How to make staff more AI-ready (and reap the rewards)
In the modern world, AI is unavoidable. Usage has surged in 2024, with more and more businesses looking to leverage generative AI in their operations to gain productivity benefits with low-cost, 24/7 assistance.
Despite the rise of AI, not everyone is fully embracing it. Some workers still have concerns, including the impact on their job security. On top of this, the sudden explosion of AI has left most workers without the appropriate skills, creating a gap. 66% of business leaders now say they would not hire someone without AI skills.
The responsibility for addressing the AI skills gap lies partly with employers. Yet, according to Microsoft, only 25% of companies are planning to offer training on generative AI this year.
If you want the benefits of AI in your business, you need to empower your staff to use it. This requires significant behavioural change and a careful adoption strategy that upskills teams.
Our tips for employing AI in a small business
If you are a small business that previously had limited access to AI, the move towards this innovation can be overwhelming. A lack of internal skills, data access and identifying appropriate use cases are core barriers to overcome.
If you don’t embrace AI now, you risk falling behind the competition. But employing it responsibly and sensibly is crucial to maintaining a smooth transition and driving long-term change.
How to encourage people to embrace AI
Many people are resistant to AI, usually due to a fear of the unknown, concerns about being replaced and not knowing where to start. As a result, they may avoid using tools, even if it can make their job better.
However, it’s becoming increasingly clear that using AI can drive your job prospects. So, it’s crucial to encourage people to use AI effectively. This requires you to build new habits within your business.
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Learn how to better prompt Copilot
One of the most significant AI skills anyone can master is prompt engineering. This is the ability to create prompts that guarantee the best possible output from your AI tools.
Prompt engineering doesn’t require advanced technical knowledge. It’s about knowing how to phrase your prompts effectively, which needs testing and refinement over time.
We created the Copilot Promptbook to help your team perfect their AI prompting skills. There are even 50 prompts included, ready for you to try.
New Copilot features coming soon!
It’s that time of year when Microsoft roll out the bi-annual release of new features and functionality. This time, there’s an abundance of Copilot features coming between now and March.
Examples include collaborative prompting, increased Excel capabilities, brand management in PowerPoint, advanced transcription in Teams and even AI agents to do tasks for you.