Undoubtedly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making its way into more traditional business settings to enhance or support tasks traditionally done by humans – including project managers. AI, as we know, has the unique ability to process large amounts of enterprise data quickly, find patterns in data, learn from it, and make predictions. Its ability to monitor specific patterns and forecast project outcomes rapidly and accurately makes the role of AI in project management crucial for businesses today.
Thinking about Artificial intelligence may conjure up images of robots taking over our daily roles at home and work. But we can tell you AI is so much more than that. Let’s explore what it actually means to our overall employment prospects, especially for project managers.
In the PwC’s most recent 22nd Annual Global CEO Survey,
85% of CEOs agreed that AI would significantly change how they do business in the next five years.
While robots may not take all our jobs, the report stipulates the “workforce of the future” certainly will include synergies of collaboration between humans and AI. So what does this mean for Project Management teams? What do they need to know to stay on top and make the best use of AI technology?
Let’s look at the top three roles of AI in Project Management:
1. AI in Project Risk Management
AI and machine learning platforms have the potential to enhance the commercial visibility of projects from start to finish. AI helps project management teams identify and predict risks much earlier, enabling quicker action before they pose a threat to project completion. AI in project management uses Machine Learning and Predictive Data Analytics to provide more accurate insights into possible outcomes for better, faster decision-making. Galvia’s Machine learning & AI-powered tools provide accurate strategic planning and risk mitigation features that inform Senior Management of project risks and task status through real-time alerts, triggers, and dashboards. The level of improved project accuracy that our platform provides enables project managers to monitor the project’s progression at every stage, plan ahead for risks, and allocate the best resources so they can make informed decisions and turn around predicted outcomes.
2. Planning & Allocation of Resources
AI-powered tools like Galvia can streamline project planning using Machine learning algorithms to analyse historical data and provide estimates of project duration, workload, and budgets. Project planning can be made more robust by building custom workflows based on estimated working hours, time-off schedules, and historical data to make the best decision on resource allocation for your projects. Using AI in project management enables project managers to use advanced data analysis to look at past projects, predict how much a project will cost and how long it will take, and develop an optimised project management process model with a higher degree of confidence.
Furthermore, Galvia’s AI platform integrates the data from your existing tools – like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and SAP for better decision-making and forecasting- and allows employees to directly ask questions about their project in the same manner as a ‘Google’ or ‘Siri’ query.
3. Automating Routine Administrative Tasks
Studies have shown that project managers spend more than half of their time on administrative tasks such as planning meetings, check-ins, and reporting. Machine learning & AI-powered tools act as capable virtual assistants for project managers by stepping up and performing less intensive routine tasks such as planning meetings, reminders, day-to-day updates, preparation of reports, and other administrative tasks. With the time saved using AI in project management processes, project managers can focus on higher-level, complex activities that matter more to them, such as planning and customer engagement. The significant time-saving aspect that AI provides is not only a great way to help projects move along more efficiently, but it can also create a more comfortable, collaborative, and creative work environment where employees feel supported, and creativity is valued.
With each enterprise client, our goal is to build a suite of autonomous predictive machine learning algorithms that can automatically learn from their data, improve with new information, provide accurate insights and forecasts from its learning & can be directly interrogated with a conversational interface to provide relevant answers.
Simply put, our platform does all the heavy lifting for you, taking care of mundane tasks and supporting project managers with previously unreachable data-driven insights at their fingertips.
At Galvia our mission is to help big and small enterprises leverage the power of AI for better business decision making. Click here to learn more about our platform and its features.
AI will continue to revolutionise & transform Project Management.
A PriceWaterhouse study on the role of AI in Project Management asks us to remember that there is something AI cannot do – be human. This means that project managers will also stay relevant in the age of AI if they focus on the core skills of project management that emphasise human skills, such as leadership, stakeholder management, community management, storytelling, empathy and emotional intelligence.
In an opinion shared by the Project Management Institute whose 2019 survey showed, as the use of AI in project management increases, so does the number of individuals managing those projects. Over the next three years, 27% of respondents said AI would create more project management jobs while 80% of innovators’ organisations are recruiting project leaders with the skill sets necessary to drive the organisation into a digital environment.
So when John is asked that ‘human vs. robot’ question in media interviews, he invariably replies that he believes that AI will assist, not replace project managers.
Nobody truly knows what the future holds. What we know is that the project managers who succeed will likely be those who manage to see beyond the bounds of ‘human’ imagination and answer questions about how technologies such as AI can add value and drive positive change in project management and business transformations. Overall, the potential benefits and strategic value of using AI in project management are significant.
Are you interested in talking to an expert? Get in touch with a member of our team today to find out how our platform can transform project management and decision-making in your organisation.