Reflecting on the ways we worked 15 years ago feels like gazing into another world. If you wanted to check your emails out of hours, you didn’t have a smartphone to do it on; you used a Blackberry or a mobile made by Nokia. We had yet to truly reap the business benefits of social media, as at the time Facebook was just for students, Twitter was still a year from introduction, and we wouldn’t post to Instagram for another five years. Jobs like SEO specialist, UX designer, Cloud services manager, and more simply did not exist. We even sent faxes still – and regularly!
That was 2005, which simultaneously feels like yesterday and eons ago. If that much change can happen in the workplace within a period of 15 years, imagine what the next five, ten, or 15 years will bring.
The truth is, the future of work is already here. It’s just unevenly distributed. Certain industries and sectors have adapted quickly to new technology and have been successfully implementing it for a while now. Even in the laggard industries, there are certain companies that either had the foresight or the budget to adapt quickly, and now find themselves leagues ahead of their peers and competitors as a result. But soon enough, those laggards will be faced with a sink-or-swim ultimatum to either catch up or be left behind for good.
It can be extremely hard to prepare when you aren’t sure what lies ahead, or how to get there. Many times, it is a team and stakeholder alignment issue of getting people onto the same page quickly – and understanding all voices. In the face of so much disruption and rapid change, how can you scale top line growth at the right margin, ensure high performance, improve employee wellbeing and customer experience, or develop and successfully execute new business strategies? The answer lies in Augmented Intelligence – Consulting (AI-C).
Defining the ‘Future of Work’
Before you can prepare for what’s next, you need to understand exactly what that entails. Many people hear the term ‘future of work’ and envision a world run by robots or a scene from a science fiction film. While elements of increased automation will play a key role in the future workforce, what we’re discussing here is much less drastic as humans and robots work together to form hybrid working. As mentioned, the future of work is already here; it’s just that your organisation may not be there yet.
Essentially, the future of work involves humans and technology working together in partnership to accomplish tasks in a more agile, effective, and efficient manner than ever before. Smartphones, social media, and other technology have become commonplace not only in the office, but in our everyday lives. As a result, today’s customers and multi-generational workforce increasingly value personalised, immersive data-driven experiences.
Business leaders have access to more data than they ever have before. In fact, the total amount of data that is created, captured, copied, and consumed globally is forecast to reach 59 zettabytes in 2020 and more than double to 149 zettabytes by 2024[1]. Businesses are beginning to understand the value of the data they generate and collect, but many are struggling to use it properly. Technology such as artificial intelligence (AI) can help to make sense of and use this data in ways we never would have imagined possible previously.
New software and tools are introduced to the market daily, all of which aim to turn available data into insights or to accomplish a specific task. There are tools available that can monitor every online conversation about your brand to provide insight into customer attitudes, write content for you, handle your hiring, identify sales opportunities, and so much more.
Surely, tech-driven environments require tech-focused solutions. But there’s so much more to this than simply adopting some new tools and updating your equipment.
Securing increased Alignment with AI-C
The humans involved in the change process are far more important than the technology. Most change or transformation programmes fail because of misalignment, with research sources quoting between 50% to 84% over the last 25+ years, which negatively impacts careers and business progress. The way that leaders think and manage their teams needs to become more agile and flexible in order to keep up with the rate of change and effectively execute new growth strategies.
It’s ‘easy’ for the C-suite to decide to sign off a transformation process, but most of the implementation will happen at every level of the business. A typical team raises on average 167 opinions on a given topic and 61 barriers as to why it can’t be done. If there is discord, lack of clarity, or miscommunications throughout the business, the change process has a very high potential for failure.
This is where Augmented Intelligence – Consulting (AI-C) can be massively advantageous. This advanced method of management consulting combines concepts from Harvard academics Professor Chris Argyris (Action Science) and Professor Thomas Schelling, a Nobel Prize recipient (Game Theory), as well as SchellingPoint’s applied research into Relational Network Analysis. It has been proven in over 500 real-world business projects and applications. This breakthrough in change management and leadership methodology is also now being taught at some of the US and UK’s leading business schools including Wharton, Warwick and Cornell.
Through this ‘lean’ consulting process, AI-C helps business leaders produce a credible and complete roadmap to address today’s business, cultural and digital transformations. This can include the creation of a new target operating model, cost reduction, efficiency, productivity requirements and strategic growth. AI-C gives everyone in the organisation a voice in co-shaping change and optimises alignment to future goals. It accelerates business-focused learning, reduces bias, increases collaborative thinking and insights in relation to securing future business goals. As a result, AI-C helps leaders adapt and increase the speed of decision-making to rapidly changing marketplaces, overcome increased competition, improve processes by implementing automation or next-generation technologies, determine policies, and develop new market-winning business strategies.
One of the key benefits of AI-C is its cost-effectiveness. It is delivered predominantly through virtual dialogues without the need for in-person meetings or workshops, which is ideal in the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 world. The average timeline for an AI-C project is 6-8 weeks but it can be completed in as little as 3 days. Therefore, the AI-C process is concluded as efficiently and effectively as possible for significantly less cost than deploying internal resources and results in a more reliable, valid and endorsed set of actions to deliver business outcomes.
Business has come a long way in recent years, and there’s more change yet to come. While some businesses thrive ahead of the curve, others risk getting left behind indefinitely if they do not adapt to the rapidly changing marketplace. It’s clear that in this face-paced and increasingly competitive space, the old tools and methods of leading will not suffice. AI-C can help business leaders undergo their transformation process as effectively as possible by ensuring organisational alignment. In a time where leaders and workplaces need to become more agile to succeed, AI-C is fit for purpose for the digital age and gives both internal/external stakeholders more of a voice in tackling any business challenge.
We invite you to join us for our Future of Work virtual seminar on 18th November. Associate Director Russell Beck and Rialto Director Richard Chiumento will examine the global trends impacting the workplace and providing useful insights into how organisations and employees can futureproof themselves. Register here
Additionally, to learn more about our AI-C methodology, you can join Associate Directors Lesley Lindberg and George Mystkowski for our virtual seminar on 3rd December where they will be sharing how one Company used AI-C to help shape and implement new and high performing working practices following COVID-19 challenges. Register here
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/
Only a small number of organisations have been able to successfully scale their digital initiatives beyond the experimentation and piloting stages, a study finds, which identifies six barriers which must be navigated on when embarking on a digital transformation journey.
Business analyst Gartner contends that this is because digital transformation requires more than simply investing in the latest technology – it demands significant changes to culture and systems.
“To change an organisation designed for a structured, ordered, process-oriented world to one designed for ecosystems, adaptation, learning and experimentation is hard,” said Marcus Blosch, research vice president at Gartner.
“Some organisations will navigate that change, and others that can’t change will become outdated and be replaced.”
The six barriers and Gartner’s advice on overcoming them are outlined below:
1 A change-resisting culture
“Culture is organisational ‘dark matter’ – you can’t see it, but its effects are obvious,” said Blosch. “The challenge is that many organisations have developed a culture of hierarchy and clear boundaries between areas of responsibilities. Digital innovation requires the opposite: collaborative cross-functional and self-directed teams that are not afraid of uncertain outcomes.”
Those aiming to establish a digital culture should start small: define a digital mindset, assemble a digital innovation team, and shield it from the rest of the organisation to let the new culture develop. Connections between the digital innovation and core teams can then be used to scale new ideas and spread the culture.
2 Limited sharing and collaboration
Digital innovation with its collaborative cross-functional teams is often very different from what employees are used to with regards to functions and hierarchies and resistance is inevitable.
“It’s not necessary to have everyone on board in the early stages. Try to find areas where interests overlap, and create a starting point,” said Blosch. “Build a first version, test the idea and use the success story to gain the momentum needed for the next step.”
3 The business isn’t ready
Many business leaders are caught up in the hype around digital business. But when the CIO or CDO wants to start the transformation process, it turns out that the business doesn’t have the skills or resources needed.
Gartner recommends focusing on the early adopters with the willingness and openness to change and leverage digital. But keep in mind that digital may just not be relevant to certain parts of the organisation.
4 The talent gap
Employees need new skills focused on innovation, change and creativity along with the new technologies themselves, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT)
“In smaller or more innovative organisations, it is possible to redefine individuals’ roles to include more skills and competencies needed to support digital,” said Blosch. “In other organisations, using a bimodal approach makes sense by creating a separate group to handle innovation with the requisite skill set.”
5 Current practices don’t support the talent
“Some organisations may shift to a product management-based approach for digital innovations because it allows for multiple iterations,” said Blosch. “Operational innovations can follow the usual approaches until the digital team is skilled and experienced enough to extend its reach and share the learned practices with the organisation.”
6 Change isn’t easy
Developing platforms, changing the organisational structure, and creating an ecosystem of partners is challenging.
According to Gartner, enterprises should build the organisational capabilities that make change simpler and faster. To do that, it said, they should develop a platform-based strategy that supports continuous change and design principles and then innovate on top of that platform.
Successful collaborations drive the success, advancement, performance, and growth of organisations. However, only 8% of polled business leaders say their collaborations achieve outcomes on-time, on-cost, and on- benefit. This waste is the Cost of Collaboration, and comprises the needless costs associated with poor meetings, misalignment, rework, avoidable delay, secondary saviour projects, and the difference between what a group actually realises and the original stated aims.
The methodology that underpins our Augmented Intelligence-Consulting (AI-C) programmes was developed in response to the reoccurring question in business of why groups of intelligent, knowledgeable, and well-meaning professionals continue to fail so often to successfully form and work around a shared business imperative. The presence of a universal collaboration process to enable reliable, predictable, and efficient collaborations was the research hypothesis. What was found was a common gap in knowledge of how to facilitate a collaboration from identification of a new need to sustained positive impact. Beginning with identifying what needs to be discussed, in what sequence to have the discussions, through how to conduct them, collaboration leaders have until now used self-learned methods. AI-C’s research, applied to over three-hundred different collaborations in a myriad of industries and contexts, reframes the approach to leading a group endeavour that leads to project success faster, with greater alignment and with desired results.
Seven in 10 workplaces will integrate artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of chatbots and virtual personal assistants (VPAs) by 2021 to assist employees’ productivity, a new study finds.
“Digital workplace leaders will proactively implement AI-based technologies such as virtual assistants or other NLP-based conversational agents and robots to support and augment employees’ tasks and productivity,” said Helen Poitevin, senior research director at Gartner.
But the report warned that past incidents have shown that poorly designed assistants cause frustration among employees, sometimes prompting bad behaviour and abusive language toward the VPA.
“This can create a toxic work environment, as the bad habits will eventually leak into interactions with co-workers,” continued Poitevin.
The report points to recent experiments which have shown that people’s abusive behaviour toward AI technologies can translate into how they treat the humans around them.
As a result, Gartner predicts this development will prompt 10 per cent of organisations to add a digital harassment policy to their workplace regulation.
When establishing VPAs in the workplace organisations must also train the assistants to respond appropriately to aggressive language.
“They should also clearly state that AI-enabled conversational agents should be treated with respect and give them a personality to fuel likability and respect,” added Poitevin.
“Finally, digital workplace leaders should allow employees to report observed cases of policy violation.”
According to Richard Chiumento, director of Rialto Consultancy, this clearly demonstrates why leaders cannot not underestimate the major change programme that is required when it comes to embedding and integrating new technologies like AI and robotics into the workforce. “And there must be real depth and commitment to this change,” he said. “Few would forsee the potential side-effect of fuelling bad behaviour elsewhere in the workforce. This demonstrates new processes, methods of working and strategies need to be clearly thought through and even, if it is impossible to predict some outcomes, leaders must be alert to the unexpected.”
More than half of technology CEOs surveyed globally (54 per cent) consider that a “return to territorialism” poses the greatest risk to their organisational growth, according to a new report by KPMG.
KPMG’s tech industry CEO outlook (#tech #CEOoutlook) canvassed the views of 104 tech CEOs globally on a range of key topics, among them, territorialism, growth, cyber and trust, artificial intelligence (AI), customer centricity and millennials.
The research also identified five “evolving forces” that are continuing to “raise the bar” for tech CEOs which are: drive for growth; visionary leadership; relentless customer centricity; technology for social good; and reimagining the workforce of the future.
Despite these concerns over issues like the UK’s exit from the EU and renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), tech CEOs are confident of their companies’ ability to outpace the tech sector and the global economy. Three per cent of CEOs expect their top-line revenue growth to exceed five per cent over the next three years, while half (49 per cent) indicate it will be between 2 per cent and 5 per cent, and 48 per cent indicate it will be less than 2 per cent.
Over the next three years, 42 per cent of CEOs predict they will expand their company’s headcount by between six per cent and 10 per cent and 43 per cent say they will expand less than five per cent.
“The rise of nationalism and affiliated global economic tensions are among factors bringing caution to revenue growth expectations. Still, nearly nine out of 10 tech CEOs remain confident in the growth prospects for their company,” said Tim Zanni, global and US technology sector leader, KPMG.
“Tech CEOs are focused on profitability and investing in technology and their people, as well as considering new business models.”
Two thirds (64 per cent) of CEOs agree that agility is the new currency of business and when it came to visionary leadership seven in 10 are personally prepared to lead their organisations through radical transformation of existing operating models to maintain competitiveness.
Meanwhile, on the issue of technology for social good, more than one third of respondents (35 per cent) report they are struggling to link their growth strategy with a societal purpose for their company.
“There’s a growing expectation for tech leaders to link their strategies with technology for social good. It’s important that CEOs communicate a clear and consistent strategy about their organisations’ vision, and beliefs, and how their strategy is impacting their customers, employees and society at large,” added Zanni.
Individuals may be more accepting of the inexorable rise of artificial intelligence (AI) at work but organisations are not doing enough to help employees embrace AI and that will result in reduced productivity, skillset obsolescence and job loss, a new study warns.
According to a survey of HR leaders and employees from Oracle and Future Workplace, an overwhelming majority reported they were ‘ready’ to take instructions from robots at work which directly correlates with their familiarity of AI technology at home.
The report, AI at Work, which quizzed 1,320 HR leaders and employees, found that while people are ready to embrace AI at work, only six per cent of HR professionals are actively deploying AI and one quarter of employees (24 per cent) are using some form of AI at work. This contrasts starkly with 70 per cent of respondents using some form of AI in their personal lives.
To determine why there is such a gap in AI adoption when people are clearly ready to embrace AI at work (93 per cent would trust orders from a robot), the study set out to examine HR leader and employee perceptions of the benefits of AI, the obstacles preventing AI adoption and the business consequences of not embracing AI.
“As this study shows, people are not afraid of AI taking their jobs and instead want to be able to quickly and easily take advantage of the latest innovations,” said Emily He, SVP, human capital management cloud business group, Oracle.
“To help employees embrace AI, organisations should partner with their HR leaders to address the skill gap and focus their IT strategy on embedding simple and powerful AI innovations into existing business processes.”
Despite its clear potential to improve business performance, HR leaders and employees believe that organisations are not doing enough to prepare the workforce for AI. Respondents also identified a number of other barriers holding back AI in the enterprise.
The vast majority of HR leaders (90 per cent) are concerned they will not be able to adjust to the rapid adoption of AI as part of their job and to make matters worse, they are not currently empowered to address an emerging AI skill gap in their organisation.
While half of employees (51 per cent) are concerned they will not be able to adjust to the rapid adoption of AI and 71 per cent believe AI skills and knowledge will be important in the next three years, nearly three quarters of HR leaders (72 per cent) noted that their organisation does not provide any form of AI training programme.
“AI will enable companies to stay competitive, HR leaders to be more strategic and employees to be more productive at work,” added Dan Schawbel, research director at Future Workplace.
“If organisations want to take advantage of the AI revolution, while closing the skills gap, they will have to invest in AI training programmes. If employees want to stay relevant to the current and future job market, they need to embrace AI as part of their job.”
Leaders expect “AI-augmented employees” to generate tangible business returns such as greater efficiency
The tide seems to be turning when it comes to opinion on whether robots and automation will replace humans in the workplace. Last week’s blog covered findings from Infosys that showed artificial intelligence (AI) is actually a driver for investing in people. A new study published by software company, Pegasystems, predicts that pairing humans alongside machine intelligence will create more effective, engaged and meritocratic workforces.
The Future of Work report surveyed 845 senior executives working globally across key industry sectors, including financial services, insurance, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and media, and government, on the increased role AI and robotic automation will play in the workplace of the future.
The survey reveals widespread belief that machine intelligence will work ubiquitously alongside humans over time and seven in 10 respondents (69 per cent) reckon the term ‘workforce’ will evolve to encapsulate both humans and machine intelligence. They also expect “AI-augmented employees” to generate tangible business returns such as more efficiency (73 per cent agree) and better customer service (62 per cent).
Responses suggest, though, that the effect of AI will not only transform the way people work but how they are managed and rewarded. More than three-quarters (78 per cent) believe AI and robotic automation will allow staff to make more informed decisions and lead to a flattening of traditional management hierarchies while a similar number (77 per cent) expect AI to help suggest “next best actions” for most customer service agents within the next five years.
The vast majority (88 per cent) are comfortable working together with machines but are less keen on being managed by them. Four out of five (79 per cent) respondents say they would not be comfortable with an AI-powered boss.
Unbiased machine intelligence could also help organisations in areas such as ensuring equal pay. Two thirds (66 per cent) believe the widespread use of AI will give rise to a more transparent meritocracy in the workplace. Three quarters (74 per cent) think that within 10 years, AI will become standard practice for evaluating employee performance, while 72 per cent predict it will be commonly used to set appropriate rewards and compensation. Four fifths (84 per cent) agree it will be commonplace for AI to calculate the true value added by each worker within a decade, while 44 per cent see this happening within five years.
Don Schuerman, chief technology officer and vice president, product marketing, Pegasystems, reckons that the potential of AI and automation has so far being largely untapped and that organisations must augment their human intelligence with AI across the entire organisation in order to move beyond basic efficiency improvements. “By deploying AI and automation with an end-to-end view in mind, businesses can move closer to fulfilling their customer centric vision,” he says.
This also chimes with some of the discussion at January’s World Economic Forum annual meeting where AI was frequently a topic for discussion. At the launch of a skills initiative there, Bill McDermott, chief executive officer of SAP, added that there are “exciting possibilities” when people and machines work together and pointed towards “a new frontier of augmented humanity”.
There are many challenges ahead when it comes to embedding AI and robotics into the workforce and we must be respectful of the defensive feelings some employees are likely to have. But it does seem it is no longer a case of “man versus machine” but “man and machine” and together we can be a powerful combo.
Rather than putting jobs at risk, factory automation and robots could help tackle ‘worringly’ industry-wide knowledge and skills gaps, new research suggests.
A survey of 2,500 business respondents across 14 countries, from Epicor Software Corporation, found that more than half (54 per cent) reckon robots automate repetitive or mundane work that they would otherwise have to do themselves,
According to the global provider of industry-specific software, that humans are happy to work alongside robots is good news for employers that want to use cutting-edge technology, to plug a growing skills gap on their factory floors.
The same research found that the industrial workforce is getting older, and that only a quarter (23 per cent) of businesses are currently able to attract recruits with the right knowledge.
Use of robots can introduce efficiencies where human resource is low, and they can also encourage young talent into industry – with one third of millennials wanting to work at the cutting-edge of new developments.
Many employees are aware of the benefits of automation, because they already have first-hand experience of robot workmates. One third (31 per cent) report that artificial intelligence (AI), robots, and highly automated machinery, are now a common feature of their day-to-day work, while a similar figure (34 per cent) agree that robots are more efficient than humans in the workplace.
Individuals that work in finance, and those that work in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region may be more up for working with robot co-workers than anyone else – 47 per cent of respondents in APAC agree robots are more efficient than humans (compared to 29 per cent in Europe and Middle East).
One third of those who work in finance agree robots can take stressful tasks away from humans (compared to 23 per cent in IT and one fifth of CEOs).
“The study shows us that the use of robots is a very real, but also very welcome way of solving an otherwise worrying industry-wide knowledge and skills gap,” said Terri Hiskey, vice president, product marketing, manufacturing, at Epicor.
“With employers struggling to find candidates with the right skills or knowledge for entry-level roles, and with employees struggling to keep up with the pressures of business growth, automating aspects of the workforce offers a new way of building efficiencies into the supply chain, and enabling digital transformation.”
Through technology, companies are weaving themselves seamlessly into the fabric of how people live today
Professional services firm Accenture is the latest heavyweight to highlight the importance of a new kind of leadership if organisations are to capitalise on the growth opportunities that technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics offer. But as it points out in its annual technology report, it isn’t only about creating business opportunities but ensuring such technology has the right impact on society. The new era of leadership, therefore, must prioritise “trust and greater responsibility”, it states.
As part of its Technology Vision 2018, Accenture surveyed more than 6,300 business and IT executives worldwide. This year’s report, Intelligent Enterprise Unleashed: Redefine Your Company Based on the Company You Keep, reveals how such technologies aren’t just enabling companies to create innovative products and services but also changing the way people work and live. This, in turn, is changing companies’ relationships with their customers and business partners.
More than four-fifths of respondents (84 per cent) agree that through technology, companies are weaving themselves seamlessly into the fabric of how people live today and Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology & innovation officer, reckons just as cities developed around ports and then railroads, or people rebuilt their lives around electricity, the world today is reimagining itself around digital innovation. “And, by extension, the companies that provide those services. This requires a new type of relationship, built on trust and the sharing of large amounts of personal information.”
It is worthwhile noting that what makes this digital revolution so different from anything that has gone before is its interactivity. Customers have far more access to those who are developing the products and services that they purchase. As Accenture points out, this two-way street is leading to a level of “integrated innovation” and degree of trust between the parties that hasn’t been experienced before. “With this two-way partnership comes new responsibilities – to consumers, employees, government and the public,” it cautions.
The Technology Vision 2018 lists five emerging technology trends that Accenture stresses companies must address if they are to build the partnerships that will be necessary to flourish in the digital revolution. They are:
Citizen AI: raising AI to benefit business and society As artificial intelligence (AI) grows in its capabilities, so does its impact on people’s lives. Businesses looking to capitalise on AI’s potential must acknowledge this impact, “raising” AI to act as responsible representatives of their business.
Extended reality: the end of distance Virtual and augmented reality technologies are transforming the ways people live and work by removing the distance to people, information and experiences.
Data veracity: the importance of trust By transforming themselves to run on data, businesses now face a new kind of vulnerability: inaccurate, manipulated and biased data that leads to corrupted business insights and skewed decisions. To address this challenge, companies must follow a dual mandate to maximise veracity and minimise incentives for data manipulation.
Frictionless business: built to partner at scale Businesses depend on technology-based partnerships for growth, but their own legacy systems aren’t designed to support partnerships at scale. To fully power the connected Intelligent Enterprise, companies must first re-design themselves.
Internet of Thinking: creating intelligent distributed systems Businesses are making big bets on intelligent environments via robotics, AI and immersive experiences, but bringing these intelligent environments to life will require not only adding key skills and workforce capabilities, but also modernising enterprise technology infrastructures.
In my view, the trends make for fascinating reading as well as importantly alerting leaders to the challenges ahead and the exciting opportunities for organisations in the future. Organisations have an opportunity to impact and integrate with society in a way they never have before, and we need to grasp this with both hands. The more important organisations are to society, the more in demand our products and services will be to customers and therefore the greater security of our own future.
Organisations urged to get past the hype and understand how to apply AI to become truly intelligent enterprises
Plans have been unveiled to establish a new university in the city of Milton Keynes that will focus on digital skills. The first undergraduate cohort is expected in 2023 and around 5,000 students will study for qualifications in areas such as digital, cyber, autonomy, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).
It is being developed in partnership with business and plenty of major players are supporting the project. It was announced this week that the exclusively postgraduate Cranfield University has been chosen as the lead higher education provider and other partners include Grant Thornton, MK College, Microsoft and Indian IT and technology solutions provider, Tech Mahindra.
The aim is to design new educational models which will be responsive to the needs of the city’s businesses and its people and Ian Fordham, Microsoft UK director of education, reckons the MK:U vision closely aligns with the tech giant’s mission to empower “every person and every organisation on the planet” to achieve more. “We are confident that this new institution will help ensure students develop the skills they need to thrive in a digital economy.”
It is great to see the UK planning to deliver a ground-up and robust solution for what is potentially one of the biggest skills gaps organisations have ever faced. It should also confirm in leaders’ minds everywhere that digital really is the future and even if technologies such as AI and robotics don’t affect their organisation now, they will more than likely play a part in the future.
According to a report by Capgemini and LinkedIn, the digital skills gap is widening though, and worryingly, budgets for training digital talent have remained flat or decreased in more than half (52 per cent) of organisations. Meanwhile, half of organisations said they “keep talking” about the digital talent gap but are not doing much to bridge it. The Digital Talent Gap – Are Companies Doing Enough? also found that half of employees are investing their own money and additional time beyond office hours to develop digital skills on their own.
Where there is training being provided, more than half of today’s digital talent say training programmes aren’t hugely effective and close to half (45 per cent) describe their organisation’s programmes as “useless and boring”. It is laudable that some employees are investing in their own digital future but a failure on the part of senior leadership, especially given the research also found more than half of organisations (54 per cent) felt the digital talent gap is hampering their digital transformation programmes and that their organisation has lost competitive advantage because of this.
None of it makes sense given the opportunities digital is likely to bring. Indeed, the 11th edition of Capgemini’s flagship publication, the Digital Transformation Review: Artificial Intelligence Decoded, highlights how artificial intelligence will be the most debated, invested in and disruptive business technology trend over the coming years. Lanny Cohen, Capgemini’s chief innovation officer, urges organisations to get past the hype and “understand how to apply this innovation to become a truly intelligent enterprise”. The review tackles the AI talent gap as well as AI’s impact on jobs and the characteristics of AI leaders.
While “we are all technology companies now” is fast becoming an everyday expression, it sends out one of the clearest message yet to leaders that they must invest in digital skills for the future. After all, you wouldn’t head up a pharmaceutical company and not invest in computational biology and genomics or clinical research know-how would you?
