Use AI productively
Use tools such as Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini, ChatGPT and AI-enabled business systems for useful workplace tasks, not just occasional prompting.
Is your workforce ready?
Most organisations do not have a simple AI problem. They have a people, process and adoption problem.
AI tools are moving into everyday work fast, and buying the technology is only part of the job. You may already be seeing signs of it:
- Employees are experimenting with AI, but everyone is using it differently.
- Some people are confident with new tools while others are avoiding them.
- Teams can create content faster, but they are not yet improving whole workflows.
- Managers are unsure where AI should be used and where human judgement must stay in control.
- Automation opportunities are being missed because people do not know what to look for.
- Policies and governance are trying to catch up with day-to-day use.
- Valuable staff know their jobs well but need stronger digital and AI capability.
- Your organisation is investing in technology without being able to clearly measure the value it creates.
The technology may be available. The capability to use it well may not be.
Start with a quick check. In about three to four minutes, see where your workforce appears strongest across seven readiness areas, and what to strengthen next.
Start with the work problem, not the next AI tool. The best improvement may be better use of a system you already have, a simpler workflow, automation, an AI capability already included, or no new technology at all.
What an AI-ready workforce looks like
Not everyone becoming an AI expert. People combining what they already know with better AI, digital, thinking and improvement skills.
Your people should be increasingly able to:
Improve repetitive work
Recognise where workflows, administration, handovers and recurring tasks can be simplified, connected or automated.
Think critically
Question AI outputs, check evidence, recognise limitations and use human judgement before decisions are made.
Work with data
Understand useful workplace data, identify patterns and use evidence to support better decisions.
Improve processes
Investigate what is really happening, find friction and repeated work, compare options and recommend practical improvements.
Use AI responsibly
Understand privacy, security, governance, responsible AI and the boundaries around what should remain human.
Support adoption and change
Help colleagues understand new tools and processes, build confidence and move from uncertainty towards useful adoption.
Create business value
Connect improvement work to productivity, customer and employee experience, capacity, cost, risk, quality and growth.
Short AI training can explain a tool. Organisations also need people who can connect AI to how work actually happens.
The AI Workplace Transformation Program
Practical workforce capability development for an AI-enabled workplace.
Participating employees complete the AI Workplace Transformation Program and the BSB50120 Diploma of Business (Digital Transformation) together, as one connected Learning Journey. The Diploma is awarded when all applicable training and assessment requirements are successfully completed.
The Program
Practical capability
AI, digital, automation and workplace improvement capability, built on realistic work inside Next Horizon.
The qualification
BSB50120 Diploma of Business (Digital Transformation)
Nationally recognised, and assessed through the work employees do in the Program, as part of the same Learning Journey.
Every task shows the Diploma units it counts towardDemonstration learner
Shown with John Goodman, a demonstration learner.
Contribute, improve, lead
Capability grows over time
Contribute
Use AI and digital tools well and identify what could run better.
Improve
Investigate work, test improvements and show what changed.
Lead
Help others adopt better ways of working and recommend what should happen next.
These are stages of developing capability, not separate EduSmart courses or qualification pathways.
Future Ready workforce capability
We do not just teach people about AI.
EduSmart develops the broader human, digital and business skills people need to create value in an AI-enabled workplace: 16 Future Ready Skills, applied across 12 capability areas. The skills are what employees build and prove; the areas are where they apply them.
- AI Skills
- Data Literacy
- Digital Skills
- Automation & Workflows
- Cyber Security
- Analytical Thinking
- Critical Thinking
- Creative Problem Solving
- Systems Thinking
- Communication & Influence
- Collaboration
- Leadership & Change
- Adaptability & Resilience
- Learning Agility
- Business Value
- Continuous Improvement
- Developing
- Applying
- Proficient
- Leading
Employees build and demonstrate these skills progressively across the Learning Journey.
How the program works
Four parts, one method, and every part produces work you can look at.
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AI Future Ready Foundations
Employees build a practical foundation before they apply it, working with leading tools rather than learning one platform in isolation:
- everyday AI use
- responsible AI
- digital confidence
- prompt skills
- workplace productivity
- source checking
- human judgement
- identifying useful improvement opportunities
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Immersive Workplace Learning
Employees then step into Next Horizon, EduSmart’s immersive workplace environment. Instead of disconnected theory exercises, they work through realistic business challenges, systems, evidence, stakeholders and decisions across a modern Australian organisation, and are expected to investigate, build, test, improve and explain their work.
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Practical workplace projects
Employees work across connected business areas, which gives them a wider view of where AI and digital improvement create value across an organisation:
- Digital Solutions & AI
- Operations & Service Excellence
- Client Success & Growth
- People & Capability
- Risk, Cyber & Governance
- Finance & Sustainable Growth
- Head Office integration and transformation priorities
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The EduSmart 5D Improvement Cycle
One practical improvement method runs through the whole program, so ideas become structured workplace improvement:
- DiscoverWhat is happening now?
- DefineWhat is the real need?
- DesignWhat could work better?
- DeliverHow will we put it into practice?
- DevelopWhat did we learn, and what happens next?
What employees actually learn to do
Across the Learning Journey, employees may:
- review a current process or workflow
- identify repeated administration and wasted effort
- map a better way of working
- build or test an AI-supported workflow
- prepare recommendations for management
- measure and explain workplace value
These are examples across Next Horizon projects, not a checklist every employee completes in your organisation.
The tools are important. The thinking matters more.
Practical exposure
- Microsoft Copilot
- Google Gemini
- ChatGPT
- AI-enabled workflows and automation
- CRM and digital systems
Practical judgement
- Is the information accurate?
- Is this an appropriate use of AI?
- What needs human judgement?
- Does this actually improve the work?
- How will we know whether it created value?
Learn, practise and prove through Next Horizon
Learn in Next Horizon. Apply it back to your workplace.
Employees build and demonstrate core capability using Next Horizon’s controlled workplace information. Employer-sponsored learners then apply the same thinking to the part of their own workplace they reasonably know, without needing to upload confidential operational information.
Next Horizon’s own figures, not yours
Over target- Your confidential information is not required for the core program.Employees practise on Next Horizon’s records, dashboards and policies.
- Employer-sponsored learners apply it back to real work.At the end of each department they complete a short My Workplace application focused on their own role, team, department, process or area of influence.
- They identify opportunities, not conduct an organisation-wide audit.They consider current systems and tools, whether AI is actually needed, what should stay human, what must be checked and who would need to approve or be involved before any change progressed. They do not implement organisational change without approval.
What sponsoring employers receive
Useful workplace insight during the program, not just a certificate at the end.
The workplace application is designed to create visible employer value without turning the learner into a consultant or adding another major assignment.
A workplace application after every department
The learner applies the department lens to the part of your workplace they know and saves one worthwhile opportunity to a continuing Workplace Opportunity Record.
Progress you can discuss along the way
Short progress summaries can be reviewed after Digital + Operations, Client Success + People, and Risk + Finance, so managers do not have to wait until the end of the program for useful feedback.
A final Workplace AI and Improvement Opportunity Review
At Head Office, the learner brings the strongest opportunities together, including existing tools that may help, where AI may add value, what should stay human, what still needs checking and who should be involved next.
The review is scoped to the learner’s role, team, department, process or area of influence. It is not an organisation-wide audit, implementation approval or final technology recommendation.
Practical evidence, not just course completion
You see what the person has demonstrated, not only what training they attended.
That gives managers more than a completion record. It gives them evidence they can discuss with the employee.
The end of one department: every piece of evidence keptDemonstration learner
Shown with John Goodman, a demonstration learner.
Employees build practical outputs through their work. For employer-sponsored learners, that evidence is complemented by a continuing Workplace Opportunity Record and employer progress points. Outputs can contribute to:
- a Future Ready Skills record
- practical project evidence
- AI and automation work
- business reports and presentations
- workflow and process improvements
- value evidence
- four evidence-backed Digital Achievement Badges
- a Career Success & Impact Portfolio
- records in My Career Hub
- a continuing Workplace Opportunity Record
- a final Workplace AI and Improvement Opportunity Review for employer-sponsored learners
The four Digital Achievement Badges
- AI Workplace Practitioner
- AI & Automation Practitioner
- Digital Improvement Practitioner
- Digital Transformation Professional
Badges are linked to demonstrated skills and practical evidence. They are not issued for watching lessons or attending sessions.
Why this matters to employers
Traditional completion records can show that training happened. Evidence-backed recognition gives a stronger signal that the participant has actually used, applied and demonstrated relevant skills.
Each item in the Career Success & Impact Portfolio carries one of three labels, so a manager knows how much weight to give it: Verified by EduSmart (EduSmart tested it and determined the result), Checked by EduSmart (EduSmart checked the claim and the evidence supplied, and agrees) or Self-declared (the employee’s own statement).
What this means for your organisation
Not another online course library. A structured place to practise becoming more useful at work.
The aim is to develop people who can increasingly:
- See the opportunity.Recognise where work can improve.
- Ask better questions.Understand the problem before choosing a tool.
- Use AI responsibly.Apply human judgement, checking and governance.
- Improve the workflow.Connect people, process, systems and automation.
- Bring others with them.Communicate, collaborate and support adoption.
- Show the value.Measure what changed and explain what should happen next.
What it can help you strengthen
You do not need to diagnose the perfect training category before speaking with us.
The same core program builds capability for eight common workforce needs.
AI readiness
Build confidence and practical understanding so employees can participate effectively as AI becomes part of normal work.
Useful when your organisation knows AI matters but capability is uneven or still at the experimentation stage.
Explore AI readiness in more depth
AI readiness is not simply whether employees have used ChatGPT. It includes whether people can:
- identify sensible AI use cases
- check AI-supported work
- protect sensitive information
- understand when AI should not be used
AI adoption and workforce enablement
Develop people who can help others understand, adopt and use new tools and processes.
Useful when you have introduced AI or digital systems but use is inconsistent across teams.
Explore AI adoption in more depth
Technology adoption often fails because implementation is treated as a software problem rather than a people problem. Employees may need to learn how to:
- explain why a change matters
- create practical guidance
- respond to concerns
- help new ways of working become normal
Automation and workflow improvement
Help people recognise repeated work and improve how tasks, information and responsibility move through the organisation.
Useful when teams are losing time to manual follow-up, duplicated data entry, handovers or repeated administration.
Explore automation and workflows in more depth
Employees learn to look beyond one isolated task. They consider:
- where information is re-entered
- which decisions need human judgement
- what could be automated
- what happens when an exception occurs
The aim is practical improvement, not automation for its own sake.
Digital operations
Develop people who can use connected systems, digital workflows and shared information more effectively.
Useful when your systems exist, but teams still rely on workarounds, spreadsheets, repeated follow-up or disconnected processes.
Explore digital operations in more depth
Participants can build capability around:
- CRM use
- workflow coordination
- handovers
- reporting
Data and better decisions
Strengthen the ability to understand workplace information and use it to support decisions.
Useful when your organisation collects data but teams are not consistently turning it into useful insight.
Explore data capability in more depth
Employees build confidence in:
- checking data quality
- separating evidence from assumptions
- using data to compare options
- communicating findings clearly
The emphasis is practical decision support rather than advanced data science.
Process improvement and business analysis
Develop people who can investigate problems, understand the real need and recommend better ways of working.
Useful when you need employees who can do more than point out problems.
Explore process improvement in more depth
Employees learn to:
- define the real problem
- map processes
- compare options
- measure outcomes
AI governance and responsible use
Help employees use AI with appropriate judgement, privacy, security and governance.
Useful when AI use is growing faster than organisational confidence, policy or management oversight.
Explore responsible AI in more depth
Capability may include:
- privacy awareness
- human checking
- recognising high-risk decisions
- escalating issues appropriately
Business value
Connect workforce development to the outcomes the organisation cares about.
Useful when you want workforce development to lead to more than attendance and completion.
Explore business value in more depth
Employees are encouraged to connect improvement work to areas such as:
- time saved
- quality improved
- risk reduction
- expected value
Not every project produces a large financial return. The important skill is learning to ask: what improved, what evidence supports it, and what should happen next?
Who this is for
Deliberately non-technical.
It focuses on the business, people, process, adoption and implementation side of AI and digital transformation. It is not designed to train software engineers, machine learning engineers or data scientists. It may suit organisations that want to develop:
- internal AI, digital or workplace improvement champions
- supervisors and team leaders
- project and operations coordinators
- administration and business support staff
- customer service and client-facing teams
- HR, recruitment and people staff
- finance and reporting employees
- compliance, governance and risk staff
- managers responsible for improvement or change
- experienced employees whose role knowledge is valuable but whose digital and AI capability now needs to grow
One employee, a team or a larger cohort
You may already know who needs development, or still be working out where to begin.
One employee
Develop one employee who is taking on more responsibility or becoming an internal AI, digital or workplace improvement champion. Employer-sponsored learners progressively apply each department lens back to their own area of work.
A small team
Build a shared foundation across people who need to work together on AI adoption, automation or business improvement.
A larger workforce cohort
Create a more consistent level of AI and future-ready capability across a broader employee group.
The first step is understanding what your organisation actually needs.
Three ways to start
Start from where your organisation is today, and make the first step useful.
Not sure where to start?
AI Workforce Readiness Check
17 questions, about 3 to 4 minutes. See your seven-area readiness profile, your strongest area and what to strengthen next.
Take the AI Workforce Readiness CheckWant detail to review internally?
Employer Information Guide
Eight pages on how the Program and Diploma work together, what employees produce and how to get started.
Download the Employer Information GuideAlready know you need workforce development?
Talk to EduSmart
Tell us who you want to develop and what you want them to be better able to do. We book a time to talk it through.
Talk to EduSmart About Your Workforce
Common questions from employers
Want to go deeper?
Does the program include a nationally recognised qualification?
Yes. The current AI Workplace Transformation Program includes the nationally recognised BSB50120 Diploma of Business (Digital Transformation).
Employees develop the practical capability through the Program and complete formal assessment requirements for the Diploma as part of the same Learning Journey.
The Diploma is awarded when all applicable training and assessment requirements are successfully completed.
The Career Success & Impact Portfolio, Future Ready Skills record and Digital Achievement Badges are EduSmart recognition that sit alongside the qualification.
Do our employees need to be technical?
No. The program focuses on the non-technical side of AI and digital transformation. Employees learn how AI, automation, systems, people, processes, data, risk and business value connect. They are not being trained as software developers or machine learning engineers.
Is this just ChatGPT training?
No. Employees gain practical exposure to leading AI tools, but the focus is much broader. They learn to connect AI with workflows, digital systems, customer experience, operations, people, data, governance, risk, adoption and measurable workplace improvement.
What if we already have Microsoft Copilot or another AI platform?
That can make workforce capability even more important. Access to a tool does not mean employees know where it is useful, how to use it responsibly, how to redesign work around it or how to measure whether it creates value. The program develops broader transferable capability rather than locking employees into one product.
Can we put just one employee through the program?
Yes. You can support one employee through the Program, or speak with EduSmart about a team or larger workforce cohort.
Can this help us develop internal AI champions?
Yes. The program develops the practical AI, workflow, communication, critical thinking, adoption and business-value skills that support an internal AI champion or workforce enablement role. The exact responsibilities are still yours to set.
How is this different from ordinary professional development?
The emphasis is on practical application and evidence. Employees use an immersive workplace environment, complete practical projects, test improvements, use AI and digital tools, apply human judgement and build evidence of what they can do.
Will employees work on our own confidential business information?
Confidential operational information is not required for the core program. Employees build and demonstrate capability using Next Horizon’s controlled workplace records, dashboards and policies.
Employer-sponsored learners also complete a short workplace application using the part of their work they reasonably know. They should use high-level, approved or de-identified information and are not required to upload confidential client, employee or commercially sensitive data simply to complete the activity.
How do we know whether this is the right fit?
Start with the AI Workforce Readiness Check. It helps identify the workforce capability areas that may matter most before you decide what to do. You can then speak with EduSmart about one employee, a team or a broader workforce capability need.
What will we see during the program?
Employer-sponsored learners build a continuing Workplace Opportunity Record. Short progress points can be reviewed during the program, followed by a final Workplace AI and Improvement Opportunity Review that brings together the strongest opportunities, existing tools that may help, what should stay human, what still needs checking and who should be involved next.
Will the learner review our whole organisation?
No. The workplace application is deliberately scoped to the learner’s own role, team, department, process or area of influence. The learner identifies opportunities worth investigating and the people who would need to approve or validate them. It is not an organisation-wide audit or a substitute for specialist advice.
Go deeper Employer Insights What is AI, automation and digital transformation?