Will AI Enable Sustainable Project Value? Interview with Abhilash Shukla

Interview Project Management Expert – Abhilash Shukla
– About AI in Project Management

Abhilash Shukla, a project implementation lead at EY, discusses AI’s role in project management, emphasizing its benefits in automating tasks like meeting minutes, ticket assessments, and test scripts. He highlights challenges like client maturity, data privacy, and over-reliance on AI by junior staff. His key takeaway: adopt AI smartly, starting with simple use cases like presentations.

• AI Enhances Efficiency – Automates tasks like meeting minutes, ticket tracking, and test scripting, saving significant time in project management.
• Client Readiness is Critical – Success depends on assessing a client’s AI maturity and infrastructure before implementation.
• Intelligent Tools Reduce Errors – AI helps clarify requirements, flag mislabeled bugs, and improve communication between teams.
• Challenges Exist – Data privacy, over-reliance by junior staff, and the need for human oversight remain hurdles.
• Start Small, Scale Smart – Begin with low-risk AI applications (e.g., presentations) before expanding to complex workflows

Abhilash Shukla leads bespoke projects at EY (SAP North India Practice), where he manages digital transformation initiatives for large enterprises. With over 15+ years of experience, including a decade of his entrepreneurial journey before moving into consulting at EY, he has worked with multi-disciplinary, and geographically dispersed teams delivering large scale projects. He has collaborated with clients from 12 different countries and have driven real world AI use cases across his project management portfolio, while delivering AI-enabled digital transformations for the clients.