The human element in AI adoption: Empowering IT employees for the future

Artificial intelligence has moved from experimentation to the center of strategic conversations in boardrooms across industries, especially in IT. The tipping point for AI adoption is here, driven by scalable and affordable infrastructure that enables rapid development of AI platforms. While native AI companies have led the charge in leveraging AI for top-line growth, many IT organizations are now using AI to create smarter products, revolutionize customer outcomes, and boost employee productivity by enhancing efficiency across People, Processes, and Tools.

Yet the real story of AI adoption isn't about the technology itself. The emphasis is on the People aspect of AI adoption. It's about the people who must embrace, learn, and ultimately shape how AI transforms their work. The technical infrastructure may be ready, but successful AI transformation hinges on human readiness.

From vision to reality: AI strategy and implementation in IT companies

Most IT companies today have moved beyond AI strategy formation to active implementation. AI is being used to transform processes and develop tools that either automate tasks (Agentic AI) or augment human capabilities (Generative AI), enabling employees to perform tasks faster and with higher quality. This progress relies heavily on employees themselves - subject matter experts who train AI models, refine their accuracy, and validate their outputs. It's the human expertise embedded in these systems that makes them truly valuable.

Cultural shift and employee buy-in

However, moving from ideas to organization-wide implementation at scale requires something more fundamental than technical readiness. It requires employee buy-in and a significant cultural shift. Companies are adopting several approaches to influence this transformation:

• Leadership communication: This has become crucial in setting the tone for AI transformation. Leaders are sharing their AI vision and transformation journey, success stories, and encouraging idea contributions through hackathons and rewarding innovation to build excitement and commitment.

• AI education: Upskilling is critical. Many companies now mandate fundamental AI training for all employees, ensuring a baseline level of AI literacy across the organization. This is supplemented with role-based training tailored to specific job functions. Some training are mandatory, while others are optional but encouraged for those seeking AI expertise. The message is clear - AI fluency is becoming essential and employees are being prepared not to be replaced by AI, but to collaborate effectively with it.

• Employee engagement: Role-based communities and subject matter experts are leading by example, sharing AI use cases and adoption experiences. This peer influence facilitates broader acceptance and awareness of AI tools and training.

• AI adoption: Optional or mandated? Some companies mandate AI tool usage, linking adoption to rewards and monitoring usage to foster a no opt-out culture. Others are still developing mechanisms to track and encourage adoption without strict enforcement, believing that demonstrating value will drive organic adoption.

• The technology infrastructure: While the human element remains central, the technical infrastructure supporting AI adoption cannot be overlooked. Robust, secure, and scalable AI infrastructure is essential to support AI tools and platforms that enhance employee productivity.

• Measuring success: The challenge of measuring AI's impact goes beyond simple productivity metrics. Companies are defining adoption metrics tailored to specific roles and tools. At the organizational level, success is measured by growth in output (products, speed, quality) without increasing headcount. This efficiency creates capacity to invest in new growth areas by optimizing existing resources.

The path forward

AI is undeniably a transformative technology, reshaping both work and personal life in ways we're only beginning to understand. However, successful AI transformation depends on people being open to change, committed to continuous learning, and agile in taking calculated risks to move forward. The organizations that master this balance, empowering their employees to work alongside AI, will define the next era of innovation and growth.

Authored by Pallavi Arora, Vice President – Customer Experience, Cisco India