We have come to understand that AI is here to stay – either we get on the AI Choo-Choo-Train now or later. Something that has grasped our attention in particular is the notion of “AI-powered workplace”[1]. This refers to a set of tools, techniques and methods that may provide value to the employees or the organization of the office.
Primarily, these tools are a game-changer to how an organization works and functions. If there is a lesson from the pandemic, it is that technology saved many jobs from closing and many lives from being threatened from COVID-19. Slack, Microsoft Teams, or Facebook transformed the operating systems of our digital workplace, where we mimicked our day-to-day tasks into the digital realm.
Artificial Intelligence crash course:
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a wide-encompassing term that inhabits different things under one tutela.
The term “artificial” in artificial intelligence comes from the idea that “intelligence” is usually human effort and nature by default, whereas with AI, we create it ourselves. AI reflects the human-like efforts to examine a situation and make the best use of the resources at hand to attain their goal.
In the “AI-powered workplace”, Ronald Ashri provides the example of preparing a cup of coffee as an opportunity to understand AI.
Say the objective is to prepare a cup of coffee. Think of doing that in a stranger’s house. You are let in, and then you scan the rooms, trying to figure out where the kitchen might be. Years of prior experience tell you it is probably on the ground floor and toward the back of the house. At any rate, you can recognize it when you see it, right? You then look around for a coffee machine. Does it take ground coffee, beans, or soluble? Is it an Italian-style coffee maker, or a French coffee press? Where is the water? Where do they keep cups? Spoons? Sugar? Cream? Milk? We breeze through all these problems without a second thought.
The coffee-making scenario is devised as a test to verify whether anything close to human-level intelligence has been reached.
Digital Workplace
Following “The AI-powered workplace” theme, in this blog, we will briefly stop on the digital workplace and how to go forward with AI in the workplace.
The digital workplace is “the list of all the digital tools that people use to get their job done”. This spans from systems that HR uses to e-mail systems, document sharing, reporting systems, laptops, phones, etc. It is also defined as “the digital environment through which work is done”. Through complementing the physical environment, the digital environment facilitates the work we do towards the vision and mission of the organization.
Building AI-Powered Workplace
The first thing toward building your digital workplace is getting in the right mindset for it.
Imagine if you want to build a new physical environment for your organization. You start asking yourself: Where is the location – as the location defines how people interact, it would be different to set up your organization in Tropoja, than in the center of Tirana close to start-ups and other businesses. In a digital environment, different types of digital locations will enable different possibilities.
Questions to ask yourself on the digital location are:
- How will the location support the people working there?
- What is the experience people have when they step into your offices?
- What does it say about your organization and what sort of organization do you want it to be?
In the real world, organizations put much thought into the lobby of the building – as it is the first interaction people have with the organization. They invest in it and make it impressive enough to leave a good impression on the people. Whereas, more than often, the first interaction people have with your organization is via your website. Now, think of their first experience with your organization – Can they hold a meeting online? Are the visitors stuck with outdated tools to connect? Is there a way to keep notes easily, share notes, or record them?
In the end, think of the process of designing the physical workplace – you contract an architectural firm, discuss your organization goals and mission, and the image you project. Have you had the same in-depth planning process for your digital space?
Understanding Your Digital Workspace for the purposes of applying AI techniques, we are referring to a concrete digital representation of the workspace. There are some components to consider creating your own model of your digital environment:
- People and Teams – Have a clear idea of:
- who are your people,
- where are they,
- what are they doing,
- what can they do (skills),
- what they know about (knowledge),
- how are they doing it, and even
- why are they doing
- Exploring People Data:
- Can you search for people based on their expertise if there is a challenge within your organization?
- Is there a “people search” tool that would allow you to type in a person’s skill, and it can produce a list of people who have that skill?
- Processes: Create a map of all the relevant processes
- what data is required at each stage,
- who is involved, and
- how information flows from one step to the other.
- Mapping Processes: A company handbook is a living document that is meant for anyone within the company to access to find out how things get done. From how to ask for holidays and time off to get new equipment, training, or personal development, it can contain, in simple language, all the processes to achieve that.
- Tools: starting from specific use cases is typically more fruitful than starting with a blanket cataloging of every single tool. The use cases will allow you to uncover specific information that is relevant to solving a real problem, and from there you can expand to map back to processes, people, and finally, the solution.
The Next Destination: Artificial Intelligence in the workplace
The digital environment should also be an expression of your culture and values. A solid understanding of why things are the way they are allows you to move with confidence in introducing change.
The potential for applying AI approaches to the way we do business is transformative. Recognizing that automation is about more of the same, but at a cheaper cost or faster pace, is another aspect of thinking big. AI-enabled automation also makes it possible to perform things in completely new ways. It permits novel business strategies. Applying new technologies is always fraught with danger. Things are not going as usual. Things won’t go as planned, so you’ll need to be ready to process and respond to a lot of new information. Rushing to extend an automation model outside of its test environment without checks to guarantee that it is doing as it should can have unforeseen implications like bias in its decision-making or hard-to-catch failures.
LEGIT Case study
Legit, as the first legal technology company in Albania, has taken the digitization of work processes very seriously.
We use artificial intelligence to offer our products and services via the Legit Platform, and to understand at the same time each other’s needs (as a team) throughout the work processes.
- People and teams: We have a clear idea of who our people are and what they do. Therefore, this month we have decided to fully present them to you. (:
- Exploration of personal data: Our employees have signed a personal data processing agreement from the moment they started work here. While the platform users’ data are stored and processed in accordance with the requirements of the legislation in force.
- Processes: We use some software to manage work processes. Among them, our favorite is Jira.
- Legit Manual: Every new #legit member is introduced to the company’s manual the moment they become part of us. We have found that this manual provides better orientation and increases efficiency at work.
- Tools: We will devote another blog to the tools we use for Legit – as different organizations need to find the right tools for them to understand what works (or doesn’t work for them).
To conclude, keep in mind that the main purpose of using artificial intelligence is to simplify work processes. At a time when everything is being automated, we need to reflect on the things that really matter, such as having people on the team who are guided by the same values and have the same purpose as the company.
Artificial intelligence shall think about the rest. Or leave it to Legit! 😉
Just register as a user here!