested in the Salesforce ecosystem, Agentforce offers a seamless, AI-driven alternative that can dramatically cut resolution times and onboarding friction.

Whether you're an IT leader evaluating platforms, an HR professional tired of hearing "my laptop still isn't set up," or a CIO looking to tie ITSM to business outcomes — this episode will give you a clear framework to make the right call.

🎙️ Guest: Prashant Salian

📍 Topic: ITSM, Agentforce, Workplace Productivity, Digital Transformation

Watch or listen:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cxoforce/id6830054153

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/42NDGKszDSiIfalRVbbsOq

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CXOforce

Follow CXOforce:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cxoforce/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cxoforce/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cxoforce

CRM and ERP have long lived in separate worlds, but is that divide finally collapsing? Join Deepish Adwani & Prashant Salian as they draw on their Salesforce expertise to explore whether a CRM-first platform can truly replace a traditional ERP. In just 20 minutes, they cover the real gaps, the promising overlaps, and what the future of enterprise technology might look like for businesses ready to consolidate.

Watch or listen:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cxoforce/id6830054153

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/42NDGKszDSiIfalRVbbsOq

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CXOforce

Follow CXOforce:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cxoforce/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cxoforce/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cxoforce

Is your team juggling too many tools, too many tabs, and too many context switches? What if Slack could be the one hub where AI handles it all?

What really is Slackbot AI - just another chatbot, or the start of true workplace Agentic AI?

In this discussion, Prashant and Deepish try to unmute some key questions around Slackbot AI: how it works, how it differs from tools like Claude, where it can actually help teams, and what its future could look like inside workplace collaboration.

Watch or listen:

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cxoforce/id6830054153

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/42NDGKszDSiIfalRVbbsOq

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CXOforce

Follow CXOforce:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cxoforce/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cxoforce/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cxoforce