The current business landscape is unpredictable, with more pressure than ever on budgets, resources, and employees. Using AI to automate processes and improve productivity is a solution to this problem. However, having employee buy-in is a critical component for a successful rollout. With insight into employee sentiment around AI adoption, digital leaders can most effectively build an AI-inclusive culture to improve productivity and optimize business practices.
SnapLogic, a leader in intelligent integration and enterprise automation recently announced new research revealing the attitudes and acceptance towards AI in the workplace, with key findings to inform how businesses can foster a positive company culture while implementing AI tools.
The survey, conducted by Censuswide, includes responses from nearly 1,000 mid-senior management workers within large enterprises across the US, UK, and Australia. All survey respondents showed a strong grasp of AI’s benefits, with over half (54%) reporting that AI would save them time; 46% reporting it would improve productivity, and 37% reporting it would reduce risk and errors in their work.
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What Makes Employees More Likely to Use AI?
Respondents also revealed primary factors that would make them more likely to use AI in their role, either now or in the future. 42% of respondents desire a better understanding of how AI would specifically benefit them in their role, while 36% want a safety net to reduce the risk that they would make mistakes.
Respondents’ personality scores revealed the underlying traits that dictated their views on AI. Respondents who scored low on the extraversion scale were more likely to embrace AI and have fewer concerns about using it – compared to their high-extraversion colleagues, who expressed more reservations. Those who scored high on agreeableness and ‘openness to experience’ were more likely to have concerns about making mistakes when using AI.
Nearly two-thirds (66%) of respondents like the idea of using AI in their role, either currently or in the future. However, respondents believe skills are an issue, with one-third (34%) claiming there are very few people within their organization with the skills required to implement and use AI. 39% said it would be hard to get everyone in their organization to fully adopt AI, while 19% are worried that they would not be able to properly navigate using AI.
“The current business landscape is unpredictable, and that puts pressure on budgets and resources. Businesses are adapting to a turbulent environment by using AI in very specific, practical ways to improve productivity,” said Jeremiah Stone, CTO of SnapLogic. “The biggest change is in mindset – seeing AI as a teammate which can learn, not a fixed tool, working to support its more ‘senior’, human colleagues, who in turn mentor and coach it to reduce errors and improve its output. Some employees may have reservations about AI in the workplace, but the reality is that AI is already reshaping the way we work. To stay competitive, businesses successfully adopting AI have an empathic understanding of employees’ reservations and address them constructively.”
Tips to Foster an Inclusive AI Culture
According to Danni Haig, business psychologist, we can use business psychology to encourage employees to embrace change and adopt new technologies, processes, and team structures.
She recommends using the ‘ADKAR Model’ as a guide. This well-known psychological model for change is a practical guide to navigate the change experience:
- Awareness: of the need for incorporating AI into work systems
- Desire: to participate and support the new way of working
- Knowledge: of how to incorporate AI into their work
- Ability: to implement new processes and technology
- Reinforcement: to sustain change, make sure communication around enterprise AI, its benefits and how to implement, is frequent
“Humans tend to cling onto information and behaviors that they know, which means they often reject new ways of working or adopting new skills,” said Danni Haig, business psychologist. “IT and business leaders should be understanding about AI skepticism and have a clear plan in place to address it, otherwise much-needed change is far less likely to happen.”
“Human brains are also hardwired to trust and believe things, facts, people, and brands that they are exposed to more often,” she added. “They are impacted by stimuli they experience over time. To enhance trust in enterprise AI, use regular, frequent small stimuli (e.g. in emails, yammers, slack, meetings, mission statements) before, during, and after change to increases the inclination to adopt new ways of working.”
SnapLogic has been an early adopter of AI and recently announced SnapGPT, the first-ever generative AI solution for enterprise applications. The new addition to the SnapLogic platform leverages AI to quickly integrate and automate business processes using natural language prompts. SnapLogic has been a pioneer in incorporating AI and ML technology to simplify the integration, automation, and orchestration of data flows across the enterprise.
To download the full AI Playbook, visit https://www.snaplogic.com/resources/research/the-snaplogic-ai-playbook.
To find out more about how SnapLogic is helping the world’s most innovative enterprises get more from their data and applications, visit https://www.snaplogic.com/products/snapgpt.
About the survey
SnapLogic partnered with independent third-party research firm Censuswide to survey 910 mid-senior management workers within large enterprises across the UK, US, and Australia to understand their views on AI in the workplace.
About SnapLogic
SnapLogic powers the automated enterprise. The company’s self-service, AI-powered integration platform helps organizations connect applications and data sources, automate common workflows and business processes, and deliver exceptional experiences for customers, partners, and employees. Thousands of enterprises around the world rely on the SnapLogic platform to integrate, automate, and transform their business.
