Jaywing's Data Science Strategy Director, Malcolm Clifford, recently joined an expert panel at a Productivity Institute sponsored event held at Sheffield University Business School.
The discussion, centred on "People, Technology and Productivity in Yorkshire & the Humber & North East," tackled the UK's ongoing productivity challenge and the transformative role of AI.
The event kicked off with a challenging opening message: the UK has been largely stagnant in productivity for the past two decades and it’s a cast-iron law that where productivity goes, wages follow.
Former Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane didn't hold back on his sobering diagnosis in his keynote address, but after outlining the challenges, he also highlighted the opportunities: the UK’s best companies are more productive than their global peers and bright spots like Rotherham boast the highest productivity growth in the country.
This was powerfully illustrated by the Rotherham Pathways to Work scheme which demonstrated what can be achieved with targeted, proactive inclusion. For all this opportunity, his verdict on the impact of AI was incredibly blunt: the biggest job killer isn't AI, it's choosing not to adopt it.
For senior marketing leaders trying to drive growth in a sluggish economy, this is a daily reality. Systemic underinvestment at a national level has created a productivity gap between the UK and its peers.
There is also a lack of investment at a business level and, as Charlie from AI firm Zygens pointed out, a chasm has opened up between enthusiastic early adopters of AI and other businesses who have the desire but lack the skills or focus to turn it into practical projects.
Everyone wants the benefits, but the roadmap to delivering benefits of AI at scale is proving difficult to navigate.
Our Data Science Strategy Director, Malcolm Clifford, joined the panel to discuss these subjects in more depth, talking about the practical opportunities of AI and the real-world consequences for businesses and their workforce.
Malcolm noted that while some of the most visible productivity gains are in tech development (30% to 40% improvements), larger scale commercial value isn't found in the informal use of generic, public chatbots.
To unlock a genuine competitive advantage, you must move to Enterprise AI running securely against your own business data and enabling the development of agents that become an integral part of your processes.
While the technical skills gap is a challenge, the quickest path to ROI is to focus on empowering your existing domain experts with AI, using it to augment your best people, not replace them.
Furthermore, AI can act as a fantastic, one-on-one conversational teacher. It allows your people to upskill at their own pace, using your own reference materials and brand guidelines as the curriculum, ensuring learning is always targeted and relevant.
When the subject of bias in AI recruitment arose, Malcolm was clear: this is a challenge of lazy process design, not a fundamental flaw in the technology. Using properly curated and 'fair' data to train models is an excellent way to avoid human bias.
Data is in our DNA at Jaywing. We have been delivering bespoke AI models to our clients since 2017, so we understand the challenges and we can plot a clear path to value. If you're ready to bridge the AI chasm and join the ranks of the early adopters, let’s talk.
Disclaimer: While this article has been drafted with the assistance of AI, the insights and perspectives shared reflect Malcolm’s expert views.