The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) can be a mixed bag - with the view of it coloured to some degree by where an individual sits in the organisational hierarchy.
For business leaders, AI is imbued with game-changing potential. Here’s a technology that can streamline processes, automate slow and error-prone manual tasks, and bring new levels of insight to strategic decision-making.
If executives have concerns about AI, they’re primarily centred on getting the technical implementation process right.
But elsewhere in the business, AI anxiety is real. In a survey of 1,000 US workers by professional services firm Ernst & Young, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) said they were anxious about AI replacing their jobs.
Along with this, employees are concerned they will fall behind to more tech-savvy colleagues, be passed up for promotion and have to sacrifice salary, due to either the direct impact of AI or their inability to use it properly.
There’s a gap here that leaders need to fill. In a talent landscape characterised by skills shortages and rising employee expectations, nobody can afford to let good people become disillusioned and disengaged by the perceived threat of AI. Instead, digital transformation has to happen in a way that amplifies human potential and enhances employee experience. The only question is: how?
Profound benefits
“To some degree this is an issue of communication,” says Ali Siddiqui, chief product officer for BMC Software, a global leader in IT solutions for the digital enterprise.
“AI should empower employees and unlock their potential, not replace them. It’s actually about making them more efficient, improving their experience and making them happier. That is what leaders need to communicate.”
How can AI drive a better employee experience? Partly, it’s about the technology’s well-established capacity for automating routine and tedious manual tasks. That, in turn, can free up employees for more creative and innovative work. According to a new survey by BMC, 94% of respondents are already reaping the benefits of their Gen AI applications, including higher IT productivity.
But it’s also about giving employees the tools they need to do their jobs more effectively, which promotes a sense of fulfilment.
“Think about generative AI in this context,” says Siddiqui. “Think about the incredible ability an employee will have to self-serve, to ask something of it and have it answered almost immediately. The benefits for every employee, at every level of the organisation, are potentially profound.”
Preparing teams early
Leaders need to talk to their teams about these positives from the start, even if they can seem like distant, almost abstract benefits at the beginning of a long and potentially disruptive implementation journey.
A more concrete and immediate statement of intent is training. Upskilling employees in AI is both a practical necessity and psychological reassurance.
“Training is crucial for everyone,” says Siddiqui. “Every employee needs to feel like they know the software and are comfortable using it. They need this for their jobs, but also because it tells them you are bringing them along on the journey, and that nobody is being left behind.”
Formal training can be amplified by giving employees early access to relevant software. Experimentation and learning from mistakes can occur in a safe environment before implementation in real-world scenarios.
At BMC, the product group has produced a series of internal videos covering crucial aspects of its Helix AI and data platform that are accessible to everyone. The group ensures there is a channel through which employees can have their AI questions answered.
Empowering people
None of this ends when the implementation journey does. Training should continue to be readily available, and leaders need to measure the benefits of AI regularly and showcase them to the organisation.
That might include metrics around customer satisfaction and process efficiency. It should also include insights into AI’s impact on employee experience and happiness, and how it’s helping them to be innovative.
Regular reminders of the potential of the technology help to foster a culture of creativity and innovation around AI – ‘what can it help us with next?’. Opportunities for hands-on experimentation are important – In BMC’s product group, that’s often in the form of hackathons.
“When you’ve given people the tools and the training, you empower them,” says Siddiqui. “In the product team at BMC we run hackathons to get creative juices flowing. We celebrate the art of the possible, dig further into the software and really see what it can do.”
As leaders, we have to acknowledge that fears around AI exist, and work to bring employees on the journey with us
Across an organisation, employees should be encouraged to experiment with the AI tools they use, beyond everyday use. Leaders should welcome ideas from the sharp end of AI implementation, whether they come from the IT team, the finance department or the contact centre. Employees know what they want from technology. Let them use it and improve it.
Growing expectations
Employee expectations around AI will only grow as they experience the technology as consumers. While many AI-driven consumer apps are ahead of enterprise alternatives in terms of slickness and usability, Siddiqui believes the gap is closing.
“Employees will use AI as consumers and rightly ask why that same experience is not available in the software they use at work,” he says. “Increasingly, it will be. If not, companies will fall behind.”
Organisations are at different points in an AI journey that runs from anxiety to acceptance to excitement. For that journey to be successful, employee experience must be a central tenet of the transformation strategy.
Communication, education and experimentation should all be used to transform AI from a perceived threat to an exciting innovation with the potential to make work better.
“As leaders, we have to acknowledge that fears around AI exist, and work to bring employees on the journey with us,” says Siddiqui.
“At BMC, AI is already driving measurably greater engagement. When employees feel comfortable with AI, they buy into it. Then they see the benefits.”
For more information please visit bmc.com/
The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) can be a mixed bag - with the view of it coloured to some degree by where an individual sits in the organisational hierarchy.
For business leaders, AI is imbued with game-changing potential. Here’s a technology that can streamline processes, automate slow and error-prone manual tasks, and bring new levels of insight to strategic decision-making.
If executives have concerns about AI, they’re primarily centred on getting the technical implementation process right.
