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Generative AI and the future of work in consumer goods
3-MINUTE READ
August 19, 2024
Future of work in consumer goods: Ready to embrace generative AI?
Generative AI will transform the relationship between consumer goods companies and their employees. Here I explore how leaders can capitalize on generative AI to reinvent work, reshape the workforce and prepare workers for the change ahead.
Generative AI has permeated the workplace, impacting everything it touches—from routine tasks to strategic decision-making. In the consumer goods industry, 40-60% of activities are expected to be automated or augmented by generative AI (1). This shift is leading to a reinvention of work with a focus towards creating human-centric processes across the entire value chain.
Accenture’s report, Work, workforce, workers reveals that generative AI offers a trifecta of opportunities: It has the power to accelerate economic value, increase productivity and free people from mundane tasks to engage in more creative and meaningful work.
According to the report, 97% of consumer goods executives believe generative AI will positively impact their market share, with 15% anticipating market share growth of 10% or more.
While executives find this inherently "human by design" technology as a route to innovation and revenue growth, workers in the industry remain wary of an organization's capacity to guarantee positive outcomes for all.
For instance, 64% of workers believe generative AI could add to their stress and burnout, whereas only 28% of executives see this as an issue. Similarly, 63% of workers in the industry are concerned about job displacement, while only 27% of executives view it as a significant issue.
Opinions vary widely on the risks, benefits and compromises associated with deploying generative AI on a large scale, causing a trust gap between workers and CPG leaders. Workers are far more concerned than CxOs realize, with many worried about job losses, stress, burnout and overload caused by generative AI initiatives.
In the past, media coverage has also been more focused on potential job displacements, rather than the benefits associated with generative AI. For instance, after the launch of ChatGPT, significant media attention was focused on the potential for job displacement. Whereas today, the conversation is shifting towards generative AI’s potential to violate data privacy.
To truly realize the benefits of generative AI, leaders must build confidence in workers, facilitating clear communication about how generative AI will be used and actively engaging the workers. Leaders also needs to have more faith in the ability and willingness of workers to reskill, rather than assume they can't adapt. Ninety-four percent of workers in the CPG industry recognize the value of working with generative AI. With the right support and resources, they can help drive greater value from the technology within the organization.
Workers as navigators, not passengers in the generative AI journey
In the age of generative AI, leaders must realize their workers are not just passengers on the journey; they are the navigators. Recognizing this, leaders need to drive their efforts to change with compassion and humility.
Our research and interviews with Reinventors highlight the essential role of leaders in bridging the trust gap and ensuring positive outcomes for everyone. As part of the research, we have identified key accelerators and actions to realize the full potential of generative AI through reinventing work, reshaping the workforce and preparing workers for the future.
Accelerator 1: Lead and learn in new ways
To be effective and gain trust, leaders must embrace new approaches, challenging old mindsets to adapt and learn. Effective leadership entails guiding the organization with confidence and humility into the gen AI-enabled future, where capabilities such as digital fluency, enterprise-wide governance, cross-function collaboration, ecosystem partnership, human-centered change management and people leadership are prioritized. Currently, 55% of business leaders in the CPG industry lack the skills and capabilities to drive reinvention successfully.
Accelerator 2: Reinvent work
It is imperative that leaders rethink the entire workflow to identify the areas where generative AI can be most impactful. Leaders can identify process-level opportunities by looking ahead to future technology, talent and new ways of working. While doing so, they must actively involve employees in change initiatives and offer reskilling opportunities.
Companies can redesign enterprise processes, integrating marketing, sales and customer service to create seamless engagements, aligning with the supply chain to deliver on promises and optimize value for consumers and customers. Early involvement of workers is critical for success, starting from the prototype stage. Leaders can use their feedback to further define the new processes and make informed decisions.
Leading beverages company reinvented core processes to build enduring engagement with customers and consumers
A leading multinational beverages company redesigned their core marketing and sales activities to expand their reach among consumers in a multi-dimensional approach, by involving people from their sales, marketing and support teams to the frontline workers of their retail customers. They used an AI-driven tool to simplify their customers' tasks, including product selection, stock management and understanding consumer preferences. The solution also allowed customers to explore product ranges, quickly place orders and access promotions.
The tool sends this data and push notifications to client’s sales representatives in real-time, keeping them informed of order status, competitor success with certain products and new product launches. It acts as an intelligent sales coach, customizing sales strategies to each sales rep’s style and each customer’s preferences.
By providing behavioral, social and local market insights, the tool transformed the role of sales reps from order taker to growth advisor. It enabled the sales reps to have more meaningful conversations and close deals more efficiently.
Accelerator 3: Reshape the workforce
As generative AI is rapidly transforming processes and roles, organizations must ensure that their workforce, including humans, machines and partners, are keeping pace with changes being made across the enterprise. The shift requires highly agile talent models, programs, policies and practices.
28%
Yet only 28% of CPGs have comprehensive strategies for positive worker outcomes with generative AI.
The gap highlights the need for companies to develop robust, adaptable strategies that support the workforce to thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape. Companies will need to adopt a skill-based model and integrate lifelong learning processes throughout the organization. Simply applying generative AI will not yield substantial benefits. A fundamental redesign of processes and roles is necessary to deliver real value to the bottom line.
At present, companies lack a fully developed skills-based model, which signals a significant opportunity for them to explore and implement a skills-based approach to their workforce management. Ultimately, organizations that are agile and equipped with predictive insights on skills critical to reshaping the workforce can facilitate smoother transitions for new roles that align with new processes and strategic customer and business outcomes.
Accelerator 4: Prepare workers
Organizations need to undertake comprehensive learning initiatives to ensure their employees have market-relevant skills and can collaborate effectively with machines.
90%
of workers in the CPG industry are eager to learn new generative AI skills to stay market relevant.
3%
Yet only 3% of CPGs are reskilling at scale, compared to 5% of organizations globally.
To close this gap, CPGs need to focus on becoming a skills-based organization. This requires understanding the skills available in the organization, identifying the skills needed in the future and strategically deploying learning initiatives to help people move up the skills curve and fill new roles.
Leadership must develop capabilities for a teach-to-learn culture focused on individuals, partners and machines to ensure that workers are not left behind, assuring them that change is happening with them, and not to them.
The road ahead with generative AI
Success with generative AI hinges on how CPG leaders navigate the risks and seize the huge opportunity to reinvent work, reshape the workforce and prepare people. The key is to drive talent strategies early with a value-led approach, focusing on areas where you can drive the greatest impact. Leaders must think beyond incremental improvements and make fundamental shifts in core processes, so when work and roles evolve and capacity increases, they can improve on how they identify, reach, connect with and deliver to customers and consumers alike.
Do you see this as an opportunity to uplift your organization, people and society? Reach out to Oliver Wright to discuss how to navigate the journey ahead.
1 Accenture Research analysis based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2023 and O*Net