Keeping People at the Core of AI

Successfully adopting AI requires thoughtful planning and a focus on human impact. While the pressure to leverage AI is immense across industries, the path to transforming its potential into meaningful outcomes is less clear. Businesses must address critical questions: What impact do we aim to achieve? Are we prepared for the organizational changes AI will bring?

Mark Wakelin, Executive Vice President of Global Professional Services at Salesforce, emphasizes the importance of understanding the “why” behind adopting AI. “You need a clear vision of the impact you want to have and the use cases you’ll deploy,” he explains.

A Readiness Checklist

Before diving into AI initiatives, organizations must evaluate their readiness. This involves:

Understanding existing technological capabilities.
Anticipating how AI will affect employees and workflows.
Building trust by addressing ethical, legal, and societal considerations.

“This isn’t just a technology equation,” Wakelin notes. “AI is also a legal, ethical, and humanitarian equation. It has the potential to significantly impact humanity, and we need to approach it within the context of workforce operations.”

Linking AI to Business Value

A common mistake in AI strategies is failing to align initiatives with tangible business outcomes. Wakelin recalls an engineer boasting about processing billions of images with AI but unable to articulate its business application.

Companies must start by identifying where AI can have the greatest impact:

Increasing revenue.
Reducing costs.
Enhancing customer loyalty.

Trust as the Foundation

For AI to succeed, trust must be at the core of its implementation. This includes:

Transparency in how AI reaches solutions or responses.
Keeping humans involved for oversight where necessary.
Ensuring employees, partners, and customers understand the operational impacts of AI.

“Trust is earned through predictable, integrity-driven behaviors,” says Wakelin. Unlike humans, machines lack relationships, so fostering trust within the ecosystem is crucial.

Starting with People

AI strategies should prioritize people, not technology. Wakelin stresses the need for transparency and proactive communication about AI implementation. This includes clear plans for:

Managing organizational and societal changes.
Empowering employees with the tools and skills needed for a machine-augmented world.
Recognizing and learning from mistakes, while course-correcting when necessary.

Partnering for Success

Salesforce Partner Services supports organizations through this journey by:

Assessing readiness and identifying high-impact use cases.
Developing actionable roadmaps.
Executing proofs of technology to evaluate AI’s effectiveness with real-world data.

Reach out to Tectonic today to road map AI adoption for your organization.

These steps help customers adopt AI thoughtfully, balancing opportunities with risks, and ensuring initiatives are controlled and trust-driven.

A Vision for AI’s Future

“AI is the most exciting development of my 35-year career,” Wakelin shares. He envisions AI enhancing productivity, education, and work-life balance while fostering diversity and equity.

In the coming years, AI holds the promise of significantly improving society—provided organizations keep people at the center of its evolution.