Harness the power of next-generation AI in your everyday work

 David Hanrahan, Senior Director Workplace, NTT DATA Australia

Driving positive employee experience (EX) can have a ripple effect on a business's overall performance. Technology has played a significant role in the evolution of the EX-narrative over the last several years, and positive EX results in employees going above and beyond their job descriptions, leading to creativity, innovation and improved business outcomes.

With the future of the workplace up for debate, businesses operating a hybrid business model, fully remote or even a return to office mandate, must proactively ensure employees are empowered and have the right technologies in place to feel connected and drive efficiency. Too often, technology solutions are siloed and are focused on one type of working style, despite employees wanting the flexibility to work in a way that will allow them to be more productive and efficient. 

So how can businesses leverage technology with the ever-changing landscape to supercharge employee productivity?

Providing flexibility is the key to employee experience 

While many organisations are now implementing more structured approaches to work, NTT DATA’s’  2023 Global Employee Experience Trends Report has found that approximately 36% of hybrid workers spend half the work week at the office, and a hybrid model is still largely favourable and recognised by the majority of business leaders as fundamental to positive EX. 

Organisations have to be flexible and provide employees with the right technologies they need to work effectively, regardless of location, this means having access to the technology they need to work well from anywhere, including in the office.

In fact, the majority (84%) of ANZ businesses see hybrid and remote work as having a positive impact on their bottom line, however, less than half provide employees with the technology they need for hybrid work. To address this disconnect between what employees need and what businesses are providing them with, organisations must invest in modern technologies that can drive better EX.

Leveraging AI to improve employee productivity 

With the rise in AI, many organisations have voted AI as the No.1 enabler of future customer experience (CX) and EX strategies. AI interfaces are rising to become the norm for 4 in 5 organisations within the next 12 months. Despite this, 86% of organisations agree that human-led support remains a critical element in their customer engagement. As technology advances, organisations need to stay ahead of the curve and learn how to harness the benefits of emerging technologies to reap greater productivity and effectively improve bottom lines while supporting employee fulfilment and well-being.

NTT DATA’s survey revealed that top-performing companies that increased their IT spend and invested in EX technology were 56% more likely than underperformers to report improved business growth due to improvements to EX, and 89% more likely than all others to have significantly increased employee satisfaction. Those who have improved their EX capabilities and significantly increased their levels of employee satisfaction in the last year also show a 30% increase in their share of customer value, including customer retention. 

How NTT DATA and Microsoft Copilot can transform productivity

Businesses have been witnessing the productivity benefits of AI, but now need to shift to an implementation phase of being able to incorporate and adopt AI seamlessly into their business. Employees often spend too much time searching for information and navigating inefficient meetings, going through volumes of data, and emails which has outpaced our ability to process information. This digital debt leaves employees less time for deep thinking, creative projects and social collaboration. 

Imagine being able to give natural language prompts like “tell my team how we updated the product strategy,” and it will generate a status update based on the morning’s meetings, emails, and chat threads. When employees can leverage AI to eliminate hours spent on these tasks, they become more productive and can spend time working on things that matter. 

Microsoft 365 Copilot can deliver immediate productivity benefits for organisations and combines the power of language models with your business data, including all your Microsoft 365 apps, documents, emails and conversations. It works alongside you, embedded in the apps you use every day, like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, and Loop workspaces. Microsoft 365 Copilot helps you perform tasks faster and more efficiently enabling you to boost organisational creativity and work more productively.

NTT DATA has developed a framework to create an AI Centre of Excellence which is defining real-world use cases and creating a depth of experience that is helping NTT DATA’s clients set themselves up for AI success. Want to know how? 

Register here and attend the upcoming webinar with NTT DATA's Senior Director for Workplace David Hanrahan to learn more about leveraging AI to drive productivity and long-term integration. 

The webinar will cover the following:

• The roles and use cases that can gain immediate benefit from AI.
• The ethical and security considerations of modern AI capabilities.
• The process of defining and implementing appropriate AI governance.

It will also explore in detail how Microsoft Copilot and related AI services can deliver immediate productivity benefits for organisations while also helping them define and deliver a long-term vision for AI integration.

It is imperative that organisations start to invest and implement modern technologies like AI that enhances EX, creating meaningful customer experiences that have a direct impact on positive business outcomes and customer retention.