Organisational Growth in 2025 – This Year, it’s Learn or Burn
There’s no shortage of articles and reports on the pros and cons of AI adoption in organisations, and the subject is not typically one we would choose to focus on here at JGL. At first glance, AI has little to do with helping our country’s political and business leaders create a culture of integrity, and bake ethical, sustainable practices into everything they do.
But, as internationally recognised forensic services providers, we’ve never been ones to stop at the first glance.
This is why, when you do what we do best, which is dig a little (or a lot) deeper, you discover that the rapid and continual evolution of technology, particularly AI, is reshaping industries and organisations worldwide. And anything with the power to fundamentally change how businesses do business also has the power to alter forever how they approach issues such as good governance, compliance, and ethical leadership.
Over and above this, countless studies from respected organisations such as McKinsey and Fortune show that organisations that embrace a culture of lifelong learning are at a significant advantage over those that don’t.
We’ve known for a long time that the skills gap - the mismatch between the skills employers need their employees to possess to stay competitive vs the skills they actually have - is a huge concern for most businesses.
Charlie Schilling, President of Enterprise Business and Workforce Development at Emeritus, says 87% of companies believe the gap is now at a critical level.
“The key is to proactively invest in upskilling to avoid skills gaps, rather than responding to an opened gap that needs to subsequently be filled in,” he says.
Benefits of this approach for companies include:
Benefits for employees include:
The exciting thing about AI is that when it’s adopted throughout an organisation, it can deliver benefits that extend beyond the skills of individual employees - to a point where it creates positive and ongoing impacts for the entire business.
Research carried out by Microsoft shows that organisations in the “realising” stage of AI readiness experience consistent and measurable value across the business, with 96% seeing significant returns on their AI investments, compared to only 3% that are still in the “exploring” stage.
The key, however, is to ensure there is a thorough and holistic approach to learning. This means integrating AI technology thoughtfully, instead of opting for more convenient, easy, and lazy implementations.
But the onus is not only on management. It’s also essential that employees understand why AI is important to the business, and what their roles will look like as AI plays an ever-increasing and more prominent part. Most will need reassurance that instead of eliminating their roles, AI can actually enhance them - and help them perform more effectively and productively.
As the Harvard Business Review puts it, “The majority of workers will need to adapt to using AI rather than worrying about being replaced by it.”
When implemented correctly, there is real beauty in this approach. Essentially, it transforms AI from something to be feared into a kind of “gateway” to the adoption of other new technologies. The more businesses integrate AI tools into their core operations, the more employees will organically develop the confidence and agility they need to stay on top of the rapid pace of digital transformation and innovation.
This creates a culture of flex and adaptability, which is critical if organisations are to have any hope of not only surviving but actively thriving in an AI-dominated future.
What’s encouraging is that numerous organisations are already getting this right.
For example, the Swedish fast-fashion retailer H&M Group experimented with AI adoption to optimise pricing for end-of-season sales. After testing three approaches: employee pricing, algorithm pricing, and a combination where employees tweaked the algorithm's decisions, results showed that the last model, where employees and AI worked together, proved the most effective.
Closer to home, Cape Town-based business Mygrow uses AI to improve the development, measurement, and tracking of EQ competencies in individuals and teams to help them find ways to enhance their performance.
Standard Bank has invested in AI to improve risk management, fraud detection, and customer service.
There are numerous other examples, and it’s clear more and more organisations are embracing the potential of this exciting technology. Some are even helping it along:
The South African Generative AI Roadmap 2024, recently published by independent technology research firm World Wide Worx, together with Dell Technologies and Intel, confirmed that the current trend in South Africa is that large organisations are enthusiastically embracing AI and the transformative impact it has on our unique business landscape.
They interviewed 100 decision-makers and found that AI is already a powerful reality, with the most widespread applications being market analysis, content creation and product research.
It was interesting to note that one of the main reasons why the technology is so popular is that tools and integration platforms are generally very user-friendly and cost-effective – no extensive technical expertise or massive financial outlay is required.
In his recent article for Medium.com, Niall McNulty agrees that South African businesses seem more than happy to get into bed with AI technology.
“In a nation where skills development is not just a corporate objective but a crucial economic imperative, South African organisations are turning to an unexpected ally: Artificial Intelligence,” he writes.
“Forward-thinking companies from Johannesburg to Cape Town are discovering that AI isn’t just a buzzword - it’s a powerful tool for changing how they train and upskill their workforce. The intersection of South Africa’s unique challenges - from erratic power supply to varying levels of digital literacy - with the fourth industrial revolution has created an unprecedented opportunity.
“Companies are finding innovative ways to leverage AI-powered training solutions that are both sophisticated and adaptable to local conditions. Whether a mining company in Rustenburg using AI to personalize safety training or a financial services firm in Sandton implementing AI-driven mentorship programs, the transformation is remarkable and distinctly South African.”
There’s no doubt that the secret of successfully harnessing the benefits of AI is not reacting to it but actively leading through it. Here are a few suggestions to help South African business leaders in this new world of work:
Success in 2025 and beyond is all about embracing change and leveraging technology - but always putting people first.