By now we’ve all been beaten around the head with the message that AI is the new rock star. It writes poems, paints like Picasso, and can probably tell you what you had for breakfast three Tuesdays ago. But really, if all we’re doing with AI is making it admire itself in a digital mirror, we’re doing it wrong. AI is capable of all sorts of technological wizardry, but the most important thing it should be doing is keeping us from having a full-blown existential crisis trying to keep up!
These days, change doesn’t politely knock — it barges in like a caffeinated squirrel. A recent Nexthink report found that 94 percent of companies think their survival depends on AI in the next three years. But here’s the kicker: less than half (47 percent) of employees have the skills to actually get to grips with AI. For some, it’s going to be like trying to teach a goldfish quantum physics. The divide between where they are now and where they need to be? It’s a gap, a chasm, a digital Grand Canyon! But for the brave few who are willing to build a bridge for them, it’s a massive opportunity.
Turning Humans into AI Ninjas
At Mondelez, we’re digital alchemists, mixing and matching AI tools like Amazon Connect, Nexthink, Google Cloud, and even Synthesia (which, let’s be honest, sounds like a fancy brand of synthetic cheese, but it’s way cooler) with the goal of turning tech into experiences that don’t make you want to throw your laptop out the window.
Consider the challenge of training up colleagues — we have over 100,000 employees globally, so trying to make core material available to everyone used to require translating complex training manuals into Mandarin, Portuguese, and probably Klingon. And all of it had to be done manually.
Then we brought in Synthesia and they turned me into a digital avatar. They took my voice, my expressions, my questionable dance moves — the whole shebang. Now we’re using “Avatar Geoff” to teach these core materials to colleagues in over 100+ languages. In essence, AI has allowed us to create a personalized Babel fish just for Mondelez — a Babel fish which is saving us millions in translation costs. And the great thing is, this AI training avatar isn’t just a party trick for tech geeks. We’re seeing major improvements in employee engagement with our training sessions, collapsing the learning curve from weeks into hours for everyone from Brazil to Beijing.
Decoding the human puzzle
All of this is great and is making a major difference to the way we operate at Mondelez. But here’s the thing: it’s far easier to get people to tune out than tune in. It doesn’t matter how fancy a tech party you throw (there can be confetti and streamers and the world’s biggest sound system), if people are confused, they’re just going to ignore it all. The same Nexthink report found that 88 percent of IT leaders expect their colleagues to be ‘daunted’ by new technologies like GenAI.
So how do we fix this? Here’s the magic: you have to focus on the user experience. How are people using the tools they’re being given? Where are they getting stuck? Are there things which aren’t working as they should? At Mondelez, we’ve rolled out Nexthink to be our digital employee experience (DEX) superhero. It’s like having a digital therapist for our employees. Instantly we can see who is struggling or if something’s about to spontaneously combust. Not only does this mean that problems get sorted before they become full-blown office meltdowns, but it also gives a seamless experience to employees as they adapt to new tools.
Digital dinosaurs don’t adapt
There is a whole lot of noise around AI right now but the truth is, it’s just a tool — a super-powered Swiss Army knife. It’s not going to replace humans, but if done properly it can helping us work smarter, learn faster, and not lose our minds. Here’s two stats to keep in mind: pretty much every IT leader (94 percent) knows AI is crucial for their competitiveness and survival, and even more (96 percent) say digital adoption support is essential.
So, either we adapt or become museum exhibits. But this means that the job of IT has to change from “install this thing” to “make this thing awesome.” Because that’s the only way to avoid the digital dinosaur graveyard.
Geoff Wright is Global Solution Owner, GenAI and Digital Experience, Mondelez.
