Sheila Flavell CBE, COO of FDM Group, discusses how apprenticeships can get your business AI ready and equip employees with the skills essential for handling AI.
The rapid rise of AI is fundamentally changing the workplace, forcing businesses to reassess their capabilities and those of their workforce.
As businesses become increasingly ambitious, AI-driven automation continues to streamline administrative functions and the priorities, goals and expectations of their workforce are likewise becoming increasingly ambitious.
Yet one in five U.K. employees hasn’t received training to work with AI technologies, even though these technologies are essential to their roles. This discerns a clear gap in talent acquisition and training through schemes such as apprenticeships.
When it comes to the training and development of employees in AI capabilities specifically, 86% of British managers reported never having any formal AI training from their employers and, of these, only 9% believed their organisations possess the necessary skills to utilise AI effectively.
The focus needs to be on future-proofing businesses and those working for them. Equipping employees with the skills essential for handling AI and supporting businesses AI ambitions is in the best interest of all parties, and apprenticeships can form the ideal platform to do so.
The core skills revolution
Data from the World Economic Forum predicts 44% of core skills will be disrupted by 2027, with AI being not only a primary driver of this transformation, but a top in-demand skill for employees.
While analytical and creative thinking will continue to be important skills for employees, priorities in the workplace are shifting towards skills such as technological literacy, AI and Big Data.
Further data shows 70% of computer-based roles could be massively altered or altogether eliminated as a result of AI and this shift will inevitably be reflected in hiring and talent acquisition priorities and processes going forward.
Despite many businesses now using AI to complete tasks often performed by entry-level roles, these roles are far from obsolete. Businesses need to train and upskill entry-level employees, educating them on how to use AI to enhance their job performance rather than seeing it as a threat to their roles.
While a rise in demand for technological proficiency is inevitable, now more than ever ensuring employees can bring soft skills such as high emotional intelligence to their roles is crucial.
Businesses must rethink their approach to training, and apprenticeships ensure employees, particularly those at entry and junior levels, are equipped with the necessary skills to not only secure a career in a world running on AI but to continue to grow in it.
From Admin to AI-dmin
As AI continues to take over administrative tasks, businesses must reconsider how they train their workforce, particularly at entry-level. AI-driven automation is already streamlining data entry, scheduling and customer relationship management (CRM).
A McKinsey report reveals that 13% of businesses are already leveraging Generative AI in at least one business function, with this number expected to grow rapidly.
There is a clear need for businesses to integrate AI training and development and Gartner predicts that by 2026, 80% of organisations will have deployed Generative AI application programme interfaces (APIs).
Integrating AI training into an employee’s onboarding ensures they are equipped to engage with AI-powered business functions from day one and apprenticeships provide the ideal framework to do so.
This doesn’t mean the development of soft skills should be neglected in apprenticeships.
Embedding an organisation’s ‘competency framework’ within an AI apprenticeship is the most effective way of ensuring employees develop the necessary technical skills early in their careers to keep up with the rapid rise of AI, pairing this with strong human-centric behaviours and soft skills to ensure they are meaningfully contributing to organisations in such a way that AI is yet to do anytime soon.
Tailored tr-AI-ning for business needs
Tailored AI apprenticeships serve to not only protect entry-level and junior staff from being ‘outperformed’ by AI but, when offered in-house, through experiential learning, can prove more effective in protecting from security breaches and ensure the training is tailored specifically to organisational needs.
In specific industries such as finance and retail, AI apprenticeships are particularly valuable. Finance apprentices could be trained to use AI for risk assessment and fraud detection, while retail apprentices could be trained using integrated retail training to optimise efficiency and customer experience.
The military, for instance, has long relied on simulation-based apprenticeships and the same approach can be applied to corporate apprenticeships. Apprenticeships, when used for the ex-forces, make it easier for them to transition to AI roles following their service, allowing them to embark on their next chapter with support.
Businesses can use apprenticeships to build off the existing strengths and skills of their workforce, structuring the training around them. Ex-forces typically have an aptitude for AI training through problem-solving, engineering, telecommunications, and IT having completed apprenticeships as part of their service.
These skills serve as excellent prerequisites to transition into a career in tech. As an example, businesses could take a group of individuals with a pre-existing skillset, such as a group of ex-forces, and provide them with specialist training in a particular area which builds on their existing skills with the view to securing a particular tech role.
Someone with a background in military intelligence, for example, would have a strong transferrable skillset to become a prompt engineer with specific training. Businesses have an opportunity to take a similar approach to apprenticeships as the military insofar as they can tailor apprenticeships to a particular career, build off someone’s pre-acquired skills and apply them to AI proficiency.
While training is the focus of the apprenticeships, they don’t have to start from scratch. Customising the apprenticeship curriculum to the skills and strengths of the workforce will make training easier and far more effective for all involved.
Businesses need AI-pprenticeships
Businesses need to rethink their training strategies in the wake of the rapid AI revolution.
Apprenticeships devoted to the development and training of AI skills and functions offer a powerful solution to upskilling employees, future-proofing both organisations and careers and ensuring they can work effectively alongside automation rather than being displaced by it.
Businesses need to consider taking a structured, hands-on approach to AI readiness to be best equipped to navigate the rapidly changing digital landscape.
Investing in effective training sooner rather than later is a crucial step to ensuring long-term success for both the workplace and workforce and apprenticeships can be the key to getting businesses AI-ready.
