CPO Predictions: The year AI finally learns to speak workflow

The problem with siloed, single-purpose AI tools

In recent months, Wrike commissioned a global study into how 1,000 employees are using AI. Some findings aren’t entirely surprising: 82% are using AI on a regular basis, for example, with more than a third using three to five AI tools weekly. 

Other results told a new, more revealing story — one of poor integration, inconsistent access, and a lack of training and policies. For example:

• Only a third of respondents feel their organization uses AI tools in a consistent, aligned way, with just 27% describing AI adoption efforts as “smooth.”
• 72% believe that their current AI tools lack integration with their broader workflow systems. 
• Fewer than half of the surveyed companies have provided AI-related training.
• Many employees are scrambling to find their own solutions, with 42% having used unofficial or unsanctioned AI tools at work. 

All of this is adding up to sluggish workflows: problems with handoffs, siloed data, and processes so disconnected that it often takes multiple tools just to complete one task.

These challenges can’t be fixed by simply plugging in more expensive technology, either. As one report by Bain & Company pointed out, “Applying AI to existing processes often results in only small productivity gains because new bottlenecks emerge … [W]ithout process redesign, companies end up automating inefficiencies instead of removing them.”

This is management-consultant-speak for “We’re using AI to make old mistakes faster.” 

The shift toward AI as workflow orchestrator 

There’s a reason why we named our AI research study, “The Age of Connected Intelligence.” 

The clearest message that emerged from the findings was an appetite for smarter, connected AI that works seamlessly across all platforms, integrating with and enhancing workflows from within. Organizations need to deploy AI at scale across workflows — embedding AI end-to-end, not as isolated features. 

Employees are overwhelmingly in favor of this approach, with 96% of our survey respondents saying it would be valuable if their AI tools could automatically share context and work together. 

In fact, more than half believe that this capability would transform the way they work, improving everything from information-gathering to collaboration and delivery. 

Companies that successfully scale AI are looking beyond layering AI onto existing legacy workflows. They’re using that big-picture thinking I discussed earlier to initiate impactful, organization-wide deployment. 

In short? They’re teaching their AI to speak workflow.

Industry research backs this up, too. “The value of AI comes from rewiring how companies run,” according to a recent report by McKinsey & Company, which showed that out of 25 attributes tested for organizations of all sizes, “the redesign of workflows has the biggest effect on an organization’s ability to see EBIT impact from its use of gen AI.”

How Wrike helps you build AI-powered workflows

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how organizations operate, yet the biggest breakthroughs do not come from standalone tools or one-off automations. They come from rethinking your system of work and ensuring it is intelligent, connected, and ready for AI to accelerate every step.

Wrike makes this transformation possible. Here’s how:

1. Establish your system of work

To build AI-powered workflows, you first need a system of work to carry them. Wrike is the industry’s most flexible, scalable, and secure collaborative work management platform, built to support even the most complex cross-functional workflows.

Global enterprise teams rely on Wrike because it adapts to how they work, not the other way around. 

Whether you’re orchestrating multi-department programs, managing regulated processes, or coordinating global operations, Wrike provides the structure and reliability required for true AI automation.

Every action in Wrike, from tasks and dependencies to approvals, discussions, and outcomes, becomes part of a unified living system of record. This creates rich workflow telemetry and long-term organizational memory.

This foundation is what future-proofs your business. It gives AI the contextual depth needed to reason, predict, and automate effectively. 

Without it, AI remains generic. With it, AI becomes a serious competitive advantage.

2. Connect data from other systems of record

Your workflows do not live in isolation. They span CRMs, ERPs, marketing platforms, communication tools, and specialized systems across the organization. Wrike ensures all these tools work together.

Wrike Integrate provides advanced automation and connectivity across hundreds of apps, while Wrike Sync delivers secure bi-directional syncing for the tools your teams rely on every day. Together, they dissolve data silos, giving your AI a full-picture view.

Wrike Datahub takes connectivity even further by piping structured data directly into your Wrike workflows in real time. Instead of switching platforms or hunting through dashboards, business-critical information appears exactly where work is being planned and executed.

With connected data, AI agents can act with complete context. That means that they detect risks earlier, optimize workflows intelligently, and enrich outputs with up-to-date insights from all your systems of record.

3. Bring AI agents into your workflows

Once your work and data foundation is in place, you can begin automating processes themselves. Wrike’s no-code agentic platform lets teams design custom AI agents. These can take on work in the same way a human teammate might; they can follow logic, collaborate, escalate, and learn over time.

These agents can triage intake, generate content, create projects, route approvals, and more. Now every team can build the AI they need — no coding skills required.

Wrike’s agents become uniquely powerful when operating on WorkGraph, the platform’s high-fidelity data model that understands every relationship in your workflow. Tasks, dependencies, owners, milestones, priorities, risks, and business outcomes all become part of the agent’s reasoning.

This means agents do not simply automate tasks. They understand context, align actions to objectives, and operate with an end-to-end clarity that generic automation tools simply cannot match.

4. Enable knowledge workers with contextual intelligence

As Wrike captures telemetry of work, it becomes the foundation for human assistive intelligence. Wrike Copilot analyzes projects, workflows, and historical execution patterns to give teams real-time insights, summaries, recommendations, and explanations.

It understands not only what is happening, but why it matters, helping knowledge workers make better decisions faster.

Wrike does not limit intelligence to its own environment, either. With Wrike MCP Server, your system of work becomes accessible to external AI assistants, such as enterprise chatbots, copilots, or large action models.

These assistants can interrogate your Wrike data securely, act on behalf of your workers, and provide guidance or decisions based on real workflow context. The result is AI that does not simply answer questions but drives work forward right where work happens.

The future of work is AI-powered, and Wrike is how you get there

AI transformation does not start with scattered tools or small experiments. It starts with:

1. A flexible, secure, and intelligent system of work
   
   
2. Connected data from every system of record
   
   
3. AI agents embedded directly into workflows
   
   
4. Contextual intelligence that empowers human decision making

Wrike brings these elements together into one unified platform, giving organizations a practical and scalable path to AI-powered workflows that accelerate execution, reduce operational drag, and unlock the full potential of their teams.

Wrike’s AI features have become indispensable in my daily workflow, enabling me to accomplish more in less time and with greater accuracy.

DeLisa Patterson, Creative Director