Accept, Adopt, Apply: Why Institutionalizing AI is Critical for the Future of Work
Explore the benefits of integrating AI into your mobile workforce and learn essential strategies for implementation.
Brad Haczynski, SVP and GM of mobile B2B Samsung Electronics America, highlights the rise of hybrid and remote work, emphasizing mobile-centric IT strategies. Adding to this, the exploding population of the Gen Z workforce is bringing their digital-native perspective and reliance on mobile devices, which is crucial for AI-driven experiences and reshaping future business operations.
Today’s workforce is increasingly mobile, with hybrid and remote setups commonplace across industries. This shift has made flexibility, productivity, and security key business priorities, leading many to adopt mobile-centric IT strategies. Adding to this, the exploding population of the Gen Z workforce is bringing their digital-native perspective and reliance on mobile devices. Moving forward, businesses address how these mobile endpoints will become the primary access points for AI-driven experiences, reshaping how we work and enhancing business operations today and in the future.
Enabling an AI-forward mobile workforce offers numerous benefits for employees and employers, such as enhanced productivity, creativity, and collaboration, empowering employees to work smarter and achieve better results. Some of the readily accessible tools are already transforming productivity for businesses around the world by facilitating seamless communication and knowledge sharing, regardless of language spoken, geographic location, or time zone, fostering a culture of inclusivity and collaboration.
From an employer perspective, embracing AI enables businesses to streamline operations, optimize resource allocation, and gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Democratizing AI in the workforce helps to fully realize the benefits available to all parts of the business, opening up new possibilities through versatile, optimized solutions. By investing in AI-driven learning and development programs, employers can attract and retain top talent, drive innovation, and future-proof their workforce to stay competitive and foster growth.
Addressing AI Integration Challenges
Since widespread use of generative AI is in its early stages, many businesses are unclear about how to implement AI solutions strategically across their workforce’s mobile devices safely and securely. It can feel like building an airplane while in flight, with the blueprints continually morphing to adopt innovations.
Organizations want to gain efficiencies and competitive advantages now while laying the foundation to further unlock the critical thinking, innovation, and creativity of their workforces in the future. However, this must all be done while keeping pace with unpredictable advancing technologies and breakneck innovation speeds. This can seem daunting, to say the least, but the truth is AI tools have been in the workplace for years in the form of simple tools like spell and grammar checks, searching the Internet, and digital voice assistants.
The perceived complexity and cost of integrating AI into existing IT infrastructure has caused hesitation among IT departments to formally incorporate AI tools into their mobile device strategies. The prospect of overhauling established systems and processes and needing specialized technical expertise can deter organizations from embracing AI. Moreover, concerns about data privacy and security loom, particularly in highly regulated industries like healthcare and financial services, where stringent compliance requirements must be met. There may also be skepticism around the tangible benefits of AI implementation and uncertainties about its potential impact on workforce dynamics.
Undeniably, businesses that hesitate to adopt AI solutions risk falling behind competitors, losing out on hiring talent, and missing out on the efficiency gains and cost savings they offer. They may also struggle to keep pace with rapidly evolving market dynamics and fail to meet the increasing demands of customers for personalized experiences and real-time insights. The challenges and concerns that keep businesses on the AI sidelines can and should be addressed, as the benefits far outweigh the implications of failing to innovate.
See More: Top 10 AI Development and Implementation Challenges
Strategic Steps for Implementing AI in Mobile Workforces
AI will increasingly drive workforce transformation by enabling employees to acquire new skills, adapt to changing roles, and embrace lifelong learning. Businesses that have already embraced a culture of innovation, experimentation, and continuous learning – where employees feel empowered to explore new ideas, take risks, and embrace change – are ahead of the game compared to those organizations just now acknowledging that AI is here to stay. While rolling out AI-enabled mobile devices across a workforce requires careful planning, coordination, and implementation by key stakeholders and IT departments, addressing a few considerations will help organizations reap the benefits of an AI-centric mobile workforce and empower the workplace of tomorrow:
- Assess needs and requirements: A thorough assessment of the organization’s needs, requirements, and objectives for deploying AI-enabled mobile devices will ensure alignment between the goals of the organization, the IT department and end-users: the employees. Identifying key use cases, user personas, security and compliance requirements and integrating with existing IT infrastructure and business processes will provide guidance for rollout.
- Select appropriate devices and technologies: There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to any IT plan, so it’s critical to evaluate and select AI-enabled mobile devices and technologies that best align with the needs and requirements of each organization as a whole, along with different workflows, tasks, environments, and use cases. For example, if security and data privacy are key concerns for the organization, they should ensure the devices have AI on-device capabilities or allow IT teams to turn off select AI features that do not align with the business’s AI approach, enabling a level of control in line with the organization’s security needs.
- Develop a detailed deployment plan: A comprehensive deployment plan must outline steps, timelines, and resources required for rollout. Defining roles and responsibilities, establishing communication channels and setting clear goals and milestones will ensure a smooth rollout, build trust among stakeholders and ensure the concerns and needs of the workforce are considered before the plan is implemented.
- Provide training and support: As any IT team can attest, rolling out new technology and devices can be an arduous process. To help it run smoothly, organizations should provide training and support to employees to ensure they are familiar with AI-enabled features and functionalities of their mobile devices. Training sessions, user guides, and online resources can help employees make the most of AI-driven applications and services and ensure they feel comfortable using new tools. Not only will this protect the business’s investment in AI-enabled mobile devices for its workforce, but it will also build trust among employees concerned about job security as AI becomes more prevalent in their workplace.
- Implement security measures: Undoubtedly, robust security measures to protect AI-enabled mobile devices and the data they contain from security threats and breaches are the most vital components of the rollout. Monitoring tools and processes to track AI usage on mobile devices can ensure compliance with organizational policies and regulatory requirements. It should include monitoring data access, usage patterns, and security incidents related to AI applications. Enforcing strong authentication and access controls, encrypting sensitive data, and implementing mobile device management (MDM) solutions to monitor and manage devices remotely are most critical for a sustainable, scalable IT strategy.
- Monitor and evaluate performance: Any successful implementation of a workforce mobile device strategy depends on the ongoing evaluation of the benefits and impacts on the business; as you can imagine, this only increases exponentially with the addition of AI. Monitoring the performance and usage of AI-enabled mobile devices and applications allows IT departments to identify any issues or areas for improvement. Collecting employee feedback, analyzing usage metrics, and conducting regular assessments will ensure the effectiveness and success of the rollout, along with regular audits and assessments of AI implementations to identify and address security gaps, compliance issues, and performance bottlenecks.
- Stay updated and adapt: Staying updated on the latest developments and advancements in AI-enabled solutions can seem daunting, so assessing and evolving strategies and approaches must be done regularly. Enterprises will benefit from continuously evaluating and refining deployment strategies, adopting new features and functionalities, and addressing emerging security threats and challenges to stay ahead of the curve.
Embracing the Future of Work
As work habits evolve amidst increasing workplace challenges, AI is paving the way for the future of enterprise device management. Forward-thinking employers recognize AI as a powerful tool to enable employees to acquire new skills, adapt to changing roles, and embrace lifelong learning. Integrating AI into workflows via mobile devices is a direct investment in their workforce. It provides the tools for digital literacy and critical thinking skills to help employees and businesses thrive in the digital age.
