How to implement AI at your organization

Ragan and Ruder Finn’s “The Great AI Divide in Internal Communications” research revealed the sizable gap between communicators prioritizing and implementing AI.

Similarly, Cisco’s AI readiness report found 97% of companies recognized there was an urgency to implement AI and to figure out how to best leverage it. Only about 14% of companies had a plan to implement and take advantage of it.

This discrepancy highlights the needs for organizations to create solutions to move from planning to implementation.

One approach is encouraging experimentation, according to Paul Wendel, senior director of purpose communications and strategic engagements at Cisco.

Cisco’s People, Policy, and Purpose team launched an initiative called “Teaming with AI” to help employees think of AI not as competition, but as a collaborator.

Teaming with AI encouraged employees to think about an AI use case with their internal LLM model. Wendel said each participant underwent four hours of Greenbelt training with courses to understand Gen AI, responsible AI ethics approaches, prompt generation, and DEI in AI.

“And then we sort of let them loose and said, hey, leverage it, use the tools, use the platform, let’s see what you find out,” said Wendel.

Seven hundred of 1,600 employees signed up, smashing the goal of 200. As a result, Cisco saw a 40% increase in employees using their AI platform once a week.

Many comms pros fear AI use, from its potential to replace tasks and take away the art of communications work. Initiatives that push employees to explore AI can demonstrate ways that AI will assist, rather than replace their work.

“I think what we realize is that human element is still really critical, and that there are ways that we can look at AI as a partner, as a collaborator, as a drafting partner to our work, and a creativity partner. And it takes away a little bit of that fear the more you use it,” Wendel said.

Watch the power conversation below: