Professional skills needed in the era of AI

- Those that succeed in operations will be those 2 that don't see machines replacing humans, 3 but really embrace the idea of how do we make our people 4 and teams better by incorporating AI into all that we do. 5 (upbeat music) 6 - AI literacy is now the most in demand scale 7 of 2025 according to LinkedIn, 8 and to work efficiently with agents, all employees will need 9 to adopt a thought partner mindset 10 and build related skills where human intelligence excels 11 and can compliment AI technology. 12 - In the AI era, Microsoft sales professionals need 13 to develop a mix of traditional and new age skills. 14 AI literacy and data proficiency are foundational. 15 - Working with human-led 16 and autonomous agents will become commonplace. 17 For this reason, in our group, 18 we are creating business AI agent enablers to work 19 with a broader set of users across the supply chain 20 to expand this proficiency. 21 - AI can assist by providing relevant information, 22 but human agents need to interpret 23 and apply that very effectively. 24 - A growth mindset is fundamental 25 for HR professionals right now. 26 As we become our own AI agent managers, we need to rethink 27 how to construct an organization of individuals 28 and leaders who understand 29 and operationalize the human/AI ratio. 30 - So in this era, it'll be important for all of us 31 to continue to adopt a growth mindset 32 and lean into the opportunity to learn new skills 33 so that we can empower ourselves as finance professionals 34 to really succeed in the era of AI. 35 In our finance department, we have run learning initiatives 36 for many years to try to help people 37 understand the power of AI 38 to transform the way that we work. 39 And what we see is that the people 40 who do invest in themselves 41 and invest in the opportunity to learn how to use AI 42 in the most effective ways are those that do succeed, 43 are those that become leaders of their organizations. 44 - And there's two key things there. 45 First thing is getting educated and driving adoption, 46 using AI tools every single day. 47 Within our legal department, we run many programs, 48 copilot challenges and stuff to get our teams engaged. 49 The second part of the journey is once you have 50 that foundational understanding of artificial intelligence, 51 you can start building solutions tailored to your needs. 52 - So the skills that marketers are going to want to have 53 include things like how to write prompts, 54 how to use agents as an assistant, 55 even how to start building agents, 56 because in the very near future, it's going to be easier 57 and easier to build agents without any code, 58 which is going to make building agents accessible 59 to every marketer out there today. 60 - And we've seen tremendous uptake 61 of this within our legal department, where lawyers, 62 paralegals, business professionals, 63 have been building agentic experiences 64 to (indistinct) support their daily tasks and experiences. 65 And we're seeing tremendous value from this 66 because they're able to solve these problems 67 closest to where they happen. 68 - Adaptability, the ability to adapt 69 to innovative technologies and processes is essential. 70 And as AI continues to evolve, 71 customer service teams must be comfortable 72 with using AI tools and integrating them 73 into their workflow. 74 - Adaptability and a growth mindset are crucial, 75 as AI evolves and changes how work is done. 76 - In this age, those that have a mindset around 77 how AI can really accelerate our journey in doing that 78 will find themselves in high demand, 79 as processes get transformed, as we figure out 80 how to create even greater value in our operations. 81 - Human-centered skills are equally important. 82 Being open to change and continuously learning to keep up 83 with rapidly evolving AI technologies will be necessary. 84 I truly think we are entering a time where we will be able 85 to drive innovation and efficiency 86 at levels not possible before.