Danny Abdo, Chief Operations Officer at Skillable.
Workplaces in every corner of the world are grappling with the specter of AI. Its impact on occupations looms large, casting shadows of uncertainty over various industries and professions. The realm of IT professionals is no exception, as the rise of AI has triggered discussions about job displacement and the potential obsolescence of specific skill sets when there’s a decrease in IT skills.
There’s no doubt that AI will change IT roles within companies. However, rather than succumbing to fear, resistance or denial, it’s time to change the conversation and understand AI’s role in the IT professional’s career trajectory.
As someone whose career focuses on using technology to evolve and further democratize learning methods, I believe the rise of AI provides more game-changing opportunities for us to improve our processes and do things we never thought possible.
For every role that people do today that AI replaces, I believe it will create five more. AI will create a need for more, albeit different, skills. The types of problems companies will be able to solve will grow as we learn to tap into AI with greater efficiency and agility. The IT pros in your organization are empowered to solve more complex and significant solutions and need to focus less on transactional tasks.
The auto industry is a great example. Who would have thought this legacy industry could—or would—one day manufacture self-driving cars that also gather data to ensure optimum performance? AI is unlocking scenarios that not long ago were only showing up in science fiction movies.
Embrace, rather than fear AI in IT spaces.
It’s no secret that AI strikes fear in the hearts of workers everywhere. In a survey of 1000 employees by Resume Genius, 74% of respondents believe that AI technology will make human workers obsolete, with IT, manufacturing and healthcare considered the industries most at risk of being replaced by AI. But instead of IT professionals fearing that AI will take their jobs, I think they need to embrace how AI can make their jobs easier—and position them for more exciting and rewarding opportunities.
Take the calculator. There was a time when it struck a similar fear in accountants. But think about how much work an accountant had to do before calculators existed. Much of their time was spent manually doing math formulas, which left little time and brain power for much else. However, instead of replacing accountants, the calculator made them more productive and allowed them to drive more strategic value with their brain power.
In my opinion, AI is the IT professional’s calculator. It will make their jobs easier and more efficient, freeing their time to focus on other things.
Meet the demand for new skills.
The labor force continues to be in a skills deficit. According to 46% of IT leaders, the worldwide IT skills shortage continues to plague enterprises—even when considering global instability and inflation-related price hikes. IDC predicts that by 2025, more than 90% of organizations will feel the impact of the skills shortage, costing more than $6.5 trillion worldwide in delayed product releases, reduced customer satisfaction, loss of competitiveness and missed revenue goals. It’s not just an HR/people problem anymore—it’s a business one.
According to Gartner, the number of skills needed for a single position is increasing by 10% year over year, and over 30% of the skills required three years ago will be irrelevant in the near future. As AI makes inroads into the workplace, workers must gain proficiency with the new tools and develop new skill sets as their roles change.
In the future world of work, there isn’t going to exist this large pool of people with skills for a role that was created five days ago. So how can businesses meet this new skills demand?
I believe a great use of AI would be to evaluate a candidate’s profile to uncover the skills you’re looking for that don’t exist today. It can find people who have similar or transferable skills and can upskill quickly.
We will also have to respond to the rapid rate of change brought on by the rise of AI, which will require continuous learning and development for employees to keep pace with the new tools and skill sets needed for their future jobs.
How can business leaders prepare their IT teams for an AI-powered future?
1. Provide proper training for your teams. Start by evolving your organization’s internal learning models. Implement a training program that ensures your IT teams experience the new information in a context relevant to their job. Experiences provide performance-based evidence of skill mastery and demonstrate to managers that the employee can do the expected position. It also lets managers home in on skills gaps, ensuring that learning and development for that employee are hitting the right notes.
2. Don’t let soft skills go to the wayside. Understand that this type of objective-based learning isn’t ideal for teams to learn and practice their soft skills development—skills that also require mastery for success in the work environment. Coaching, mentoring, peer-to-peer learning and interactive groups remain the best methods for teaching skills like empathy and listening.
3. Bring awareness to AI risks. Ensure your teams know that AI isn’t infallible and shouldn’t be treated like the single source of truth. Too many people think that everything shared by AI must be true. Ensure your teams understand the risks—everything from algorithmic bias caused by bad data to deepfakes and hallucinations.
AI’s ascent is not a harbinger of decline for your IT teams. Instead, it can be a catalyst for growth, facilitating higher-value roles that require creativity, problem-solving and collaboration. By embracing learning and continuously upskilling, you can position your IT teams at the forefront of the AI revolution, driving their and the business’ success.
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