We all know AI has transformative potential, but many businesses are still yet to join the AI revolution. Why? The main hurdle is twofold. It’s difficult for businesses to ensure their current talent pool has the right skills to capitalize on AI in their day-to-day work. Meanwhile, the pipeline for digital talent is still – globally – far behind demand.
But if businesses are to develop their operations to provide clients with AI-powered services, possessing skilled human talent to operate AI is essential. Fortunately, the education pipeline is not the only solution to the AI talent shortage. In-house digital skilling programs can help bridge the gap and bring business to AI-powered success.
The Tech Skills Shortage
According to the OECD, about a third of the American workforce has limited digital skills. To consider the challenge from a business perspective, last year’s Nash Squared Digital Leadership Report saw 70% of surveyed digital leaders say a skills shortage was holding them back – the highest level in 24 years.
It’s a pipeline issue. With the rapid evolution of technology and its proliferation across all industries, education and the wider skills pipeline have not been able to keep up. A misconception that tech skills require a thorough STEM background is also preventing many individuals from pursuing the skilling or roles necessary to fill the tech talent shortage.
The AI Opportunity
The tech skills shortage is nothing new, but set against the backdrop of the AI revolution, its pains are being felt particularly acutely. AI has the potential to optimize the full lifecycle of business operations, but many organizations are yet to make the leap because of a lack of AI confidence in their talent pools.
For example, AI can analyze vast quantities of data at speed for horizon scanning of key trends and market opportunities. In cybersecurity teams, AI’s real-time analysis can empower talent with the knowledge to act and stop incidents from escalating from the moment threats emerge.
In customer services, a study conducted at Stanford found that using generative AI to suggest the best answers for staff to provide customers ended up boosting employee productivity by 14%.
But for companies to roll out AI-powered services, it is essential to have skilled human talent to operate them – in fact, one of the biggest misconceptions about AI is that it will replace human jobs outright.
Skilled humans not only ensure the effective operation of AI tools but are needed to contextualize and identify the opportunities in AI-generated data. For example, a strong grounding in data analytics is valuable to understanding AI’s products. Talent then needs the power skills to take the insights from AI and communicate its benefits to the wider department or business.
And not only are humans necessary to interpret AI’s products, but consumer trends also still lean towards human interaction. Research from Userlike shows that at least 60% of surveyed respondents would prefer to sit in a queue to speak to a customer service agent than work purely with a chatbot.
How to Beat the Barriers
At Elev8 we offer innovative solutions for Artificial Intelligence skilling to help talent across all levels of an organization – from administrator to engineer, from entry-level to executives – meet their digital transformation goals.
We design skilling pathways bespoke to your talent pool’s existing skillsets and needs and combine technical grounding with the essential power skills that can help your talent leverage their AI abilities across the business.
Speak to our team today to learn more about how Elev8 will help your business capitalize on the AI revolution.
