How is artificial intelligence transforming management careers?

What AI is changing, function by function

For a business, artificial intelligence is a lever for performance, transformation and innovation, provided you know how to genuinely make it your own. Automation, data analysis, generative tools, decision support, new digital uses: these developments are already transforming careers as different as marketing, finance, human resources, consultancy or strategy, each according to its own uses.

Management control is a good illustration of this shift. With the development of data analysis tools and artificial intelligence, management controllers are no longer limited to producing and monitoring dashboards: they can devote more time to analysis, anticipation and supporting decisions. They are thus evolving towards a role as a partner in the company's decisions, a shift found, in different forms, in many management careers.

What becomes more valuable as AI progresses

As automation advances, certain human skills become more important. Judgement, the ability to make trade-offs, relational intelligence, creativity and understanding of context make it possible, in particular, to interpret, question and complement what artificial intelligence tools produce. The challenge, then, is not to reduce AI to a technical subject, but to learn to use it with discernment, critical thinking and responsibility.

Two skills are therefore taking on a growing role in the manager's job. The first consists of critically assessing what artificial intelligence produces, rather than assuming its results are automatically reliable. The second consists of steering its use within your team, which means setting a framework rather than being led by the tool. These skills complement the other skills expected of a manager: artificial intelligence transforms how they are exercised and gives rise to new ones.

Preparing for it, during your studies or in the workplace

Preparing for it comes down to two paths: studying a programme that already incorporates these changes, or updating your skills once you are already in a job. At Excelia Business School, artificial intelligence is embedded in the courses of the different programmes, from Bachelor's to Master's level. Students work on the uses of these tools as well as on their strategic, human and ethical implications. Teaching practices are also evolving to support the changes taking place in organisations and careers. Specialisations devoted to data and artificial intelligence are also offered among Excelia Business School's programmes, with each programme page setting out the details of the courses.

All that remains is to identify the specialisation that best matches your plans: take stock, in just a few questions, of which MSc suits your profile.

For professionals already in employment, the Executive Education Centre also offers a continuing education course devoted to generative AI, designed to teach how to use these tools in a professional context and to assess their use with a critical eye. This approach also draws on the research carried out within Excelia on artificial intelligence, which helps to inform the thinking and courses offered at Excelia Business School.