AI workforce training: How BDO USA trains its employees
Getting employees comfortable with AI is tough for CIOs. BDO USA uses AI ambassadors, tailored training and a virtual escape room to train its workforce in AI skills.
Focus on practical skills like prompt engineering and responsible AI usage.
Integrate training into culture with grassroots initiatives.
The real challenge of AI adoption lies in building employees' skills and confidence.
In professional services firms, where compliance and client trust are critical, employees require training to use AI responsibly and confidently. Workforce readiness spans various departments and roles and therefore requires programs that meet people where they are.
BDO USA, the U.S. member firm of the global accounting and advisory network BDO, took a structured approach to AI workforce training. The organization created AI ambassadors, cross-functional workshops and other hands-on initiatives to foster adoption. Employees learn practical skills -- such as prompt engineering and responsible AI usage -- in ways tailored to their experience and comfort with technology. In one creative twist, the firm designed a virtual escape room to make learning engaging and interactive.
In the following interview, CIO Russ Ahlers shares how the firm scaled AI workforce training, the organizational changes required to support it and lessons CIOs can apply to make AI adoption practical.
Editor's note: The following transcript was edited for length and clarity.
How do you approach building AI skills and fluency across your workforce?
Russ Ahlers: I lead the innovation strategy here, and AI is part of it. When you look at training and talent coming out of universities today -- and the gap in current employees -- it's similar to when I started my career in technology 32 years ago.
When PCs were new, many people were apprehensive about using them.
When PCs were new, many people were apprehensive about using them. People were unsure about what an Excel spreadsheet was and how to use all this new tech. I don't look at AI any differently. Some users easily absorb technology changes, whereas others struggle. That's no different from what we've experienced for the last 20 to 30 years. AI just exacerbates it.
When generative AI (GenAI) and AI agents hit the market, I created a team to focus on this. The first thing we looked at was responsible AI. We're in a regulated industry, and we must train our people to use technology ethically and responsibly.
AI was part of our strategy long before agentic hit the marketplace. So, when we looked at this, we knew we had to bridge those gaps and have different approaches for different people.
How did you structure your AI training program?
Ahlers: I named a chief data and AI officer right away. Then, as part of our training program, we created AI ambassadors. These ambassadors focused on training and meeting people where they're at. As you look at this multi-generational workplace, you're dealing with people who learn differently -- and it doesn't need to be generational. People just learn differently in general.
Is AI training IT's responsibility, or is the larger business involved as well?
Ahlers: Initially, the AI side of it was viewed as a technology area. However, we've started working on our Research and AI Development (RAID) team, which includes representatives from the business lines.
AI skills are also increasingly incorporated into existing learning and development programs. As business units adopt tools with built-in AI, they address training as part of their broader workforce development efforts rather than as a separate, standalone AI initiative.
What skill gaps did you identify when you began shaping your GenAI training strategy?
From a tailored training perspective, we hosted a series of AI workshops to identify where attendees were struggling and how to bridge those gaps. In total, we ran six AI workshops, which allowed the team to better understand where people were and meet them at that level. As a result of that effort, we saw an 89% increase in usage of our internal ChatGPT-based system, Chat BDO.
How do you decide which AI skills to build internally versus hire externally?
Ahlers: Currently, we're building them internally. Our business model is to hire a lot of college grads and work them up through the system. As universities train people -- just like 30 years ago, when PCs were rolling out -- people will come in with AI skills, and we'll have train-the-trainer programs. That's how we're bridging the gap between training existing employees and the individuals we're getting from universities who might be more comfortable with AI.
We haven't changed our employee profile yet. We have on the technology side, but not for our professionals. Will that change in the future? That very well could.
What advice would you give other CIOs regarding AI training?
We created a Chat BDO escape room to make AI learning more engaging.
Ahlers: Meet people where they're at and make AI training fun. For example, we created a Chat BDO escape room to make AI learning more engaging.
It also depends on the CIO's industry. If you've got individuals in a blue-collar factory environment, they're going to have a different level of comfort with AI than professional services workers.
CIOs must make people comfortable with AI. People fear it more than they should. I look at that as part of the job -- to be that calming nature and get people used to working with the tech.
How do you ensure that AI skills stay relevant as tools and models evolve so quickly?
Ahlers: That's our AI team's responsibility. They look at where technology is going and how it's being adopted. It starts with them, hits the ambassadors and goes up through the firm from there.
I have concerns with how quickly technology is moving. It's hard to keep up with it, but if you can pique people's curiosity, they will start to pick this stuff up.
What cultural or organizational changes were necessary to support your AI training strategy?
Ahlers: That goes back to our RAID team, which brings together people who are interested in supporting BDO's AI evolution. The AI ambassadors take on a lot of that burden for the team, which is different from how we've approached it before. As a professional services company, we do formal training programs for our tax auditors. However, this has been a more grassroots effort.
Is there anything else about AI training that CIOs should know?
Ahlers: AI is such a broad topic, and generative and agentic are just parts of it. It really depends on the business you're in and how you plan to use it. Organizations are absorbing tech at different rates. It's about meeting your organization where they're at and understanding what is important.
What's important to BDO may not be the same as what's important to Dow Chemical or General Motors. Companies like that are building AI into products that they must sell. Building AI into products that we use internally for client services is a different realm. CIOs must understand what marketplace they're serving.
Tim Murphy is site editor for Informa TechTarget's IT Strategy group.
