The Digital Workplace – Session Report

In November 2019, members of the Digital Leadership Forum met at Baker McKenzie in London to discuss how new digital workplace technologies and working styles can be successfully implemented within their organisations.

Representatives from leading organisations including GSK, BT, Dell Technologies, Slack, EDF Energy, Schroders, Octopus Investments, BDO, Zoom and many more discussed the varied challenges that they are facing, whether as legacy companies transitioning to a digital workplace or as digital-first workplaces.

Attendees heard presentations from Neil Usher, Chief Partnerships Officer at GoSpace, who highlighted the importance of the team-centric workplace, and from Amy Dicketts, Product Lead at Monzo Bank, who presented a case study which gave insight into what a digital workplace looks like in practice.

We were also joined by a panel of experts from Zoom, Slack, Artificial Solutions, Baker McKenzie, and Immerse, who discussed best practices and common challenges when introducing new digital technologies into the workplace.

Attendees then broke into smaller groups to discuss how to demonstrate the value of changes, how to identify which new technology is appropriate for your organisation, the evolving role of leaders in the digital workplace, new skills requirements and training, and how to create and design a digital workplace strategy.

Download the full report:

Ethical challenges of AI with Arash Ghazanfari

We caught up with Arash Ghazanfari, Field CTO at Dell Technologies, at our AI for Good session, The ethics of artificial intelligence, to discuss current innovations and challenges in AI technology.

AI and Cyber Security

“One of the biggest challenges that we are seeing around artificial intelligence is emerging in the space of cyber security,” Ghazanfari said, highlighting the development of deep fake technology “that’s becoming a major concern for us.”

“AI in the wrong hands can have a severe impact on a digitally transformed society,” Ghazanfari said. AI opens up some exciting new possibilities, particularly in manufacturing, where Ghazanfari noted that both the time needed to bring new products to market and the production costs are decreasing.

Automation and Employee Retention

However Ghazanfari cautioned that organisations should be careful when introducing automation, and be particularly mindful of how any transition to automation is presented to employees.

“What tends to happen is that we end up losing the best people first, and people don’t really react to it very well,” he explained. “If the intention is to free us up from those mundane tasks and move us to more valuable activities I think it can be really beneficial to the employees, as well as introducing productivity gains for the business.”

Technology for Education

We are seeing an emergence of platforms that are delivering educational content in new innovative ways. Ghazanfari is particularly passionate about using technology to improve education and make it more accessible.

“Different people consume and learn content in different ways. With AI, we are seeing an emergence of platforms that are delivering educational content in new innovative ways.”

Making Life Easier with AI

Ghazanfari is also hopeful that technology can be used to improve our lives in other areas too. “Technologies are enhancing our lives, making life easier, and democratising access to resources and access to skills. I think we are on the right path, but we shouldn’t lose touch with our humanity.”

Watch the full interview below:

AI for Good

AI for Good – in partnership with Dell Technologies – is a programme of dedicated learning and development events which are designed to enable members of the Digital Leadership Forum to innovate with new AI technologies in a responsible way.