A new era of work
Prepare the foundational elements you need for an effective AI transformation.
Preparing for AI Are You Ready for a New Era of Work?
Table of contents
01 A new era of work
Does this sound like your organization? The era of AI-powered of people don’t have enough productivity 1 uninterrupted focus time. The way we now work—defined by an era of digital transformation—is evolving at such a pace that keeping up has become a challenge for many organizations. Business leaders are recognizing the enormous opportunity that modern work solutions like AI tools present and are exploring ways to use them to their best advantage. That means implementing AI in a way that allows employees to be more engaged and productive, focusing on the work that matters most. Organizations that made employee engagement a top priority have performed twice as well financially as businesses that deprioritized an engaged workforce.2 And AI is poised to empower employees to be more engaged through opportunities spend too much time for creativity, skill building, and increased productivity. AI helps your employees 1 searching for information. ofÒoad time-consuming tasks by jumpstarting the creative process, analyzing trends, and summarizing email threads and key discussion points from meetings. Less time spent on more tedious tasks grants employees the freedom to focus on the work that matters most. AI tools can help your employees gain better focus and efÏciency.
Employees are ready for AI Discover what’s possible with AI would delegate work to AI to lessen their workloads.2 Imagine a workforce driven by the powerful combination of irreplaceable human ingenuity and skill with the innovative capabilities of a secure, user-friendly AI system. With the right tools and mindset, any organization can embrace the transformation to an AI-powered workforce. Responsible AI practices With all the potential that working with AI holds, it’s critical to remember to take an approach that prioritizes fairness, transparency, and accountability. Microsoft is a leader in the development and implementation of AI systems, which includes creating guidance on principles and best practices for responsible AI use—and ensuring those principles are at the foundation of Microsoft’s AI technology. Only say using AI tools empowers with responsible AI implementation can your organization unlock the full potential of what’s possible with AI. them to feel fulfilled and focus on the work that matters most.3
02 AI readiness
How do you know your organization is ready for AI? The platform shift to AI isn’t one that can be made without clear leadership and focused investment. Implementing AI technology can be complex, especially without a well- defined plan in place. It requires a culture of productivity and collaboration, a secure foundation for endpoint management, and the willingness to embrace change in order to outpace it. What does AI readiness look like? An organization ready to embrace AI understands its potential as a strategic asset, how it can be used to benefit the business, and the ability to guide employees and customers in responsible AI practices. Assessing your readiness level is the first step toward transforming your organization into one that can outpace the changes and challenges of this new era of working with next-generation technologies like AI.
03 Assessment
9 Assessment: Evaluating your AI readiness To help you begin the transformation to an AI-powered organization, we’ve compiled a quiz with questions aimed at evaluating readiness level. The quiz is in five parts and assesses your organization's: • Relationship to change and productivity • Relationship to AI • Willingness to use AI • Investment and funding abilities • Endpoint management and security capabilities Each question has three potential answers. Choose the one that sounds most like where your organization currently stands and keep a tally of your answers as you go. At the end of the quiz, you’ll be able to estimate whether your organization is Very Ready, Almost Ready, or Needs More Guidance to begin the transformation to an AI-powered workforce.
10 Rate your organization’s openness to change and innovation. A Very open: We welcome and seek out opportunities for change and innovation. Part One: B Somewhat open: We approach opportunities for change and innovation with caution. Your organization’s C Not very open: We don’t take on many opportunities for change and innovation. relationship to change How confident are you that your current technology empowers your employees to be productive? and productivity A Very confident: Our technology greatly improves employee productivity. B Somewhat confident: Our technology somewhat improves employee productivity. C Not very confident: Our technology does not support employee productivity.
How fundamental is AI to the success of your business? A Very important: AI will greatly improve the success of our business. B Somewhat important: AI will support the success of our business, but it Part Two: isn’t necessary. C Not very important: AI would be beneficial in other ways but won’t affect the success of our business. Your organization’s Rate your employees’ current willingness to adopt new technologies, relationship to AI including AI. A Very willing: Employees are excited to learn about and use new technologies like AI. B Somewhat willing: Employees are cautiously optimistic about new technologies. C Not very willing: Employees are resistant to new technologies, including AI.
How important is it to provide secure, user-friendly AI systems to your workforce? A Very important: We want our employees to be able to learn and use AI as soon as possible. B Somewhat important: We’re interested in adopting user-friendly AI but want to learn Part Three: more first. C Not very important: User-friendly AI systems are a “nice-to-have” but not currently a priority. Your organization’s How much, if at all, has your organization’s leadership bought into the business willingness to use AI value of AI-powered tools? A All in: Our leadership is ready and willing to begin transitioning to AI-powered tools. B Somewhat in: Leadership understands the importance of AI but needs some convincing on the business value of adopting it. C Not at all in: Our leadership doesn’t understand the importance or value of AI just yet.
How strong is your investment in change management and training to support the transition to AI-powered processes and systems? A Very strong: We could begin the transition immediately. B Somewhat strong: We could begin the transition soon but have some challenges to Part Four: overcome first. C Not very strong: We need a lot of support and training before we can begin the transition to AI. Investment and Does your organization have funding for deploying and implementing a secure, funding user-friendly AI system? A Fully funded: Our organization is ready and able to invest in AI technologies. B Some funding: Our organization can afford to transition, but leadership is unsure the benefit outweighs the cost. C No funding: We’re working toward a place where we can invest in AI technologies, but we’re not quite there yet.
How confident are you in your organization’s current endpoint management capabilities to enable employees to use AI to help them do their best work, regardless of where they work and what device they use? A Very confident: Our endpoint management capabilities allow employees to work where and how they feel they can be most successful. Part Five: B Somewhat confident: Our endpoint management capabilities are stable for certain experiences but could be improved. C Not very confident: We need a better system to support endpoint management for Endpoint employees working anywhere and from any device. management and Rate your organization’s current security foundation for enabling AI-powered work from any endpoint. security capabilities A Very secure: Our systems are built on a robust security foundation and support our strong endpoint management capabilities. B Somewhat secure: We have strong security systems but aren’t confident they can support the additional requirements of using AI-powered tools. C Not very secure: We need a more secure system to protect our organization’s data and ensure our employees can confidently work from anywhere.
04 Results
Very Ready Almost Ready Need More Guidance Mostly A’s Mostly B’s Mostly C’s GREAT NEWS: Your organization is ready to get your GOOD NEWS: Your organization is nearly there. Like IT’S OK: It sounds like your organization could benefit AI transformation underway. The Microsoft 365 team is Very Ready organizations, your Almost Ready business from personalized guidance on implementing AI tools. excited to help you move forward. A couple of key notes should consider deploying a qualifying Microsoft 365 For more information on the requirements and benefits for Very Ready organizations: subscription* if you haven't already. Help your of a secure, user-friendly AI system, Microsoft can help! employees learn their way around Microsoft 365, its A couple of notes to get organizations that Need More • If you haven't deployed Microsoft 365 yet, we can best-in-class productivity apps, Zero Trust security, Guidance started: help make that happen so your organization is set device and app management, and robust collaboration up with a Zero Trust foundation and strong endpoint capabilities. This will make it easier for them to adopt • Speak to a Microsoft 365 representative to learn more management capabilities. Having that baseline the AI integrations down the road. A couple of notes for about the benefits of adopting Microsoft 365 so your productivity in place will enable your employees to Almost Ready organizations: organization can build a foundation that will get you start exploring the benefits of Copilot as soon as Very Ready for AI transformation. possible. You can find a link to get started at the end • There is a wealth of guidance online to help you of this ebook. familiarize your teams with Microsoft AI capabilities • Visit the Microsoft AI homepage for a number of before deploying the tools. resources on responsible AI principles, specific AI • Before you can subscribe to Microsoft 365 Copilot, capabilities, and guidance on how to build an you need a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription.* • Microsoft 365 representatives are available to help you AI-ready organization. You can accelerate your employees workflows using understand what steps specific to your organization Microsoft Copilot with commercial data protection will take you from Almost Ready to Very Ready. when logged in with your Entra ID. If you're just interested in taking advantage of free capabilities, you can experience Microsoft Copilot by signing in with an MSA. Continue reading for next steps
05 Next steps
An organization ready to unlock what’s further. Microsoft 365 delivers a secure, possible with AI has a strong foundation productive working experience. With in security, streamlined endpoint Microsoft 365 Copilot, it becomes an management, and an openness to intuitive, next-generation productivity innovation that improves productivity. partner that works alongside your With Microsoft 365, your organization employees, empowering them to Unlock the can achieve those checkpoints with collaborate and work more efÏciently to one complete solution. Microsoft 365 become more productive contributors to ensures your organization's technology business outcomes. landscape will be grounded in Zero Trust, potential of AI with ensuring a secure foundation for all of Microsoft 365 Copilot can empower your your endpoints, no matter where access team to tap into the rich functionality is coming from. A Zero Trust security available throughout Microsoft 365, foundation in turn makes endpoint making employees better at what Microsoft 365 Copilot management safer and less complex, they’re already good at and mastering so you can efÏciently grant employees what they’ve yet to learn. It integrates access to all the tools they need to be seamlessly with the apps your teams more productive than ever. already use and is designed to unlock their untapped potential. Ultimately, Microsoft offers decades in future- Microsoft 365 Copilot elevates the forward technology expertise, and that powerful capabilities of Microsoft 365 to experience is built into the features that enhance your workforce’s productivity, make Microsoft 365 so powerful. Now, creativity, and skills—benefits your when you add Microsoft 365 Copilot* organization can experience when you to your organization, you'll extend the make the transformation to AI. capabilities of its productivity apps even
What does Microsoft 365 Copilot deliver for your organization? Secure any endpoint with robust Automate time-consuming, Reduce your organization’s protocols grounded in Zero Trust repetitive tasks so employees can software footprint focus on more meaningful work Lower costs of deployment and Improve employee productivity Drive higher financial performance implementation and engagement and positive business outcomes
What does Microsoft 365 Copilot deliver for your organization? *Disclaimer: Microsoft 365 Copilot may not be available for all markets and languages. To purchase, customers must have a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan for enterprise or business. Sources: 1“Will AI Fix Work?” Work Trend Index, May 9, 2023. Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/ work-trend-index/will-ai-fix-work. 2 “The New Performance Equation in the Age of AI.” Work Trend Index, April 20, 2023. Microsoft. https://www. microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/the-new-performance-equation-in-the-age-of-ai. 3“A Whole New Way of Working.” Work Trend Index. Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/ai- a-whole-new-way-of-working. ©2024 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is provided “as-is.” Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet website references, may change without notice. You bear the risk of using it. This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Microsoft product. You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes.