Bridging the IT skills gap, Part 2: A CIO’s guide to embracing GenAI

Despite its transformative capabilities, many organizations hesitate to adopt generative AI (GenAI). According to IDC’s Future Enterprise Resiliency and Spending Survey, Wave 4, April 2024, the most significant factors limiting further evaluation or expanded use of GenAI are lack of skills and a lack of clear use cases or initial offerings that align with business needs. Specifically, 15% of organizations say they do not possess the necessary expertise to implement and manage GenAI technologies effectively, including technical skills and an understanding of how to integrate these technologies into existing processes. Additionally, 14% of CIOs are uncertain about how GenAI can benefit their organizations and what ROI they can expect to justify the investment.

But by not embracing GenAI, organizations may miss out on opportunities to enhance efficiency, empower their workforce, and stay competitive in a rapidly changing tech world. Understanding these challenges, CIOs can take proactive steps such as the following to facilitate GenAI adoption and move from fragmented solutions to a unified talent strategy:

1. Assess current needs: Identify critical skill gaps through a needs assessment and map them to the organization’s short- and long-term goals.
2. Identify key areas for AI integration: Pinpoint use cases where GenAI can have the most immediate impact in the organization through quick wins, such as automating routine tasks or enhancing customer support.
3. Invest in training and/or hiring workers with AI skills: Prepare current staff for AI augmentation by providing training and upskilling programs while actively hiring professionals with technical expertise to fill skills gaps identified in the needs assessment.
4. Start with pilot projects: Implement GenAI solutions on a small scale to demonstrate value and gather insights before rolling out across the organization.
5. Collaborate with trusted partners: Work with experienced AI vendors or consultants to ensure successful implementation and to build internal capabilities.

By strategically adopting GenAI to augment IT and business workers, CIOs can effectively bridge the skills gap, enhance operational efficiency, and help keep their organizations in a competitive position.

Real-world success stories

To illustrate the transformative impact of GenAI, let’s look at two examples of how organizations have recently leveraged this technology to bridge the IT skills gap:

Case study number 1: How Johnson & Johnson leveraged GenAI to address workforce skills gaps

Facing a shortage of skilled IT professionals, Johnson & Johnson (J&J) implemented an AI-driven skills inference system powered by GenAI. To do this, J&J first established a skills taxonomy that reflected the needs of the business (both current and long term), gathered employee data as evidence of these skills (e.g., through resumes, project experience, and training records), then conducted an assessment to quantify employees’ skill proficiency. The system also predicted future skill requirements based on emerging trends in technology and industry demand. This approach provided J&J with detailed insights into workforce skills gaps, enabling targeted upskilling and reskilling initiatives. Consequently, employees received personalized career development opportunities, and leaders could make informed decisions regarding strategic workforce planning.

Case study number 2: Grind’s partnership with Google to embrace GenAI

Grind, a specialty coffee retailer based in the U.K., recently partnered with Google to integrate GenAI into its operations to help streamline tasks such as creating marketing content, responding to customer inquiries, and generating performance reports. Employees were trained to embrace these tools as productivity enhancers that “supercharge” teams by automating routine tasks and enhancing decision-making processes rather than viewing AI as a replacement for human skills. Grind’s experience exemplifies how businesses can effectively adopt AI technologies to boost productivity and innovation.

These case studies highlight how organizations, regardless of size or industry, can leverage GenAI to bridge critical skills gaps and empower their workforce to thrive in an AI-driven era. By investing in tailored solutions and workforce development, these organizations showcase how GenAI can be a catalyst for innovation and operational excellence.

Conclusion

The IT skills gap presents a significant challenge to organizations, but it’s also an opportunity to innovate through solutions like GenAI. As demonstrated in real-world examples like J&J and Grind, embracing GenAI can be a proven strategy that delivers measurable results.

For CIOs, this means taking a strategic approach to assess workforce capabilities, invest in targeted upskilling, and embed AI into operations where it adds the most value. GenAI not only helps bridge the IT skills gap but also positions organizations to remain agile and competitive in today’s fast-changing technological landscape.

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Mona Liddell is a research manager for IDC’s CIO Executive Research team. She is responsible for leading the creation, analysis, and delivery of quantitative-based research and related marketing content for business and technology leaders. This research provides guidance on how to leverage technology to achieve innovative and disruptive business outcomes. Mona has over 10 years of experience using data to drive actionable insights and recommendations. Prior to joining IDC, Mona served as a market insights advisor for the IBM infrastructure team. She led large-scale primary research studies and advised the IBM Systems and IBM Cloud teams and executive leadership on strategy, market dynamics and trends, and competitors.