According to a recent report from market intelligence firm Tractica, organizations are realizing that, in most cases, enabling AI is not a plug-and-play proposition -- it requires humans who can offer services from AI training to installation to support. As of right now, IT pros work with products and services that already have AI technology under the hood, but they don't need to know how it works. However, in the future, it'll be in IT pros best interests to know how to install, customize, integrate, deploy and support AI-based tech.
Tractica’s report states that organizations need to develop a deep bench of AI talent to benefit from the technologies:
“Significant time, resources, and capital usually must be deployed, and in most cases, internal company teams are not experienced enough with AI, nor do they have the cutting-edge data science skills to adequately embark upon a truly transformational AI implementation journey.”
For IT pros looking to expand their knowledge about AI or to move their careers forward by shifting to an AI consulting role, training will be critical to a successful career move.
What is the next step? Education and experience.
Training, certifications, and degrees in this field are available in a variety of options ranging from the classroom to online courses. Adding one of these items to your resume can go a long way to increase your opportunity to get into the AI services field itself. Most IT Pros will be looking to benefit from on-demand options in order to learn while in their current position.
Of course, this AI training can not only benefit the individual but can also be useful to their current company and be valuable for future promotions and new opportunities within the company.
If you are a business leader or someone wanting to learn more about AI's impact on businesses, you can get started by attending Microsoft's AI Business School at no cost.
It consists of four learning paths:
- Define an AI Strategy (7 modules; 3 hours 40 minutes; Intermediate)
- Enabling an AI-ready Culture (6 modules; 3 hours 10 minutes; Intermediate)
- Responsible AI in Business (3 modules; 55 minutes; Intermediate)
- Technology for Business Leaders (2 modules; 1 hour 20 minutes; Intermediate)
For those of you wanting to learn more of the details about AI and how to work with data and algorithms, we have scoured the Internet to find 10 resources that you could put to use for expanding your AI knowledge.
Each slide in the accompanying gallery will share information about these courses, their free or paid status, and whether they offer certificates or degrees upon completion. They include a mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced training.
Note: During the search for educational resources, it was noticed that many opportunities interchangeably use the terms Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for their offerings. We opted to not exclude those options just because of the terminology they choose to use for describing their courses.
