Getting Ready for the AI-Fuelled Office

Everyone is talking about the impact that artificial intelligence (AI) is having (or is going to have) on the way we work. What a lot of these studies do not try to understand is what this will mean for the way we work and interact with the technology in our daily routines. Some hype is very positive about taking away mundane tasks, other commentary suggests employees should be afraid that robots will be coming for their jobs.

This is why we decided to work with IDC to come up with a vision detailing how the journey towards an AI-fuelled office will unfold. What it will mean for all of us, and the way we work moving forward. We agree with IDC that we are on a path towards AI everywhere. It estimates that by 2028, most CIOs (80%) will need to implement organizational changes in order to leverage AI to create agile, insight-driven digital organizations.

Change is coming. Like previous technology inflections, AI will cause disruption to the workforce and society, but there is still time for organizations and policy makers to put the right foundations in place. So, what are the key factors to consider?

Firstly, it is important to imagine what the future will look like to understand the type of skills that will be needed. We are already at the stage where AI assistants perform mundane, repetitive tasks and crunch vast amounts of data in complex workflows. This eases the burden on junior employees to perform these tasks, but equally it raises questions about how they will learn the foundational skills required for a specific role. The future will see AI breaking down information silos to enable greater collaboration. C-Suite executives will be able to access this data through dashboards and insights for a more holistic understanding of their organizations, but do they have the right skills to understand and exploit AI? Organizations will also need to be more agile which places greater emphasis on collaboration and leadership that empowers teams to take decisions. Do organizations understand the cultural and operational change this will require?

The path to AI everywhere

IDC talks about the role of AI in the workplace evolving from today acting as an assistant automating repetitive tasks to improve productivity, to becoming an advisor absorbing vast amounts of information to help provide insights. The longer-term goal is to have AI everywhere acting invisibly, which will see AI become an autonomous agent supporting employees to develop innovation that gives their organizations a competitive advantage.

At each stage, IDC identifies key skills required if organizations are to best exploit the technology. Those using AI as an assistant need technical skills to understand how to best prompt tools for answers and apply the data to take action. In the near future, AI used in an advisory role will mean employees must be able to manage multiple data sources, as well as apply critical evaluation skills to develop and communicate insights valuable to the organization. In the long-term, when AI acts as an agent alongside employees, it will require skills to orchestrate these tools, interpret their analysis and know how to use the insights to drive competitive advantage.

What problem are you solving?

Crucially organizations must carefully weigh up the short-term vs long-term gains that AI can offer and what this means for their approach to adoption. Understandably, much of the existing focus for AI is on how to improve productivity by automating tasks and freeing up employees, but let’s be realistic for some employers it creates the opportunity to reduce their workforce.

For example, the Klarna CEO has publicly said he expects to significantly reduce his workforce thanks to AI. This is a reality we should not shy away from, as every technology disruption means some roles go away while new tasks and roles appear. However, to say that AI is just about cost cutting and efficiencies for productivity gains misses the point. Not only is it questionable whether AI approaches like conversational AI are mature enough to take on many tasks – that is certainly the case in our world of ERP – it fails to answer the fundamental question, which every CEO and CIO should ask when faced with a new innovation: what problem does this solve?

Based on our experience, we absolutely see its potential to deliver improvements. But its long-term value could be even greater in enabling organizations to reshape their operations to become more agile and responsive to their stakeholders. To appreciate this potential senior leaders must evaluate the tactical short-term benefits of adopting AI versus the long-term strategic impact. Clearly, to embrace AI in a more in-depth way will demand organizational and cultural change. There will be gaps in terms of expertise and skills, which is why organizations must carefully map out where they want to be in three to five years in their AI-fuelled environments.

Above all, it is important not to get carried away with the hype. We talk about the importance of a pragmatic approach to AI, and the IDC InfoBrief concludes by recommending three areas to focus efforts.

Firstly, adopt a human-centric approach to AI. The goal should be to use AI to enhance the capabilities of employees, not replace them. This will foster trust and transparency, giving employees the confidence to explore how they can apply AI to their work.

This also feeds into the second priority: involve your users. As with any technology cycle, change can bring uncertainty so involving them in the process will enable them to understand the expectations of them and give them license to experiment.

And the final priority should be to upskill your people. AI is moving so rapidly it is difficult to keep up, but it is incumbent on organizations to ensure their employees are best placed to use the technology. Not only will this reduce costs around recruitment and retention, it will help to build the organization’s reputation as an employer committed to supporting its employees through this transformation.

AI will fundamentally change how we work, but every organization should carefully consider how it affects their business operations and their people. It can be a powerful, positive tool to make work more exciting but only when CEOs and CIOs cut through the hype will they be able to lay out an effective plan for its adoption.

Claus Jepsen, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Unit4

Claus Jepsen is a technology expert who has been fascinated by the micro-computer revolution ever since he received a Tandy TRS model 1 at the age of 14. Since then, Claus has spent the last few decades developing and architecting software solutions, most recently at Unit4, where he is the Chief Product and Technology Officer leading the ERP vendor’s focus on enabling the post-modern enterprise. At Unit4, Claus is building cloud-based, super-scalable solutions and bringing innovative technologies such as AI, chatbots, and predictive analytics to ERP. Claus is a strong believer that having access to vast amounts of data allows us to construct better, non-invasive and pervasive solutions to improve our experiences, relieve us from tedious chores, and allow us focus on what we as individuals really love doing.

About Unit4

Unit4's next-generation enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions power many of the world's mid-market organizations, bringing together the capabilities of Financials, Procurement, Project Management, HR, and FP&A to share real-time information, and deliver greater insights to help organizations become more effective. By combining our mid-market expertise with a relentless focus on people, we've built flexible solutions to meet customers’ unique and changing needs. Unit4 serves more than 5,100 customers globally across a number of sectors including professional services, nonprofit and public sector, with customers including Southampton City Council, Metro Vancouver, Buro Happold, Devoteam, Save the Children International, Global Green Growth Institute and Oxfam America. For further information visit www.unit4.com.

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