By Alexia Pedersen, VP EMEA at O’Reilly
The UK government has made clear its intentions to make the UK a global AI superpower. Key to this is the National AI Strategy, which aims to boost enterprise use of AI, attract international investment and develop the next generation of tech talent to ensure the UK plays a leading role in discovering and developing the latest innovations.
This sentiment is echoed by business leaders, with our latest ‘Generative AI in the Enterprise’ report revealing that a significant number of businesses are increasing adoption and investment in generative AI.
Amid unprecedented adoption, business leaders must prepare their workforce for the advent of such technologies in the workplace. This requires greater emphasis on continuous learning and development (L&D), offering ongoing opportunities for employees to develop new skills that are required for the effective and safe use of such technologies. Looking ahead to 2024, what should business leaders do to get started?
The current state of play
Understandably, business leaders are pushing ahead with generative AI investments, given its potential to drive growth, optimise operations and deliver exceptional customer experiences. In fact, more than two in five (44%) IT professionals confirmed that their company plans to spend between £25,001–£50,000 on these solutions in the next 12 months alone.
Yet, we cannot ignore that almost all (93%) IT pros are concerned with their C-suite’s ambitions for the use of generative AI tools, which is due to fears that workplace policy and training opportunities are failing to keep pace.
According to IT teams, staff outside of their department have been provided limited (32%) or no training opportunities at all (36%) about how generative AI will impact the workplace. As a result, more than a quarter (27%) of IT professionals identified the lack of training for employees as one of their biggest concerns around AI adoption, which is on par with their fears of more advanced cybersecurity threats posed by such technologies.
This year, increased L&D opportunities will be pivotal in bridging gaps in knowledge – ensuring companies can continue to invest in AI tools but with greater assurance that deployments will be ethical and safe.
Future-proofing your workforce with a continuous learning culture
Fortunately, in today’s digital landscape, staff are keen to invest time in their development and take on new opportunities that provide growth opportunities.
Within IT departments, the majority (82%) of staff want more AI-related L&D opportunities to help advance their current roles. They feel so passionately about it that more than two in five (43%) IT employees have sought external training opportunities over the last twelve months, and a similar amount (61%) are considering moving companies over the next twelve months if their employer fails to provide upskilling opportunities around generative AI.
These findings highlight that if employers want to recruit and retain the best talent in 2024, they need to play a vital role in creating a culture of continuous learning – empowering staff to take on new challenges, seek out opportunities for growth and share their knowledge with others.
To help employees prioritise learning around day-to-day responsibilities, companies should consider ‘in the flow of work’ learning opportunities. This concept was coined by Josh Bersin to describe a paradigm in which employees learn something new, quickly apply it and return to their work in progress. While traditional learning approaches such as attending a seminar or conference are effective, many employees simply don’t have the time to devote to them or they prefer to learn at a time that suits them best.
Instead, ‘in the flow of work’ learning provides employees with the tools needed to quickly find contextually relevant answers to their questions at a time that suits their schedule. Companies can offer more flexible learning opportunities via a trusted L&D partner, who will tailor materials to an individual employee’s unique learning style and objectives and also offer structured learning to upskill. For example, badges are becoming an increasingly popular method for verifying an individual’s knowledge and skills. Because skills training and upskilling opportunities have risen in popularity as benefits that candidates seek, employers can attract and retain key talent by offering ongoing learning opportunities, including the ability to acquire badges.
Looking ahead
In 2024, successful AI deployments will require more than just investment in cutting-edge solutions. Business leaders should also invest in developing a culture of continuous learning, one that equips employees with the skills and mindset needed to leverage generative AI technologies effectively.
Comprehensive, more flexible learning opportunities that are accompanied by thorough workplace policies will be essential for innovative enterprise use cases to flourish. At the same time, this will go a long way in enhancing recruitment and retention strategies in the face of a widening technical skills gap. Only with a highly skilled workforce will the UK truly live up to its aspirations of becoming a global leader in AI.
