How AI Agents Are Reinventing Employee Experience

AI agents are rapidly becoming the new user interface for the employee experience. However, AI agents are not just a technology capability, it requires a new strategy and roadmap for the new AI + Human workforce collaboration.

As Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO mentioned early this year at the Word Economic Forum in Davos that “from now on CEOs will no longer manage human workers but also digital workers”. The new generation of CHROs play a critical role to be the orchestrators of the new workforce mix and prepare the organization for enterprise change and adoption.

AI agents are the tip of the iceberg and companies are starting to move from the individual experimentation to deploying custom AI agents for service delivery, complete tasks, and provide immediate support.

So, the employee experience is changing from:

• Manually collect and search for information → AI agent to find and summarize information
• Manage repetitive tasks → create content and process transactions
• One-size it all services → personalize journeys
• Limited access to HR support → instant resolution
• Prepare and analyze → provide insights and recommendations

Employee experience is moving from fragmented, manual and reactive experiences to seamless, proactive and personalized enabled by AI agents.

Let me give you an example: Onboarding. AI agents can:

• Reach out to new hires, organize paperwork and prepare them for day 1
• Answer questions on company policies, team and org charts etc
• Schedule onboarding training and request access to platforms
• Help new employee to choose benefits
• Provide career and learning recommendations based on role and experience

From the technology standpoint, it’s hard to keep up. Since the launch of ChatGPT in Nov 2022, almost every HR technology vendor started building AI agents to address capability-focused use cases. However, the market keeps evolving with new vendors creating partnerships with major AI platforms such as Open AI, Cohere, and Nvidia to have AI as core capability.

The current ecosystem is also confusing with different terms and capabilities being used for chatbots, copilots, digital workers, AI assistants, AI agents etc. The market opportunity is exponential since companies are looking for guidance to integrate AI in technology platforms, business processes and workflows.

However, companies are facing several challenges to move from individual experimentation to value creation.

• Lack of vision and executive buy-in/alignment
• High investment and ROI uncertainty
• Change management and culture
• Manage risk and compliance
• Data privacy and security
• Talent shortage and skill gaps

So, where do we get started? A practical way follows these 5 steps:

• Assess enterprise readiness
• Set a north star and envision the digital experience
• Co-create employee journeys and signature moments
• Make decisions on build vs buy
• Equip managers and prepare employees

Final Thoughts

AI agents are quickly becoming a new standard for employee experience, working independently, making decisions and generating creative solutions. How is your organization preparing for it?

Keep in mind that the AI journey is people lead and technology enabled.

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Note: All views expressed in this article do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated. My opinions are my own.