How to Shape the Future with AI - and Prepare a Workshop

For several years now, digitalization has been accompanying many companies - regardless of industry - and triggering far-reaching changes in organizations. At attempto, we also explore current and future trends and innovations extensively within our Lab and our Competence Center for Digital Transformation. For us, staying one step ahead and finding the best possible solutions internally and externally for our clients is what counts.

At the end of 2024, two of our employees had the opportunity to participate in an exciting event organized by the Mittelstand-Digital Zentrum Lingen.Munster.Osnabruck in collaboration with the Digital Hub munsterLAND. The day was themed “AI, HR, and Marketing Trends of Tomorrow.” In addition to expert talks and inspiring conversations, there was a broad spectrum of workshops - from digital transformation opportunities to new application areas for AI.

AI for Sustainable Success

The range of presentations spanned from legal foundations and AI regulations to agile leadership and digital transformation. One workshop discussed a holistic approach to sustainable innovation. A key finding was that the responsible and value-creating use of AI is critical for sustainable success. In particular, the importance of a suitable IT infrastructure, thoughtful data management, and the collaboration between people and systems was highlighted.

An expert talk on legal foundations, including the EU AI Act as the world’s first AI regulation, highlighted the rapid development in this area and the future requirements for companies. A complementary World Cafe on change management demonstrated the importance of employee involvement and transparent communication.

Throughout the day, approaches to agile organizational development and agile leadership in the context of digital transformation were also explored. Parallels to “technical debt” were drawn: poorly thought-out or inefficient processes - whether digital or agile - can tie up resources and diminish value in the long run, as we can confirm from our consulting experience. The quote “If you digitalize a crappy process, you’ll have a crappy digital process” (Thorsten Dirks, CEO of Telefonica Deutschland AG) summed it up perfectly.

In the discussions, it became clear that many mid-sized companies face similar challenges: compliance, security, and value generation in connection with AI, as well as clear responsibilities and specialized expertise.

Workshop: Shaping the Future with AI

In our own interactive workshop, we worked together with the participants on the topic of “Shaping the Future with AI.” The focus was on efficiency improvements through process optimization within digital transformation. The goal was to offer practical and interactive content, foster exchange among participants, and get a sense of the mood regarding the role of AI in their companies.

Digital transformation is changing the world faster than we ever thought possible - and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often at the center of it. We asked our workshop participants, and here are the results:

Most participants indicated that they know the basics or are even very familiar with the topic of Artificial Intelligence. None rated their own knowledge as low or non-existent.

Currently, the automation of routine tasks benefits most from AI-driven digitalization in the participants’ companies. Decision-making, strategic planning, and customer service are also already generating added value through the use of AI. Other areas also benefit from AI-driven digitalization. For data analysis and forecasting, AI-driven digitalization has not yet provided major advantages.

Participants see the main risks and challenges in integrating AI in their companies as a lack of expertise or training, as well as data privacy and security concerns. High implementation costs and fear of job losses also cause concerns about integrating AI in the workplace. No participant indicated having no particular concerns.

In the next 2-3 years, most participants consider it very likely that they will invest more heavily in AI. Two participants see the investment as likely. None consider it unlikely or very unlikely that their company will invest in AI.

Case Study Based on a Fictitious Company

When talking about optimization potential, applying Artificial Intelligence is often the first idea. But how can the integration of AI into business processes be successfully implemented? In the workshop, the use of Artificial Intelligence was developed for a specific use case in a fictitious company. The mid-sized fictitious company that we created for the case study has grown significantly in recent years and faces challenges in the areas of production efficiency, employee satisfaction, and customer communication.

In the workshop, lively discussions were held in which participants shared their own experiences and challenges. This led to engaging conversations in which some of our approaches were further developed - an exciting process.

Fear of change itself and lack of employee acceptance in change initiatives were aspects highlighted in all groups. Furthermore, participants pointed out that the entire corporate strategy must be aligned with individual processes in order to implement changes and successfully integrate AI.

For production inefficiency, among other things, “Predictive Maintenance and Anomaly Detection” was proposed to collect, analyze, and consolidate data. This way, dependencies and special characteristics can be analyzed and production can be optimized according to the results.

To increase employee satisfaction and engagement, an AI assistant was proposed. This should help analyze causes, create forecasts, and support communication within the company. Classic solutions without AI were also discussed, such as building an internal knowledge database, collecting employee feedback, and offering continuing education.

To improve customer communication, a chatbot was proposed. It can facilitate both internal and external communication, provide general information, and prioritize and forward requests as needed. Additionally, the idea emerged of using AI to track order status and send automated messages to customers.

Preparing Your Own Workshop

Before we come to the conclusion, it is worth looking back at the thorough preparation that formed the basis for the successful execution of the workshop. From the objectives to the materials - every detail contributes to making the workshop productive and valuable for all involved. That’s why we show here the steps we followed when planning the entire workshop day as well as our own workshop:

Defining objectives: Our goal was to build broad knowledge, make contacts, and have stimulating discussions. The goal of our own workshop was to enable exchange and provide new impulses.
Understanding the target audience: We researched the participating companies and adapted our workshop accordingly to offer relevant topics and examples. We prepared our case study specifically to match the participating companies.
Creating an agenda: We created a clear agenda with timeframes that structured the workshop flow. We made sure to plan enough time for questions and discussions.
Preparing materials: We created our workshop presentation and reviewed it multiple times. We checked technical tools several times and ensured that appropriate materials were available on site.
Incorporating interactive elements: We planned a group exercise to actively involve participants and make the workshop dynamic. We were prepared with possible aids and appropriate moderation.
Leaving room for flexibility: Good preparation is important. Nevertheless, we deliberately left some room at many points to be able to act according to the mood.

Conclusion

The workshops and expert talks offered numerous practical approaches that can be readily applied to one’s own work environment. Particularly valuable was the exchange among participants from different industries and specializations, which not only created new networks but also many substantively enriching impulses. It became clear how relevant AI is for everyday work and how important it remains to continuously monitor innovations, seize opportunities, test MVPs, sustainably optimize processes, and go through iterative development cycles.

In our workshop, we identified optimization needs together and developed ideas for how AI can improve processes in our fictitious company. We not only developed possible solutions for our fictitious company but also generated additional valuable approaches for mid-sized companies. For the participants, it offered practical insights into the application of AI, fostered the exchange of diverse perspectives, and delivered directly implementable approaches for optimizing real business processes.