René Janssen, Founder & CEO of Lepaya, is passionate about human and business potential enabled by tech-enabled L&D.
AI is presenting new growth opportunities to businesses across industries. But while the rapidly evolving technology promises to generate profit, creating a tangible strategy that takes full advantage of AI’s transformation is complex.
When it comes to implementing AI, the first aspect I believe business leaders need to consider is how and where the technology can fundamentally drive value. However, since today’s AI does not operate in blissful isolation, the second aspect — your company’s key talent — is equally important. Both factors should be considered to bring new services and value to the market.
The Need To Look At Tech And Talent In Tandem
Technology cannot function alone to deliver market value. I believe leaders who are innovating their services need to build teams that fully optimize tech and convert their investment into profit. It works two ways: Exceptional innovation requires both skilled talent to function and your highest-performing teams to become even more capable with the right technology.
Therefore, the talent in your teams requires equal attention to the technological solutions they work with. I have found that when an organization effectively manages both, it improves employee attraction and retention due to offering more specialized work and developing innovation to create business impact. However, transforming an organization’s talent to coincide with technological advances can be difficult. It’s important to align roles and skill sets to technology, and as processes and regulations change, upskilling should be intentionally adapted to your industry’s context.
Let’s zoom in on three evolving business sectors—manufacturing, banking and retail—to show what the tangible impact of AI can look like and how these industries are evolving talent strategy in sync with technological advancements to grow market share and competitiveness. When looking at AI through an industry lens, I have found that these industries exemplify how to sync talent upskilling with investment in transformation for market growth.
1. Manufacturing
AI is helping manufacturers meet higher market demands by optimizing operations and improving sustainability through lower emissions and increased machinery efficiency. As a result, manufacturers need talent with more technical, analytical and problem-solving skills to operate and maintain these new systems.
However, training technical and analytical skills alone may not optimize AI transformation. In order to help motivate and retain talent, upskilling solutions should equally focus on leadership skills. Leaders of operation teams play an essential role in supporting employees in new working environments. Those in leadership positions need to be upskilled with communication and feedback skills to help their teams navigate change.
Therefore, to deliver market value, manufacturers need to balance talent who can think analytically and solve problems to optimize new technology with leaders who possess the skills to manage and support employees in new operational roles.
2. Financial Services
Financial services are adopting AI to enhance customer loyalty and operational efficiency. Therefore, they are focused on innovating services such as cybersecurity to protect customer information, as well as chatbots to offer faster, more tailored interactions.
But AI is also enabling banks’ staff to operate more effectively. With an increase in automated processes, highly skilled talent can devote their time to strategic and profitable work. As they no longer need to manually transfer data between IT systems, employees can help drive innovation such as cloud migration and enhance customers’ digital banking experience.
As the industry becomes more digital, employee skill sets ought to remain relevant. Given the ongoing shortage of technology, cyber, and digital skills in the sector, financial institutions should consider taking a proactive approach and collaborating with internal business units on talent upskilling. Together, they can identify in-demand future skills such as data engineering, human-centered design and data analytics.
For example, the UK’s Financial Services Skills Commission has created the Future Skills Framework, which highlights business-critical skills and urges firms across the country to prioritize investment in the named skills. Digital literacy, coaching and software development are among the skills needed to ensure the industry is equipped with the right talent to boost innovation and competitiveness.
3. Retail
AI enables retailers to create data-driven consumer experiences for in-store and digital spaces. Therefore, AI’s biggest impact within retail is largely on customer intelligence, inventory management and customer service. For example, AI-supported logistics systems can help retailers create efficient supply chains, while deep-learning algorithms can analyze purchasing data to meet the ever-evolving customers’ expectations. As retailers invest in digital transformation, talent upskilling ought to match this investment. That’s why I believe retailers need to be more data-driven, focusing on training people’s data analytic skills and learning agility.
But to fully capitalize on the new consumer’s shopping patterns, technical skill sets should be complemented with soft skills, such as storytelling, to effectively communicate consumer insights to in-store employees, and leadership to engage teams as they undergo change. Moreover, with AI automation impacting certain job roles, retailers should consider strategically reskilling their employees. When customer inquiries can be delegated to an AI bot, how can you upskill your customer support employees to provide value to your business? IKEA, for example, is training its call center workers as interior design advisers.
AI And Talent Investment Going Hand In Hand
My intention with this industry breakdown is to clearly show my fellow business leaders why talent management should be strategic to complement AI’s specific impact on each industry. In fact, it’s estimated that for every dollar invested in technology, around nine dollars need to be allocated to talent.
When preparing the workforce for AI transformation, the primary focus is often put on technical skills to manage innovation. However, business leaders should not overlook the need for human skills to optimize technology and provide commercial value. I believe companies across all industries should focus on training transferable skills— communication, collaboration, innovation and analytical thinking—to support positions most likely to be affected by AI and to align skill sets with future roles. Moreover, training leadership skills, assertiveness and resilience will play an important role in leading teams through change.
As AI technologies become increasingly prevalent, consider how you can synchronize your investments in technology and talent to expand your market presence and increase financial gains.
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