Empowering HR with Low-Code Tools and AI

Unlock the secrets to transforming HR with AI in our latest episode of "Transforming HR the AI Revolution." 

Join Kieran Gilmurray and our distinguished guest, Claire Nutt, Creative Director & CEO of Quantum Human Resources, a digital transformation expert, and chartered CIPD member, as we dive into strategic and practical steps for AI integration. Claire shares her insights on aligning AI initiatives with business goals, the importance of early stakeholder involvement, and the benefits of starting small with pilot projects. She reveals how low-code and no-code tools can simplify process automation, making it accessible for HR professionals without specialist knowledge. Discover the pivotal role of executive education in AI and how it ensures a strategic alignment with overall business objectives.

Wondering if everyone can become a prompt engineer? Claire and I dissect this question, providing practical resources and examples for HR teams, and highlighting the idea of creating internal prompt champions. We delve into common pitfalls like lacking a clear strategy and underestimating change management, while also exploring the ethical considerations around data quality. 

The discussion emphasizes the need for a strategic, business-focused mindset to navigate AI integration successfully. We advocate for investing in employees as much as technology to create a thriving workplace. Prepare to embrace change and prioritize people, ensuring a fruitful transformation journey in your HR department. Tune in for actionable insights and prepare to revolutionize your HR practices with AI.

Email: claire@quantumhr.co.uk
Email: kieran@gilmurray.co.uk

Chapters

• 0:02 Implementing AI in HR
• 13:29 AI Implementation Strategies in HR
• 20:20 Embracing AI in HR Transformation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to today's episode in our series of podcasts Transforming HR the AI Revolution. I'm Ciarán Gilmour, your host for today, and I'm an author and an AI expert with 30 years experience in automation and artificial intelligence. Today, I'm joined by Clare Knott, a chartered CIPD member and digital transformation expert in HR. Claire specializes in transforming human resources practices through technology, mindset and modern processes. Claire, welcome back.

Speaker 2: 0:32

Thanks for having me back again, Ciarán. It's great to be here.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Today we're addressing implementing AI in HR the strategies for success. For those attending. We'll give you some perspectives on HR and AI from experts, but also we'll break down the jargon so you can understand what we're dealing with. Our series of podcasts will take you right back to the basics to get a handle on terminology, advances and all that essential prompting, but in this episode we'll dive into the practical side of AI adoption and HR, specifically focusing on implementation strategies. We'll cover the first crucial steps, explore the benefits of low-code and no-code tools, discuss whether everyone should become a citizen innovator and identify the common pitfalls you need to avoid. Stay with us until the end and we'll share some actionable insights to help you succeed in your AI journey. But let's not waste any more time. Let's begin, claire. Now we're getting into the hands-on steps to help those listening to start to take action on their journey into AI. But what are those first steps a HR department should take when starting to implement AI?

Speaker 2: 1:45

I think everyone's going to have a different perspective on this, depending on how they feel about AI, but I think the first step is to align your AI initiatives with those business objectives. Before you're diving into those specific tools or technologies you have access to, it's really crucial to understand what are the business problems you're trying to solve. So are you aiming to enhance talent acquisition? Are you improving employee engagement or simply automating some administrative tasks? But having clear objectives allows you to prioritise where IAI can possibly deliver the most value. Next, I think involving key stakeholders early in that process is critical. So that means HR leaders, your IT teams and senior management, because the organisation as a whole needs to be involved in that decision making. So getting buy-in from those resources really ensures you get the necessary support to succeed. But it's also going to help you identify potential roadblocks earlier on and align that strategy with the overall company goals as well. But once you have that essential buy-in, I would say start small with pilots. There is absolutely no need for you to go all out as part of your first step and, to be honest, you'll probably fail. So try to identify some low risk but high impact areas where AI could be tested and it could be something simple like automating candidate screening or using chatbots for initial employee inquiries or creating a simple app that automates a task or approval. But I think pilots are great because they really help you to learn quickly. You're gathering feedback as you go and you're refining your approach before you're scaling that across a business or organization, because, remember, you'll be learning as you get into this too.

Speaker 2: 3:37

It's big exposure for a lot of people.

Speaker 2: 3:39

It's a new area and the landscape is changing so quickly that even what you potentially decide to implement this month will have grown in ability by next quarter.

Speaker 2: 3:50

But I would say, don't let that stop you from starting. Mckinsey have some great research into this and they're a really, really good thought leader to follow, specifically when you're thinking about HR and AI, and I would urge our listeners to read a recent report that they have called a new future of work and they've identified four priorities for businesses, and it's so funny because it's everything we've been covering here in these podcasts and in our series and what we've been discussing. So they're talking about. Understand the potential of AI, so know what it can do to plan a strategic workforce shift, because the skills gaps that you have now are going to worsen before they get any better and prioritizing your people development, so making sure your people have the skills in order to utilize and embrace the technology and also implement that but, interestingly, also pursue an executive education journey on that automation. So it's important that the leaders of the organization have an understanding of what technologies are available. But the case for emerging technologies and AI is really, I think, becoming too compelling for businesses to now ignore.

Speaker 1: 5:03

Yeah, too compelling and not too late either and I do enjoy, claire, now that Mackenzie, let's say, tongue-in-cheek or copying or thought-leading processes, but I do like that. The last one and the first one you know, in terms of executive education, because everyone has to understand the power of this throughout the org, otherwise, you know, if, if everyone doesn't, then you can't all be part of this transformation. And the key bit there is the tying it to business strategy or business outcome, because I've seen some horrendous and horrendous recent examples of 220 AI pilots or gen AI pilots none of which will make the light of day, because they were pure experiments that were tied to nothing and when it came to implement inside of the organization, not surprisingly, no one was interested.

Speaker 1: 5:49

So great topics, great points and a great reference resource in addition to, of course, the podcast that we're putting together as well we discussed in previous episodes some of the tools that are already available, but how do low code and no code tools empower HR professionals? In their digital transformation efforts.

Speaker 2: 6:11

I think these have been really the game changers for HR and it's something I get so excited about. I think for me personally, from experience and in my career in HR, if you wanted some form of process automation or augmentation, the resources it used to take were immense and they were there. There's no doubt that those specialists were available, but it was such a cumbersome task that needed some form of specialist, and the problem was that that specialist was always in high demand across the business and HR was never top of the priority list, so it potentially would have been IT or externally facing customers who saw the most benefit from that. But these low and no code tools for HR professionals enable them to create applications and automate workflows, analyze data, without needing that deep technical skill or expert on hand. Things like Microsoft Power Platform we've talked about, or Zapier can help those HR teams to build custom solutions really quickly as well, whether that's automating leave requests or just setting up some onboarding workflows.

Speaker 2: 7:20

But I think the real power of those tools lie in their speed and agility, because HR departments can then rapidly deploy those new processes and respond to the changing business needs without waiting months for IT and I don't mean to pick on IT. But in general, if it was a technical solution, that's who would have delivered it. But that flexibility allows those HR teams to stay ahead in that fast-paced environment, continuously improving and I suppose we're reiterating their own digital solutions, but also building their own skills and capabilities. And they then start to bridge that gap between HR and IT, because it fosters collaboration when you're working on projects like that, so they can work closely with the IT teams to make sure that the solutions are still scalable and secure. But then they have the independence to innovate and experiment with the new process on their own because they have access to it.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Yeah, I actually feel sorry for IT teams at times, because they're expected to do everything and know all the answers and, as you say, they're not always available. And that expert you struggle to get hold of him, her or they, because they are always in high demand.

Speaker 1: 8:32

So we have an expert who is able to use a really useful tool that doesn't cost a lot of money to allow them to take control of their own processes. With a little bit of guidance and a little bit of mentorship and a little bit of coaching, it just goes a long way. Now, claire, we're starting to see a rise in non-IT employees using these low-code and no-code tools to innovate. So are you and I actually saying that every single employee should become a citizen innovator by using these low-code, no-code tools in their businesses?

Speaker 2: 9:08

I mean it's an exciting trend, a really exciting trend.

Speaker 2: 9:12

Gartner, for example, are predicting that by 2025, 80% of technology products and services are actually built by non-IT professionals, and Microsoft have concurred with that, no doubt, obviously, with their own low and no code offering that they provide to businesses, and the chief executive from GitHub was saying that Copilot is going to write 80% of their code, but that doesn't mean the likes of developers will disappear or their role is going to be completely replaced, and we talked about this and I'm a product of that trend as well.

Speaker 2: 9:45

I mean, what I have learned in the last 18 months is phenomenal, and the fact that I've been able to actually practice it and deliver solutions to clients as well, using the likes of those technology products, it still blows me away, me away. But I think in HR, that democratization of technology means that any employee that has creativity and problem solving skills can contribute to digital transformation. So it's not just about relying on those specialists. You can rely on your own employees. So automating those repetitive tasks, creating a new workflow I I mean the possibilities are immense. They just need to have the passion and the motivation to learn that. However, while it is beneficial, I suppose, to encourage that innovation.

Speaker 2: 10:32

It's really important to maintain governance and quality standards around that, so not every employee is going to understand the data security associated with it what compliance needs to be in place or what system integration is actually needed to successfully build and deploy a tool that's going to be part of a digital solution. So organisations should still provide that training. They still need to have set clear guidelines to ensure that that innovation is aligned with the business and the objectives and it doesn't unnecessarily introduce risk. I think also key is still having those stakeholders, those specialists, involved in those conversations. So don't go and build something without telling IT you know, have those specialists on hand so that they have oversight and they can input appropriately and then it is a successful release. But I definitely think fostering that culture where employees feel empowered to innovate is key.

Speaker 2: 11:27

You could offer incentives or recognition programs and I've seen even internal hackathons on that problem solving and to spark that creativity. But ultimately embracing that citizen innovation I think can lead to more agile and resilient organizations where solutions are co-created by those closest to the problem and I've seen it myself with clients. Generally, once we introduce that phase one of a digital transformation strategy, it's those employees that feel its benefits close to the problem that are then building on that and bringing more suggestions for digital solutions. So I was saying one person doesn't have all the answers in a business, no matter how experienced that they are, and the secret sauce, in my opinion, to all of this is to build teams and groups around the problem so that ideas and those experiences can be shared. And you're drawing on more than one resource, then as well.

Speaker 1: 12:25

Yeah and that improves communication, doesn't it? Between teams at the same time?

Speaker 1: 12:29

and there's probably a couple of things there. You know I use the phrase not everyone can play the piano and therefore, you know, potentially not everyone can code. But I like the idea, claire, that citizen innovators aren't just coders, because I think the definition of citizen developers which is why you and I named it citizen innovators is much broader and much more representative, where there's lots of digital roles within a business, not just coding, but ideation. You know running project management, business analytics, design, using a lot of you know analytics tools or design tools or video and audio tools.

Speaker 1: 13:01

So I kind of like it. And I do love what you're saying there about co-creation, because I'm sure the it team don't want, you know, someone running rogue on the systems, a bit like you and I don't want the citizen dentist operating on her teeth. But when everybody works together a little bit more effective and with everybody bought in and playing their part, then everything should get done that little bit quicker as well. And playing their part, then everything should get done that little bit quicker as well. Claire, we also said before that prompt engineering is key to getting the best out of generative tools like Gemini, copilot and ChatGPT. If not everyone is going to be a citizen innovator, should we teach everyone to be a prompt engineer, or is that again too simplistic a statement?

Speaker 2: 13:43

Yeah, Prompt engineering. We know it's a critical skill in the AI era. There's no doubt about that, and I mean I still get it wrong and still get rubbish responses. So continuously learning, and it's not just about crafting queries, it's about understanding how to frame questions in a way that gets that accurate and actionable insight. And I think, yes, while it's beneficial for HR professionals to learn the basics, it's unrealistic to expect everyone to become an expert in prompt engineering overnight as well.

Speaker 2: 14:18

And I think, practically, instead of deep dive training for absolutely everyone, organisations could focus on providing practical resources and even examples of effective prompts that HR teams can adapt. And I mean tools like ChatGPT are already evolving with their user interfaces. We know that screen sharing is going to be introduced as well, and that reduces the interpretation piece from the user in crafting the prompt nearly and gives it direct access to the data information we're trying to question. But for those that actually do want to specialise and the business sees the value of that the input from that employee and they could offer advanced training or creating internal prompt champions, even as an appropriate way forward for the business, rather than training everyone. But it's also important to remember that effective prompts are also context specific. So what works in one scenario for another department might not work in a specific department like HR. So HR professionals need to develop the ability to fine tune those prompts, definitely based on the problem that they're addressing, whether that's analysing employee sentiment or generating personalised learning paths.

Speaker 2: 15:32

And I mean I'll give you an example. I recently had a demonstration of a. It's a learner experience platform and it actually has a chatbot built in that measures line managers' performance when they're dealing with difficult conversations. So it was very interesting to get a hands-on experience of that. What I find is it's actually able to understand tone and empathy and direction from the flow of conversation, but also what the likely outcome and impact of the discussion would be, and it gives constructive feedback to the user based on the context and the answers. And that, for me, is a really great way of investing resources and using AI and HR without the need to train everyone on how to prompt engineer. Well, you might need to train your managers a bit more on difficult conversations and how you handle that. It depends.

Speaker 1: 16:28

Yeah, but that's good. I've heard of that tool, you know, for sales. So if someone's ringing up, ringing a prospect or online with a prospect, the tool is prompting them and guiding them and giving them feedback all the time. So you've got a 24-7 coach and therefore you know, having seen it in sales, I'm delighted to hear it's in HR. Now you can get a little bit of feedback because nobody sets out to be a well, I hope not a horrible manager and therefore the more you can upskill and improve to give really good, candid feedback to individuals, the better. But then someone once did warn me Claire, it was a friend of mine was going out with a northern Irish girl and said, based on her accent, he wasn't too sure if she was telling him he loved her or she loved him or whether she was screaming at him all the time. So we maybe need a little bit of interpretation in the tool from where from?

Speaker 1: 17:13

our end of the world, Claire as we wrap up today's podcast, what are some of the common pitfalls that people should avoid when implementing AI, just to set them on the right path ahead?

Speaker 2: 17:24

Yeah, for me, one of the biggest is diving into this headfirst without a clear strategy. Implementing AI for the sake of it, just because it's out there and there's pressure to integrate it into your business, rather than solving a specific problem, will often lead to really poor adaptation and wasted resources and you've given perfect examples of that today as well and wasted resources, and you've given perfect examples of that today as well. I think it's essential to have a well-defined plan that's still agile and adaptable, but that it ties your AI initiatives to your business objectives. I would also say don't run before you can walk. Start small and build some really impactful data analytics or a low-code form before you try to implement AI into critical decision-making processes in HR. I mean, power Apps gives you templates for these. All you need to do is really change the questions and you've built something very simplistic, but then, when you gain that time saved, redeploy that capacity into embedding the learning and then some larger changes. So you're growing at a steady pace, but within a plan and not going right first into everything.

Speaker 2: 18:38

I would say another pitfall is neglecting or possibly underestimating the change management. Ai can be just well. Ai is disruptive, I would say, and if employees don't understand how it benefits them, there's likely to be resistance. So there has to be a focus on communicating the why and, for example, in the ones that you've used of the pilots, the why behind the initiatives, and giving the training to build confidence and capacity within that workforce.

Speaker 2: 19:09

And I would say, finally, overlooking the data quality and the ethical considerations. You know you could end up leading to bias or misleading AI outputs and HR professionals were trained to look for that but it's important to look for that in the data. You have to ensure that the data is accurate and it is unbiased and it's aligned with ethical standards in your AI process, and that's particularly important if you're thinking about integrating it into the likes of recruitment or performance management, where those decisions can have some serious implications. I would just say the case for adopting and embracing AI is so strong and we could talk about this for days, but there is one famous quote from Confucius which really sums up for me and I love it, and he simply says the first step is to take one.

Speaker 1: 20:00

Oh, that's very powerful and that should encourage people to jump in as well, because technology at times can be scary. But this technology, as you mentioned earlier on Clare, really is starting to be democratized everywhere because it's simple to use.

Speaker 1: 20:11

And I'm starting to see not just typewritten prompts, but now verbal prompts as well, through chatbots and lots of other low-code and no-code platforms. Thank you, claire. Thank you to our listeners for joining us on our series Transforming HR the AI Revolution. The path to integrating AI into HR is paved with opportunities and challenges, but with the right strategy, focus on the business and mindset it's an exciting frontier and exciting journey. Let's continue to embrace change, experiment with new ideas and, most importantly, put people at the heart of technology to unlock the true potential of our workforces.

Speaker 1: 20:47

The one thing I would leave you with Claire and her audience. If only we got as excited about our employees and spent as much money on employees as we did the technology, or maybe if we did both, wouldn't we end up with an amazing workplace. Thank you everyone. Thank you, Claire, Until our next series. We'll see you again soon.