Maximising the impact from AI investment for a global energy leader

How do you get colleagues to embrace AI to transform IT operations?

With a new strategy to roll-out advanced AI Ops capabilities our client wanted to elevate the customer experience delivered by its global IT Operations function while also increasing operational efficiency. Over 160 colleagues work here, across ten different locations, supporting IT systems that underpin the global energy organisation.  

Getting employees to embrace and use the new AI Ops technologies was key to realising the full potential from the £multi-million investment. Our talent experts designed and delivered an engaging programme that is already shifting the dial on what colleagues think about AI and how they use it. 

Building excitement and getting users involved 

We made an impact from the start with a series of immersive launch events across five continents. These inspired excitement for the change and started to build colleagues’ trust in the new digital capabilities. Metrics showed a 75% uplift in buy-in for AI-based transformation following the events.  

Building on this, we set up ‘transformation squads’, giving employees the chance to pitch their best ideas for using AI at work. Transformation leaders chose the solutions with the greatest potential value and the squads went on to build solutions using the AI Ops capabilities, drawing on SMEs.

To extend colleagues’ AI skills, we ran a series of experiential learning events – global hackathons with teams competing to apply AI to real-life scenarios and win prizes. Employees gained hands-on experience with AI tools, practised new ways of working and developed new skills. After these initiatives, employee confidence in AI skills hit 85 per cent.  

Driving momentum with a focus on culture 

To supercharge the transformation, we devised initiatives to shift mindsets and behaviours. These included a toolkit to help leaders communicate how every colleague could help drive successful transformation. We also set up a network of ‘culture pioneers’ to identify any blocking behaviours on the ground, triggering specially designed interventions grounded in behavioural science to address this. Metrics on the impact of these initiatives show that the team has started to see changes in ways of working which reflect the target mindsets and behaviours.  

Positive impact for people and performance 

The roll-out is already enabling the global IT Operations function to deliver better-than-ever services for its customers while also increasing operational efficiency. For example, predictive tools allow the team to anticipate and fix problems before they occur, avoiding IT disruption. Colleagues are also seeing benefits for themselves; the new AI Ops capability is taking on repetitive tasks, lifting the load in a demanding working environment and giving client colleagues more time to focus on meaningful activity. Another upside? The employees are upbeat about working for an organisation leading the way with Artificial Intelligence.  

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