Artificial intelligence (AI) represents a once-in-a-lifetime change management opportunity that has the potential to determine winners and losers in every industry. As the AI era takes shape through digital transformation efforts, executives and employees alike are pondering how AI will impact hiring and the skills needed to stay ahead. This is where AI upskilling and reskilling comes into play.
How do executives and employees view the AI era?
According to a report from the IBM Institute for Business Value, more than 60% of executives say generative AI will disrupt the way their organizations design customer and employee experiences. To meet these needs, employees must also change. Many are turning to AI upskilling, the act of preparing employees with the skills and education to be able to do their jobs using AI.
A 2024 Gallup poll found that nearly 25% of workers are concerned that their jobs could become obsolete due to AI, up from 15% in 2021. The same survey found that over 70% of chief human resources officers (CHROs) predict that AI will replace their jobs within the next three years.
In its 2023 Future of Work Report, the World Economic Forum estimates that automation will eliminate 85 million jobs and change 40% of workers' core skills by 2025. AI is ushering in a new era of productivity and value, and business leaders must make their employees part of that future.
All organizations have a responsibility to provide their employees with the necessary skill sets and education to use AI in their daily work. Specifically, CHROs must take a leading role in decision-making about which skills can be automated by technology and which are mission-critical skills that will continue to be handled by the workforce.
The rise of AI is fundamentally reshaping corporate strategy. Management must enhance her AI capabilities across the workforce, including the use of generative AI tools. As AI takes on some of the tasks traditionally performed by humans, it must provide opportunities to develop the skills of employees.
Employees are interested in learning advanced technical skills that can leverage the power of AI to make their jobs more efficient and lead to more successful career paths. Organizations have a strong interest in upskilling their workforce and better leveraging new technologies such as AI in their daily work to increase productivity and improve problem-solving.
Upskilling and reskilling
Upskilling and reskilling are separate but important elements of an organization's approach to talent development and skill building. The first, upskilling, is the process of improving an employee's skill set through training and development programs. The goal is to minimize skills gaps and prepare employees for job and role changes. An example of upskilling is for customer care agents to learn how to use generative AI and chatbots to better answer customer questions in real-time with rapid engineering.
Reskilling refers to learning a new set of skills to perform a new job. For example, someone currently working in data processing may need to embrace reskilling to learn web development or advanced data analysis.
According to the IBM Institute for Business Value, executives estimate that approximately 40% of their workforce will need to be reskilled over the next three years. But what about skill development?
Read more about reskilling your workforce in the age of AI
Opportunities for AI upskilling in your field or industry
Like other breakthrough technologies before it, advances in AI are creating opportunities for new industries, new jobs, and new approaches to existing jobs. To prepare their employees and businesses, organizations need to ensure that their employees can develop the skills of tomorrow without disrupting current business operations. This means a variety of upskilling use cases are important for success.
customer service
For most CEOs, customer service is the most important discipline in implementing generative AI, according to a report from the IBM Institute for Business Value. While AI can handle some of the initial inquiries from customers, customer service representatives (CSRs) also need to use tools when issues are escalated. CSRs need to improve their ability to perform rapid engineering and interact with customers while searching AI-built databases.
Financial operations
Financial industry employees are increasingly leveraging enhanced tools to make better investments on behalf of their customers. Almost 70% of financial services leaders believe that at least half of their workforce will need upskilling by 2024. This requires not only learning how to use these new technologies, but also feeling confident in the results of AI technologies, even if we don't fully understand them. .
health care
Hospitals and healthcare providers are incorporating AI technology into their back offices and diagnostic care facilities. For example, healthcare companies are beginning to use machine learning technology to improve and speed up medical diagnosis. Understanding what these technologies can and cannot do continues to be important for healthcare professionals to make the right decisions.
Human resources (HR)
Organizations are starting to use AI in HR to process job applications and help find the right candidates. HR professionals need to learn how to use this technology to identify potential bias and other uncertainties in order to find valuable prospects.
web development
Generative AI and other advanced technologies are creating significant opportunities for streamlining web development. Developers can use it to convert one coding language to another. As an example, an application can refactor its mainframe COBOL code into modular business service components.
How AI increases opportunities for upskilling
Organizations can use AI technology to enhance the AI learning experience itself.
Online learning and development
Generative AI chatbots and personalization allow you to create customized learning opportunities for each employee. You can create a training program that combines the basic AI education your employees need with specific instruction tailored to the learner's job. As a result, employees gain a robust and customized set of AI skills that enable them to perform to their fullest potential at work.
Sample course loads for the AI Upskilling Development Program offered by IBM include:
- strategic necessitiesthe rise of generative AI for business and how to become a value creator with generative AI.
- Elements of enterprise AI, Things like data management and using generative AI-based models to drive added value.
- By utilizing AI in specific fields, Marketing, coding, human resources development, etc.
On-the-job training
Employees can improve their knowledge and expertise with AI tools by using AI applications while performing their jobs. For example, generative AI tools can answer questions about a specific process while teaching you how to improve the prompt.
Skill gap analysis
Organizations can input large amounts of information about employee performance and certifications and use machine learning to identify areas that require further training. This approach is a more efficient way to identify gaps than guessing or asking employees where they need help.
mentorship
AI can help large organizations better identify mentors and mentees based on a variety of criteria, including their background, interests, and what they want out of the relationship. AI programs that automatically match mentors and mentees eliminate the hassle and strengthen connections across your organization.
Career path development
By using AI, organizations can help employees identify the direction they want their careers to take. We can suggest potential career paths and cycle through your options until you reach your dream job.
Why upskilling in AI can add value to your organization
Combine organizational knowledge with advanced capabilities
AI and other technologies may create opportunities for organizations to automate many processes, but employees will still need to provide valuable context. Helping existing employees remain valuable to the organization serves his dual purpose of leveraging hard-earned experience to improve decision-making.
One way to incorporate AI into employees' work is with IBM's role-based AI assistant, which has a conversation-based interface that can support key roles and tasks in consulting projects.
fill an important gap
Many AI technologies require human interaction and interpretation of results. Organizations that try to implement these technologies without employee support may not get the best results or may make the wrong decisions.
Improves employee retention rates
Employees are less likely to stay with an organization that doesn't prioritize employee experience, which should also include AI skill development. One reason for this is that employees expect to bring lasting skills to their jobs and careers. The second reason is that organizations that don't prioritize AI are likely to fall behind their competitors.
Embracing the democratization of web development
AI is revolutionizing web development. The age of AI has ushered in a wave of generative AI code development that allows non-developers to build code. But only if the organization invests in educating employees on how to use it.
it's the right thing to do
Organizations owe their employees every opportunity to maintain their value in a rapidly changing talent landscape. The future of work could leave many unprepared workers behind. Training employees in their AI skills not only helps organizations today, but also provides employees with a roadmap to future success.
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