Recasting AI Impact in the Workplace

Let me start with a “Happy New Year” to all of you. January 1^st is arguably just another day on the calendar, but it does come with an annual sense of renewal and fresh perspectives.

While it may sound cliché, I do hope that you all were able to find some extra time to spend with family and friends. 

I know that I certainly did. Whether they were family visits to celebrate the Holidays or gatherings of friends and acquaintances, there were plenty of opportunities to catch up in person and connect outside of the social media craze.

Inevitably, conversations turned from the typical weather, sports, and news topics to the familiar questions of “how are you doing?” and “how is work going, or what are you doing again these days?”

Often, when I mention my role as a Data and AI Field CTO, my conversation counterparts latched onto the “AI” part of my title, and brows were furrowed, accompanied by questions as to what I thought of AI “stealing” jobs and wreaking havoc in the workplace.

So much for warm, light-hearted conversation.

These conversations highlight why AI workforce transformation is becoming one of the most misunderstood shifts in the modern workplace.

My typical response was a smile, a slight sigh, and the following perspective…

AI Will Change Work, But Silence Makes It Worse

First, I will not dismiss AI’s impact on the workplace outright. Any novel technology will have an impact, and it won’t all be positive. But change can be good and, at times, necessary. The amount of disruption comes down to how you, as an organization, frame and message the coming change. Silence will be the worst offender. A communication void will be quickly filled with rumors of “human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!” So, to avoid such speculation, let everyone know your point of view as to why and how AI can influence your workplace.

Here are three ways that AI can influence your workforce in a positive manner: 

Reframing AI Impact Through a Workforce Lens

1 – SCALE your Workforce

What if you could do more with the workforce already in place?

Instead of hiring new workers for certain roles, evaluate whether the roles could be taken on by AI and or automation routines.

There might need to be a slightly larger up-front investment in building your AI agents. Once you have the logic built, it can be scaled much more easily than training individuals.

The best areas for using AI and automation to scale are processes that involve manual, repeatable steps that lend themselves to technical replication. Examples include:

• Invoice processing
• Simple customer issue triage
• IT account management

There are many more to be found.

Yes, there is a workforce impact here. Potentially, there are fewer entry-level jobs available to new college graduates. However, let’s also recognize that AI and automation routines often cannot handle 100% of the work to be done.

There are always process outliers, the 20% in the 80/20 rule, that require a human touch.

At first, the work balance will shift for your existing workforce, with the mundane tasks shifting to AI and automation.

Eventually, you will still need to bring on new hires, though at a greatly reduced rate. These individuals will be trained on more engaging tasks that leverage their communication and reasoning skills, thereby raising the odds that they will stay with your organization long-term.

2 – EVOLVE Your Workforce

This concept builds on the prior one. As I mentioned above, AI and automation can free up time for your existing teams.

It is an executive choice whether that freed-up time will be used to consolidate headcount (yes, that means, letting folks go) or whether the extra time will be filled with new tasks that require that “human touch” that I mentioned before.

One of the most overused phrases today is that organizations will “repurpose workers to more value-added tasks.” Simple to say. Not that easy to do.

While this is a great phrase to deflect early concerns about AI’s impact on an existing workforce, the words need to be backed up with quick and visible action and investment.

Teams must identify where that “human touch” will be needed, for example:

• Escalated customer issues management, where AI could not resolve the problem

Training will likely be required, which is the main part of the investment.

There will also be some unintentional turnover, as some individuals may not take to, or be interested in, a new role.

As I said before, there will be churn. However, there is also an opportunity. Intention, planning, and execution will minimize impact.

3 – EMPOWER Your Workforce

Finally, what if we don’t look at AI as the technology that will replace us, but rather as a tool that helps all (most?) of us.

AI can support employees in practical, everyday ways:

• Generative AI can help in content creation.
• AI Agents can reduce or remove repetitive tasks.
• Simple AI-enabled applications can make processes more efficient.
• Data Agents can unlock new insights into your data.

Many of these tools are accessible to the average worker since most come with natural language interfaces. This allows someone to describe what they want a tool to do, and the AI will build the solution for them.

Examples already available include:

• Microsoft 365 Copilot, including the free “Chat” version, which has an agent builder built in.
• Microsoft’s Power Platform, which includes an “AI Builder” tool that can create screens, data repositories, automated workflows, and even agents.
• New agents that are coming soon will make building AI-powered tools even more accessible.

Provide users with access to these tools, train them, and let them find new improvement opportunities. Just don’t forget to put some governance in place, which will be covered in a future article. Yes, not everyone will embrace these tools, and not every process lends itself to immediate AI improvements. But there is almost always an automation that can make work life a little better.

Over the years, I have put myself into the camp of technologists who scoffed at “citizen development.” The new generation of tool builders has changed my mind. It is time to revisit these tools and ensure your workforce has a safe and approachable set of capabilities to be as effective as possible.

Practical Ways to Get Started

There are pragmatic ways to get started:

• Author a simple (one page often suffices) AI and Automation charter or policy. Let everyone know your vision for these new technologies.
• Provide the basics, allowing those who are interested to have AI tools at their disposal. Make sure that these tools provide enterprise data protection and that persona-based training gets you the most out of your investment.
• Commit to the long term by reaching out and gathering use cases from teams as to where they see room for improvement. Prioritize these use cases to create a roadmap and then fund projects to implement change.
• Build a program that allows you to sustain change over time.

Sounds simple, right? Well, the devil is in the details, but these steps can be taken in a matter of weeks, and value can be measured, not just assumed.

From Fear to Opportunity

OK, OK, maybe I didn’t make all these points in every conversation. I would have been very lonely with my eggnog.

And for those who listened, this conversation didn’t always remove all the FUD, fear, uncertainty, and doubt, but I saw enough furrowed brows turn into a raised eyebrow or two that made me feel like I, at a minimum, introduced some new concepts.

We have transitioned through technical evolutions before. Industrialization. Computers. The internet. Mobile devices. And yes, not all of these can be placed into a 100% positive light. But I do believe that we are better off, in a net state, with each of these evolutions.

If you feel otherwise, or want to dive deeper into these topics that will allow you to SEE (Scale, Evolve, Empower) your workforce in a new light, reach out.

Turn AI Curiosity into Workforce Impact

Move beyond experimentation with a clear strategy for adopting AI, enabling teams, and measuring real business outcomes.