Aligning people and technology for an AI-ready workforce

Every business leader knows that human capital is the most critical part of their success or failure. In the age of AI, that importance only increases, writes Jim Freeman.

Kyndryl’s People Readiness Report 2025 shows that while 95 per cent of businesses have invested in AI, 71 per cent of leaders say their teams aren’t ready to successfully leverage the technology. According to Kyndryl, these figures highlight one of the key differentiators for businesses wanting to make the most of AI: their people.

To close this AI gap, businesses must close the people gap first. Organisations and their human resources (HR) teams need to rethink their approach to workforce enablement, trust-building and cultural transformation. Otherwise, they will suffer from a lack of alignment of their people and their technology strategies; efficiency and long-term value from AI will not be realised.

The missing piece of the AI puzzle

AI readiness is not just about infrastructure or tools – it’s about people. This is confirmed in our research, which found that executives say their employees aren’t fully embracing AI, meaning organisations aren’t poised to fully benefit from their AI investments.

In fact, nearly half (45 per cent) of CEOs globally think their workforces are resistant or openly hostile toward AI technology. Given the latent uncertainty among many people about how AI will affect their jobs, this should come as little surprise. However, given that almost all organisations are using AI, it makes sense that businesses should find ways to change this mindset.

There are still many organisations that have yet to experience a positive return on investment from their AI investments. Our research points to the readiness of employees to adopt and use AI as a key factor in the ability to realise the full value of AI. Businesses that focus on driving a mindset and skills shift can make a big change in this area.

Encouraging employee trust in AI

Many organisations report that employees are fearful and resistant to change when considering the implementation of AI into daily business operations. Despite this, less than half of business leaders take actions to mitigate employee fears, with only 44 per cent involving employees in the implementation process or creating ethical guidelines for AI use.

Fifty per cent of business leaders agree there is a widespread fear of job displacement that directly affects employee engagement with AI technology. Those concerns, coupled with a lack of clarity about AI’s impact, are clearly feeding resistance. It makes sense to start here when working to build trust in AI within the organisation.

With that in mind, there are multiple actions businesses can take to foster trust and mitigate fear in AI, starting with an open, transparent dialogue about AI goals and implementation plans. That conversation must start with addressing concerns about job displacement, creating ethical guidelines for AI use, and maintaining open communication and feedback channels with employees.

Enabling a cultural shift

Considering that 45 per cent of CEOs believe employees resist AI, while 73 per cent of CTOs and CIOs see enthusiasm for AI among their workers, the role of team culture in AI readiness is enormous. Tech teams can be expected to have a greater appetite for AI than non-technical personnel. But what if this latter group can be aligned with their tech-focused counterparts, culturally?

A good starting place is to align AI technology strategies with broader business goals to help non-technical employees understand how AI can not only help the business but also help them at an individual level and help their teams at a departmental level. In fact, this is the top action cited by leaders to successfully leverage AI technology in the workplace.

Businesses can go even further with such alignment to foster the best culture for AI adoption within the organisation – by aligning their workforce, technology, and growth goals together. In such scenarios, workforce strategies are in lockstep with AI adoption, and skills are key.

Securing skills for the future

Roughly one in three business leaders is not confident they know how to manage current skills gaps, according to our research, and a similar portion reports that their business doesn’t understand the skills employees will need in the future. If there’s a gap in an organisation’s AI readiness, skills are likely to play a huge role in helping to close it.

At least business leaders are acutely aware of this. Challenges around training and upskilling dominate the concerns of today’s leaders. Over half (51 per cent) believe their organisations lack the skilled talent needed to manage AI. Among CEOs, 57 per cent are prioritising upskilling existing employees for AI skills development, while 43 per cent are prioritising hiring new employees.

Regardless of which path businesses take to addressing the skills challenges related to AI, businesses and their HR teams should begin by taking a thorough inventory of the current skills within the organisation and understanding where gaps exist. Once that is done, it becomes easier to work out whether upskilling internally or hiring for new skills makes more sense.

The readiness gap highlighted by our recent research risks undermining the transformative potential of AI, despite widespread attempts at implementation. For organisations to close the gap and benefit from game-changing AI use cases, they need to bolster trust in AI, align tech and non-tech teams for an AI-ready culture, and build skills.

Jim Freeman is the chief technology officer at Kyndryl in Australia and New Zealand.