How employee adoption of AI can boost customer experience—and trust

A decade ago, it was consumers who drove the mass adoption of a new technology —mobile apps—that now govern our lives at home and at work. Today, the new tech is AI, and business users have become the leading edge of adoption, while consumers remain more cautious. 

As AI usage deepens in every core business function—from sales and marketing to finance and legal—individual usage is also shifting into team usage of AI agents and other tools.

These are trends that Benjamin Granger has been tracking as chief workplace psychologist at Qualtrics. In a recent interview with The Works, Granger discussed how AI is redefining employee experience in different ways. 

How do employees and customers view AI differently?

Employees’ enthusiasm around AI will have huge benefits for customers. Customers are less comfortable with companies using AI, partially due to concerns that it will reduce human-to-human interaction, while employees are becoming more optimistic.

Bringing these findings together, it's very possible that we will see an increase in the use of AI to automate and augment back-of-the-house operations, enabling employees to focus on delivering high-quality, person-to-person interactions to customers—something that both employees and customers value greatly. 

I expect that over time, as people start using AI in their day-to-day work, we might see consumer perceptions change.

How is AI changing the way business teams adopt and use AI?

One trend we’re seeing is that different departments are becoming more and more interconnected. For example, IT teams can provide the expertise on the technology itself and ensure that the proper guardrails are in place, but HR and people teams are essential when it comes to rolling it out to employees and making sure they understand it. The two teams need each others’ expertise in order to be effective. 

What role should AI usage policies play?

Leaders need to be strategic and intentional in how they implement AI. Only about half of employees in our latest global study said their organizations have principles and guidelines or training for using AI at work. These are critical to consider when starting to use AI, or any new technology. For example, what tools will be used, who will have access to them, and what can they use AI for and what should they not use AI for? 

Our latest research shows that what employees really want is help simply doing their jobs. The past several years of rapid change and uncertainty have left many feeling unsupported, opening up opportunities for various applications of AI. 

The companies that will be most successful are the ones that figure out how to bridge the gap between leadership’s goals and employees’ needs. That means fostering trust, providing proper training, and implementing clear policies for how AI is used.