Unit4 sponsored study reveals organizations must map out an AI DNA, create AI orchestrators and invest in experts versus managers, as part of a three-stage journey.
An IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by Unit4, entitled The Path to AI Everywhere: Exploring the Human Challenges, illustrates the strategies required to successfully build an AI-fuelled workplace of the future.
The report prioritizes a human-centric focus including building organizational culture around an AI DNA, creation of new roles such as AI Orchestrators and an emphasis on expertise over managerial skills.
Based on in-depth expert interviews and IDC’s global data-led insights, the research suggests productivity gains from task automation are only short-term, while the key long-term competitive advantage lies in rethinking how AI transforms work.
“Technology leaders need to always have a strategic vision of how data and AI can transform the business,” Alejandra Diaz, Head of AI, Telefonica Innovacion Digital. “But it’s vital that they stay results orientated, to be able to translate technical concepts into commercial impact and customer experiences.”
Path to AI Everywhere: Three Stage Journey
IDC forecasts that by 2028, 80% of CIOs are expected to implement organizational changes to effectively utilize AI, automation, and analytics, to foster agile and insight-driven digital enterprises. Despite this pressure, this study suggests AI investment is still only a small portion of total European digital spend and most AI proof-of-concepts in 2024 have not made it into production. IDC argues the “Path to AI Everywhere” is a three-stage evolution, with each stage having different workplace impacts and requiring a focus on specific human skills.
Stage One: AI Assistants
- Workplace impact: AI tools are focused on executing tasks to deliver productivity benefits
- Human skills required: employees need to develop effective prompt-writing to garner the best results as well as an ability to apply data to execute tasks
Stage Two: AI Advisors
- Workplace impact: by this point AI tools are focused on synthesizing information to deliver sophisticated insights to employees
- Human skills required: in this environment, staff must be able to manage multiple data sources and apply critical evaluation to develop coherent insights based on the output from the AI
Stage Three: AI Agents
- Workplace impact: with AI becoming pervasive at this stage, it will act autonomously to help employees deliver innovation and competitive advantage
- Human skills required: employees must be able to orchestrate AI apps to interpret the insights and drive innovation for competitive advantage leveraging the support from these tools
Building an AI DNA: introducing AI orchestrators
If organizations are to maximize the effectiveness of AI investment, there are still obstacles to overcome:
- 43% of European and North American employees do not trust their employers to handle their data responsibly in the AI context.
- 28% European and North American are struggling to address fears of AI-driven layoffs.
Therefore, organizations must develop an AI DNA to provide the foundations for organizational culture, ensure the ethical use of AI and map out the roles and skills required to transform workflows and teamwork.
New roles will include AI orchestrators to manage the relationship between AI and employees. They will oversee data strategies to confirm algorithms are using accurate sources and maintain policies to protect employees and companies from misuse of tools.
While managerial roles will remain, as organizations reach Stage Three (AI Agents) there will be greater emphasis on expert roles where AI acts as an agent supporting employees in more sophisticated tasks.
Organizations must identify what counts as expertise that delivers competitive advantage and consider how employees can acquire the skills to become experts.
“AI is going to have an increasingly important role in organizations in the future and the AI-fuelled workplace will be very different, so we should prepare long-term strategies now,” said Claus Jepsen, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Unit4.
“For successful strategic AI adoption, organizations must be clear on the problems they want to solve and know that AI cannot replicate every aspect of human-to-human interactions or random situations unique to every business. At Unit4 we’ve built our AI DNA around ensuring AI empowers the potential of our people, focusing on pragmatic adoption that’s underpinned by human-centric design excellence.”
Human-centric approach: AI Skills Development Framework
A key element of building an AI DNA is fostering a culture of continuous education. The InfoBrief states that 50% of survey respondents would need additional training to take full advantage of AI. By 2030, IDC suggests employees will need to develop IT, digital business, human and leadership skills which is exemplified by the IDC Skills Development Framework. It suggests building IT skills in areas like LLM integration and quantum security, as well as digital business skills looking at DataOps and prompt engineering. On the human skills side it emphasizes the importance of collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, while leaders need to be able to demonstrate empathy, be proficient in AI and understand the governance required.
The IDC InfoBrief concludes with three recommended areas of focus for AI strategies: adopting a human-centric approach to AI, involving users in the path to AI everywhere and upskilling employees. Having a clear strategy will build trust with employees, develop skills across the organization and build advocacy for AI initiatives, as well as ensure transparency around data usage and compliance with regulatory requirements.
Meike Escherich, Associate Research Director, European Future of Work, IDC: “Purposeful, sustainable implementation of AI at work requires a deep-rooted, company- wide DNA-like understanding that Artificial Intelligence should not be seen as a replacement for human intelligence; rather, that it should serve as a powerful tool to enhance people’s creativity and innovative spirit.”
