The critical link between skills, AI and productivity
Fifteen years ago, I would not have believed that my office would be phone-free or that meetings would be virtual, even with nearby colleagues.
Today’s work environment would have seemed impossible back then. And as we look to the future – say another fifteen years from now – it’s hard to imagine how much will change; it’s staggering to contemplate.
Why? We’ve entered a new era where technology is embedded in every aspect of our lives. We barely notice or think about digital experiences at work or in our daily lives.
It is interesting to reflect on the past and present. Think about it: Computing started in the 1960s, and today, AI is pervasive, making human-computer interactions accessible to everyone. A workplace from 1964 is vintage compared to our contemporary offices. McKinsey was intrigued, too, and looked at Sixty years of innovation: Key moments in business technology. The pace of technology advancements is mind-blowing.
A disruptor influences the future of work
Going forward, we can expect to see AI and GenAI technologies transform our work – our tasks, methods and thinking about how work gets done. It’s exciting to think about how technology will help us.
Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst Gene Alvarez said about 2025: “This year’s top strategic technology trends span AI imperatives and risks, new frontiers of computing and human-machine synergy.” He added that these trends can also help technology leaders ensure that innovation is both responsible and ethical.
Most notably, Gartner believes that agentic AI is the number one trend that will significantly impact people’s work. It’s worth mentioning that agentic AI is related to multimodel AI, which integrates multiple data types to create a comprehensive understanding of interactions. Agentic AI is software agents that autonomously make decisions and take actions to achieve human-defined goals, enhancing productivity and efficiency. It can assist, offload and augment human work or traditional applications.
Gartner expects that at least 15% of day-to-work decisions will be made by agentic AI, up from 0% in 2024.
Why should the public sector pay attention to agentic AI? Simply put, it can help with the workforce shortage, a perennial challenge, and an overload of work. Public servants have had success with digital assistants, but they are designed to perform a specific task and typically offer a predefined response based on information they have access to.
Agentic AI is more advanced and autonomous. It can perform complex tasks without explicit instructions from a person. It uses machine learning algorithms to learn from interactions, improving its performance every time. The promise of agentic AI is huge for a more productive workforce.
AI and GenAI adoption is lagging, but not for long
Workforce shortages and AI skills gaps are closely related to productivity. Let’s define AI. It encompasses a broad range of technologies that enable machines to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, and GenAI is a subset.
According to Forrester’s 2024 data, 35% of global CISOs and CIOs consider exploring and deploying use cases for generative AI (GenAI) to improve employee productivity as a top priority. The question is whether implementing AI is worth the benefits.
Data, AI, and GenAI can benefit the public sector. Machines can handle backlogs and tedious tasks. They excel at mundane, redundant and complex data reviews, freeing employees to focus on tasks requiring creativity, intuition and empathy.
A recent Coleman Parkes study found that 81% of governments using GenAI have experienced operational cost savings and 89% have experienced improved employee satisfaction.
According to Joshua Davies, senior industry consultant at SAS, “As government agencies increase their uptake of Gen AI to complete mundane activities quickly, employees will be able to focus on providing more transparent and responsible community engagement.”
Consider this: What if the problem isn’t a lack of employees but a lack of employees with the right skills? Many public sector organizations aren’t readying their workforce with new skills. The Coleman Parkes study uncovered that only a minority of respondents say that their government provides adequate training for AI (49%) and GenAI (39%).
But with the right data and AI platform, code/low code tools use visual interfaces, drag-and-drop features, and pre-built components to create applications with minimal coding. Advances in these tools, along with AI models like Copilot and ChatGPT, enable more employees to analyze data. This empowers non-data scientists to make data-driven decisions, foster innovation, and enhance productivity across departments.
“Public sector is sitting on a massive amount of data. AI and GenAI will democratize access to data and decisions to a lot of civil servants and be an opportunity for upskilling and reskilling people to bridge the existing major lack of resources,” says Fred Labat, director of analytics and economics business value engineering at SAS.
Until employees experience AI's benefits in their daily work, they may have concerns or doubts about its value. Organizations will need to create a positive and supportive environment for AI adoption and effectively address employee concerns.
AI policies, guidance and governance will emerge
For many in government, using data to its full potential and deploying AI are still unfamiliar concepts. While they may hear the buzzwords, they often don’t understand what AI truly means or its advantages.
Now is the time to introduce employees to AI and GenAI concepts and guardrails. It’s time to upskill and understand the value of data, learn basic data literacy and establish data and AI governance standards.
In addition to training and implementing policies for data and AI use, it will be important to determine which tasks are best suited for AI enhancement. Until employees experience the benefits of AI in their daily work, they may have concerns or doubts about its value.
