Smartsheet Takes a "People"-Centered Approach to AI Implementation
Smartsheet focuses its AI implementation on the people side rather than on the tools themselves, and has established a dedicated role to drive internal AI adoption. Markus McKay-Fleisch, Director of Professional Services Enablement, said that early on they only did simple usage tracking, but later shifted to focusing on what employees gained from the tools. He also noted that while shadow AI brings risks, it is also a clear signal that employees need tools the organization has not yet provided.
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NewsSmartsheet takes a people approach with AI adoption
Inside the workplace collaboration and project management platform vendor’s AI strategy.Esther Shittu,Shaun Sutner
October 20, 2026
While many organizations view AI adoption as simply rolling out new tools and technologies, the vendor opted to focus on the human side of the technology rather than on the technology itself.
“Smartsheet decided we needed somebody to put their hands around all this work that’s happening with AI and drive adoption appropriately,” said Markus McKay-Fleisch, describing his job, which involves promoting AI adoption inside the company. “We quickly realized this wasn’t just about the use of the tool; it was about how that tool is impacting your daily work, and then more broadly how it’s impacting the company goals.”
Early adoption of generative AI technology at Smartsheet involved simple usage tracking, McKay-Fleisch, professional services enablement director at Smartsheet, said on the Targeting AI podcast from TechTarget. Later, it changed into what employees are getting out of the tools.
However, one caveat to adoption is shadow AI, he said, adding that shadow AI -- the unauthorized use of AI -- is a signal that employees want tools not available within the organization.
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“There's a lot of risk incorporated with it, but pay attention to it because people are asking for tooling inside of those shadow AI use cases,” McKay-Fleisch said.
He added, though, that another aspect of adoption involves relying on the IT department.
“They hold the keys in our organization,” he said. “For Smartsheet, if we want to enable tooling, we have a change management process to turn on different features.”
Shaun Sutner
Shaun Sutner, a journalist with more than 25 years of daily newspaper experience and 12 years at Informa TechTarget as an editor and writer, directs news coverage for AI Business. He was previously a senior news and features writer covering health IT and HR software at TechTarget and a senior news director overseeing coverage of AI, business analytics, data management and government tech regulation.
Sutner's newspaper career included investigative reporting and covering the Massachusetts State House and politics for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. He has written about snow sports as a T&G columnist and correspondent for 21 years. Sutner's interests also include tennis, standup paddleboarding, cooking and popular music.See more from Shaun Sutner
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