By Enterprise IT teams are managing dozens of disconnected tools, one for every problem domain. That fragmentation is not just an operational headache; it is the primary reason AI initiatives stall before they start. Until organizations can consolidate their platforms and lock down cybersecurity fundamentals, AI spending sits idle.
In this interview on TFiR, Rajesh Ganesan, CEO at ManageEngine, breaks down what enterprise IT leaders are actually prioritizing in 2026 and how ManageEngine’s platform consolidation strategy maps directly to those demands.
Guest: Rajesh Ganesan, CEO at ManageEngine
Show: TFiR
Here is what every platform engineer and IT operations leader needs to know.
Technical Deep Dive
Q: What are enterprise IT leaders prioritizing above AI in 2026?
Rajesh Ganesan, CEO at ManageEngine, says that when he asks Chief Administrative Officers across the globe for their top three priorities, tool consolidation comes first, cybersecurity second, and AI third. Leaders understand AI’s potential but are unwilling to commit until the foundational problems are resolved. This pattern is consistent across geographies and repeats in customer conversations at ManageEngine’s largest U.S. user conference in 2026.
“AI is obviously one. But before all that, their day to day problems, their immediate objectives are top of the mind.”
Rajesh Ganesan, CEO, ManageEngine
Q: Why is IT tool sprawl the top blocker for enterprise IT teams right now?
Ganesan describes a situation where organizations have accumulated a separate tool for every problem, leaving IT teams operationally overwhelmed. The volume of tools creates integration debt, inconsistent workflows, and visibility gaps that prevent teams from moving to higher-order work like AI adoption. Platform consolidation is no longer a nice-to-have; it is the prerequisite for any strategic initiative.
“They’re already drowning in how many tools that we have. For each problem there is a different tool.”
Rajesh Ganesan, CEO, ManageEngine
Q: How has cybersecurity shifted from a separate function to a core IT operations domain?
Ganesan explains that ManageEngine’s own evolution reflects a market lesson: security cannot be handled in isolation from IT service and operations management. The company launched Endpoint Detection and Response earlier in 2026 and has repositioned itself as a service management, operations management, and cybersecurity company. The insight is that integrating security natively into core IT domains delivers more value than deploying pure-play security vendors alongside separate IT management stacks.
“You cannot look at security in isolation. There is a value to doing security fundamentally part of your other core domains.”
Rajesh Ganesan, CEO, ManageEngine
Q: How does ManageEngine’s platform consolidation strategy address the tool sprawl problem?
Ganesan states that consolidation has been a founding principle at ManageEngine, not a reactive pivot. For the past ten years, the singular mission has been bringing all products together in a seamless, flexible way so they behave consistently. Announcements made at the 2026 user conference address this directly, with the goal of delivering end-to-end coverage across IT operations, service management, and cybersecurity under a unified platform model.
“In the last 10 years our mission has been singular. How do we bring all these products together in a seamless, flexible way?”
Rajesh Ganesan, CEO, ManageEngine
Q: What does an enterprise IT roadmap actually look like when AI comes third?
According to Ganesan, the practical roadmap enterprise leaders are following starts with fixing tool and platform consolidation, then hardening cybersecurity, and only then layering in AI. Customers are not rejecting AI; they are sequencing it correctly. They want to understand how a vendor’s AI roadmap maps to the specific outcomes they need, not a generic promise of AI capability.
“Tell me, how are you going to solve this? How would you map what you are going to build with what I need? Is what we repeatedly hear.”
Rajesh Ganesan, CEO, ManageEngine
Resources & Documentation
- ManageEngine, unified IT operations, service management, and cybersecurity platform
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Swapnil Bhartiya: You are here at this conference talking to customers. Can you talk about what are customers asking for most that is driving this momentum?
Rajesh Ganesan: Actually, you said it’s a very simple question. The answer is not. And what are customers asking? Obviously, top of the mind comes AI, which is what I used to think too, 2026 and 2025, but not just customers in the U.S. I get the opportunity to travel across the world. I ask this question to our customers, the CAOs particularly, what are the top three things in your mind? AI is obviously one. But before all that, their day to day problems, their immediate objectives are top of the mind. So the first thing they say is tool consolidation. Platform consolidation is number one. They’re already drowning in how many tools that we have. For each problem there is a different tool. How can consolidation help? Number two is cyber security, rightfully so. And third comes AI. They understand the promise, the potential, but they are still not waiting to take the plunge immediately unless they fix the first two. So this is the recurring theme that is something I’m also hearing today at this event at our user conference, our biggest so far in the us. How can you help us with fixing today? First, at the same time, this is the roadmap I have that includes AI. Tell me, how are you going to solve this? How would you map what you are going to build with? What I need is what we repeatedly hear.
Swapnil Bhartiya: Excellent, thank you. And that also kind of perfect segue because of course you folks make some announcement also. So how many of those announcements align with those pain points that you just mentioned?
Rajesh Ganesan: I would say all of them. See, consolidation is not an afterthought for us. Right. So one of the founding beliefs, founding values for us was we always wanted to be this end to end player. It’s not like focus on only one area. We always had this holistic view about solving problems. We started small, attacked the problem in steps, we introduced multiple tools. But in the last 10 years our mission has been singular. Right? So how do we bring all these products together in a seamless, flexible way? And that continues and I spoke about it in the keynote today, how we are going to bring all our products behave consistently. It’s not easy, but this is what we need to attempt. I spoke about cyber security a lot and that is an area we are giving a lot of importance. We are investing heavily. So you see a product like Endpoint Detection Response that came in earlier this year. Manage Engine started as IT Operations Management, IT Service Management, Focus Company. That focus still says, but a lot of emphasis has come on cybersecurity also. So today we are a service management, operations management and cybersecurity company. So this path was shown to us by our customers. Like, you cannot look at security in isolation. That is a lesson that we took. There are pure play security vendors, but there is a value to doing security fundamentally part of your other core domains. That is the approach that we have taken.
