Since the sudden arrival and fast paced adoption of generative AI into the workplace, there has been much speculation around how many jobs and which jobs it will replace as well as what this means for future generations in the workplace. While some roles may become automated, AI is also expected to create new opportunities and transform existing jobs, leading to a shift rather than a reduction in employment.
Prosperity 24/7 has been leading the way, supporting businesses to adapt and embrace the new technology through its people first approach and readiness service. They are also supporting employees to learn about and experiment with AI as well as developing solutions using AI for clients.
Two members of the team, Alex Ferreira and Kyra Crous, share their insights on what they have learned and how they have applied AI into their professional routines. They find it useful both as part of their daily administration as well as for the more technical parts of their roles.
Alex joined Prosperity 24/7 in July 2023 after graduating from University College Jersey with a BSc in Digital Technologies, he works as a Junior Consultant on the Technical Solutions team.
“I mainly use AI to help draft emails or coach me to make sure my writing is clear, concise, and has the right tone, which helps boost my confidence in communication. In my IT role, I also use it to gain a better understanding of certain concepts or technologies from different angles, which can be really useful when tackling something new. I troubleshoot issues and it helps me to learn faster. On top of that, I use AI to act as a copilot or pair programmer for my coding experience especially when trying to come up with suggestions to a problem or assisting with writing more efficient code.
Kyra is a Junior Data Consultant in the Business Solutions team. She joined Prosperity 24/7 this year, after working as a Data Analyst for a UK base procurement company following graduation from the University of Exeter with a BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience.
“I use AI to help with debugging and helping me understand unfamiliar blocks of code or languages. Working in a team where we all specialise in different programming languages, it is essential for allowing us to understand each other’s work without spending hours cross-referencing the code to websites. Additionally, as someone who is not great at putting actions into words, AI helps me with my documentation and ensures that the highly technical components are understandable to clients, regardless of their technical background. I also use it for idea validation, to check if my approach to a problem is feasible before I commit time to it.”
The teams at Prosperity 24/7 predominantly use Microsoft’s generative AI tool, Copilot in their daily work and help implement Copilot solutions for their clients. From administrative tasks in Microsoft Office to more complicated coding and data analysis or testing in Power BI and Fabric, Copilot is embedded across all Microsoft platforms to enhance the service they offer to clients.
Kyra’s initial interest in AI stemmed from curiosity about its capabilities and she now feels that it is a much more necessary part of her role. “Working as a Data Consultant, my goal is to help businesses access their data more efficiently and effectively. This means processing, cleansing, and preparing data so clients can extract useful information from the data they have. I have used AI since it became publicly available, and like many others, was sceptical of both its capabilities and effectiveness within the workplace. However, AI has progressed so much over the last few years. I have moved away from only experimenting with it, such as asking simpler questions, and towards using it as a guide through unfamiliar territory, such as learning SQL which is a tool essential in my job role.”
Alex explains how learning how to use prompts effectively, ensures that you can achieve the results you want from AI. “At first, I experimented with generic prompts just to see what AI tools were capable of outputting, then kept developing my prompts until I eventually got the result I wanted. Although time-consuming at first, over time, I found that being more specific with the way prompts are phrased (prompt engineering) and including more detail gave me much more useful and consistent outcomes.”
Artificial intelligence is here to stay but it won’t be able to replace the need for human judgement. Both Alex and Kyra see the benefits and the risks, with more time freed up to be creative and innovative yet potential for over-reliance on the technology and lack of accountability for the output. Kyra says, “AI will make the technical side of data engineering more efficient, but it will never be able to fully replicate a human’s ability to connect industry nuance to the data and the insights interpretated from it.”
For Alex, “AI will continue to benefit my role by automating more of the repetitive tasks and speeding up things like documentation, coding checks etc. That frees me up to focus on the parts of IT that require problem-solving and creativity. However, AI isn’t always 100% accurate with its responses and there is the potential to lose critical thinking skills if you allow AI to completely autopilot your work processes.”
So, what advice would they give to others thinking about using AI tools but not knowing where to start? Kyra says, “It’s important that people apply their own judgement instead of the accepting the first answer AI provides. Use it as a tool, not a replacement for your judgement or skills. Keep your questions and tasks small to begin with and use the answers to learn. Don’t believe everything that AI tells you because, at the end of the day, it is used to mimic human thought processes, which are never perfect.”
Alex advises people to experiment with its capabilities, “You could try thinking about the work processes you do on a daily basis and see if there are ways AI could assist and be more efficient. Remember that it is a copilot rather than an autopilot. It isn’t there to completely control your work experience. It is meant to be collaborative. Also be aware of the information you share in case it is sensitive or confidential.”
If you’re AI curious, then start small and think big but remember it is your copilot, designed to assist you not take the controls. Prosperity 24/7 provides training and support to ensure your business and people are ready to effectively implement AI. Talk to Marcus Bailey, Head of Cloud Solutions at Prosperity 24/7 if you would like to find out more marcus.bailey@prosperity247.com
