What does a successful gen AI strategy look like?
To build an effective gen AI strategy for your organization, you must start by asking these questions:
1. Is our corporate culture primed to support gen AI implementation?
Implementing gen AI into the workplace can lead to considerable changes in ways of working. To succeed, the workplace culture and people who bring it to life must be fundamentally open to innovation. You need an environment in which people not only recognize gen AI’s potential benefits, but where they’re also willing to explore and adopt AI solutions. Employees will also need to feel comfortable, and value their new tools and “digital colleagues.”
2. Are our leaders ready to adapt to this change?
As employee roles evolve alongside gen AI, the next generation of leaders will need to take on even more responsibility and decision-making duties. This includes creative thinking, employee development and bridging the gap between technology and people. According to one survey of C-suite executives, 77% of IT decision-makers are convinced that employees can be taught to work with new job positions that AI will bring to the organization.³ Some 90% of survey respondents also anticipate quantifiable advantages from the organizational deployment of AI.
3. What adaptive skills do employees need to work alongside gen AI?
For people to work seamlessly alongside AI, they’ll need to equip themselves with new skills to work iteratively in this transformational work pattern. By developing soft skills and targeted hard skills, and by fostering a culture of continuous learning, organizations can equip employees to work alongside generative AI, effectively taking advantage of its capabilities while driving innovation and adapting to the changing technological landscape.
4. How can gen AI support and improve our employee lifecycle process?
Organizations that embrace gen AI to improve employee experiences can positively impact retention in the organization. Further, tasks such as analyzing vast amounts of candidate data from various sources to identify suitable candidates, automating performance data to provide real-time insights into employee progress and offer feedback accordingly, or identifying high-potential employees to support succession planning efforts can all become easier and more efficient. With gen AI, talent management and development opportunities abound.
By implementing these strategies, organizations can manage the people experience across the hire-to-retire lifecycle for roles that will work with gen AI. This approach fosters employee engagement, growth and a positive working environment.
5. How will we measure the impact of implementing gen AI?
Metrics that reflect the influence of the technology on other data and analytics investments and the business are more valuable than focusing on direct return on investment. In this sense, key performance indicators provide a quantitative and measurable way to track the impact and effectiveness of generative AI initiatives, enabling organizations to make data-driven decisions and optimize their AI strategies.
6. How should we evolve data governance to support gen AI?
Data governance is fundamental to support data quality, protect privacy, mitigate biases, comply with regulations and make ethical and trustworthy use of AI-generated content. Implementing generative AI well requires organizations to simultaneously adopt a governance structure that accounts for the nuances this technology brings. By doing so, organizations can harness the benefits of gen AI while reducing potential risks and maintaining public trust.
7. Are we casting a broad enough net where risks are concerned?
Proactively mitigating risks such as bias, transparency, privacy and regulatory requirements is crucial to preserve trust with customers, employees and stakeholders while deploying and implementing gen AI. By addressing these risks, organizations can navigate the ethical challenges and potential harm associated with generative AI, while also fostering a responsible approach to its implementation.
8. How will we manage this change across the organization?
Change management is key because it addresses the human aspects of the transition, encourages employee buy-in and engagement, provides necessary skills and training, and supports the cultural shift needed to successfully integrate AI technologies into an organization's operations. By considering change management from the outset, organizations can reap the benefits of generative AI while reducing resistance and disruptions during the implementation process.