アイデアラボ
The five principles of AI proof-of-concept success
記事
2025/10/02
Key takeaways
AI agents are the new résumé line. In the future, the ability to build and deploy agents will help showcase how individuals drive productivity and value.
Trust drives adoption. Companies that train, re-skill, and set guardrails win over their workforce and resolve lingering trust issues between workers and AI.
Building agents is the next frontier. Enterprises that wait will struggle to stay competitive.
By Kim Basile, Chief Information Officer at Kyndryl
For decades, ambitious workers in technology have had to learn a wide range of skills as they’ve looked to advance their careers, from mastering spreadsheets to coding in various languages. In this next era, learning to design AI agents is shaping up to be a talent that reshapes how work itself gets done.
Thanks to low- and no-code tools, designing AI agents is no longer just the province of experienced coders and software engineers. Today, every consultant, analyst, and manager has an opportunity to design digital colleagues that automate aspects of their everyday work, including digging up insights, drafting content, summarizing documents, and surfacing trends in real time. In this new world, résumés won’t just showcase roles and skills, but also the ability to build agents that show how individuals drive productivity and value.
Empowering employees to design their own agents doesn’t just build capability — it also builds trust. When people have a hand in shaping how AI is integrated into workstreams across the workplace, AI shifts from being a top-down mandate to a bottom-up tool they own and control. This sense of agency helps reduce resistance, fosters transparency, and makes AI integration feel less like a threat and more like a partnership. In this way, agent-building becomes both a skills accelerator and a cultural lever for trust.
But make no mistake, the work is cut out for enterprise leaders.
Widespread anxiety about artificial intelligence still exists in many of today’s workplaces. According to Kyndryl’s People Readiness Report, 45% of CEOs say their employees are resistant to AI. Two out of three say there is insufficient talent in their organization to manage AI technology within their organization. Additionally, 45% say they don’t know what skills their enterprises will need for the future. And only half of CEOs believe their organizations are ready to navigate changes relating to AI over the next five years.
45%
of CEOs think most of their employees are resistant or even openly hostile to AI
2 in 3
CEOs report there is a lack of skilled talent to manage AI technology within their organization
45%
of CEOs say they don't know what skills their enterprises will need for the future
53%
of leaders believe their workforce is ready to navigate changes related to AI technology over the next 5 years
When people have a hand in shaping how AI is integrated into workstreams across the workplace, AI shifts from being a top-down mandate to a bottom-up tool they own and control.
But there is good news. While they are rare, there are organizations that stand out as pacesetters for other enterprises. According to that same report, a small number of organizations — some 14% — are leading in three critical areas. First, they are using AI to unlock growth or better serve customers. Second, they are deploying AI across their organizations. And last, their workforce is successfully leveraging AI.
That third area is noteworthy.
How are these pacesetters doing it? In part, by monitoring and tracking their employees’ skills, and understanding where they fall short. These organizations are more likely to offer external training resources, work with outside consultants and incorporate AI skills into job descriptions and responsibilities.
They’re also working to build employee trust in AI. They are being transparent about their goals for AI, maintaining open lines of communication and addressing concerns about job displacement. Additionally, they put in place ethical guidelines to ensure AI is not abused and commit to fairness and bias mitigation. As a result, their CEOs say their employees are embracing AI enthusiastically.
The lesson is clear: The future of work will require new sets of skills. The ability to design and build AI agents will be a force multiplier, freeing employees from myriad routine tasks to unlock new levels of productivity and innovation.
Talent will always be the most valuable resource at any business. Preparing those skilled people to create their own digital teammates can't be a side project — it is the next frontier of competitiveness. Those that wait will struggle to keep pace.
