The exponential growth of AI over recent years has left some businesses playing catch-up. To ensure that they don’t get left even further behind, many are turning to outside agencies to provide AI expertise on their behalf. Not only is this expensive, it’s also short-termism. The practical and sensible option, therefore, is to upskill their existing employees in-house. Here I look at training and development strategies that can help your organisation create an AI-ready workforce.
Are you ready for AI?
According to a recent report by Infosys, despite expecting to be up to 40% more productive by including AI in their processes, only 2% of businesses are actually AI-ready.
AI-readiness involves multiple processes including developing a company-wide AI strategy, establishing responsible governance and preparing an organisation’s data infrastructure but perhaps the most important element of AI-preparedness is readying the workforce for the changes that will inevitably occur by developing in-house AI expertise.
How can organisations prepare their workforce?
Develop an AI strategy – create a bespoke strategy for your organisation and communicate it to your employees to reassure them that their jobs are not under threat and that AI will assist them in doing their jobs more efficiently, and with less mundanity.
Identify the skills gap – understanding exactly what technical skills your workforce has is vital to AI implementation, whether that’s in data analysis or machine learning. It enables organisations to plan for future requirements and to train staff to deal with those needs.
Develop AI literacy – offer training for your workforce to build confidence and competence in the basic concepts of AI, its tools, and the skills it can enhance. Training can be ongoing, and continuous and can focus on both technical and ethical components of the technology. Training can vary depending on both the current understanding of the technology, and its future use, so some employees will need basic AI literacy training and others, working in IT for example, will need more advanced learning opportunities. It’s also important to train your workforce for future potential applications of AI, not just what’s available today.
Lead for change – leaders play a vital role in an AI transformation process and need a clear understanding of the technology’s ethical use and potential benefits. Leaders should inspire their workforce to effectively and collectively adopt AI initiatives and should share their vision of the transformative effect that AI can have.
Upskilling a workforce to understand AI and incorporate its benefits into an organisation’s daily processes can foster innovation and efficiency. But this will only happen if all members of staff are trained, involved and empowered, and no one is left behind in the technological transition.
For expert advice on any of the topics discussed in this blog, contact Brighter Consultancy.
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