Why a human-centred strategy will define success in the agentic AI era

Technology

Why a human-centred strategy will define success in the agentic AI era

As businesses accelerate the adoption of agentic artificial intelligence, workforce and transformation experts are urging organisations to focus not only on productivity gains but also on the long-term impact on employees, leadership, and organisational design.

Speaking on International HR Day, Salesforce highlighted the growing importance of human-centred AI strategies, warning that the success of AI adoption will ultimately depend on how organisations redesign work and support their workforce through change.

According to Mohammed Alkhotani, the conversation around AI should move beyond efficiency metrics and focus instead on how businesses use AI-created capacity to unlock higher-value human work.

Alkhotani said that while AI agents are becoming increasingly capable of handling large volumes of work autonomously, organisations achieving the strongest results are those proactively investing in workforce redesign, reskilling, and talent development early in the transformation process.

He explained that AI presents an opportunity for employees to focus more on areas requiring judgment, creativity, innovation, relationship-building, and other uniquely human capabilities that technology cannot fully replace.

The discussion comes as businesses globally continue to integrate AI-driven systems into operations, customer service, and decision-making processes, prompting growing conversations around workforce readiness and future skill requirements.

Alkhotani noted that digital transformation has historically created uncertainty among employees, particularly when workers are unclear about how technology will affect their roles. However, he described the current wave of AI transformation as a potential opportunity to redesign work in ways that create more meaningful and higher-value roles.

He also pointed to findings from the World Economic Forum projecting that 39 per cent of existing skill sets could be transformed or become outdated by 2030, reinforcing the importance of AI fluency, data literacy, systems thinking, and continuous reskilling.

Across the Gulf region, countries including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are increasingly placing workforce readiness, digital capability, and human capital development at the centre of national economic transformation agendas.

Salesforce emphasised that organisations adopting AI successfully will be those that balance technology deployment with workforce support, helping employees adapt to changing roles while building more agile and future-ready teams.

Alkhotani added that the future of work will not be shaped by AI alone, but by leaders who use technology to unlock human potential and create stronger, more resilient organisations.