As with any digital transformation initiative, the human element of AI is almost as important as the technology itself. And the people within your organisation will determine the overall success of AI implementation.
As with any digital transformation initiative, the human element of AI is almost as important as the technology itself. And the people within your organisation will determine the overall success of AI implementation.
Therefore, company culture plays an important role in how quickly and effectively your organisation can implement and benefit from AI. And in turn, AI itself can help strengthen organisational culture.
Agile, technology-driven organisations often place a lot of value on creating a good organisational culture. With AI currently receiving considerable media attention, employees may be wary of its impact on jobs, leading to demotivation and lowering morale.
Computing recently surveyed IT leaders involved in AI implementation at their organisation. 74 per cent of survey respondents agreed that organisational culture is essential to AI success.
Encouragingly, just 14 per cent of respondents identified employee buy-in as a challenge, with 12 per cent identifying board buy-in. Therefore, in the majority of cases, employees at various levels of organisations are on-board with AI adoption.
Cultural considerations are also driving AI adoption in some cases. 20 per cent said improved working environment was a driver of AI adoption.
James Woods, Public Cloud Director UK&I at Arrow said:
"Culture is a massive element that we need to consider in the adoption of AI and it needs to come from the top down. This is where everyone needs to understand it's not here to replace or take away your job, it's to augment what you're doing and provide business improvements and enabling you to think more laterally and focus on the strategic stuff."
AI itself can in fact boost organisational culture. With AI able to take care of menial tasks, it has the potential to boost job satisfaction, as they have more time to focus on higher level, strategic work. Therefore, employees that are equipped with the right tools, such as AI assistants, will feel valued and more productive.
"It's about augmenting what people are doing today," said Woods. "The intention isn't to remove cost or people in certain roles, it's for them to retrain and use this technology for good to improve productivity and working life."
It is important to reassure workers that they are not going to be replaced by AI and overcome any scepticism. Before embarking on AI implementation projects, IT leaders should gauge attitudes and readiness, assessing awareness levels and ensuring benefits are communicated effectively.
Productivity and business process gains can only be fully realised if employees are onboard, so the human element must be taken into consideration during decision-making. If employees aren't embracing and actively using the AI tools they are designed to assist, the impact of AI implementation will be limited.
For IT leaders, it is important to create a culture that encourages AI innovation, with employees that are excited rather than wary of the ways in which AI will impact day-to-day working life.
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This Article is sponsored by Arrow
