5 ways to turn AI's time-saving magic into your productivity superpower

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The connection from experts is clear: artificial intelligence (AI) tin assistance professionals spend little clip connected repetitive, time-consuming tasks and much connected value-adding activities.

Also: 5 ways to negociate your squad much efficaciously successful the AI-enabled enterprise

However, there's conscionable 1 issue: what are these value-adding activities? Senior executives whitethorn similar the dependable of highly paid unit spending little clip connected mundane activities, but lone if these professionals usage their saved clip effectively.

So, however tin you marque the astir of the clip you prevention by utilizing AI? Five experts stock their apical tips.

1. Drive operational changes

Gabriela Vogel, vice president expert successful Gartner's Executive Leadership of Digital Business practice, said it's important to see however professionals volition usage spare clip successful an property of AI -- and it's an country she's researching close now.

"Many professionals deliberation they're implementing a benefit: 'I summarize utilizing Gen AI,' and truthful they summation time, which is great. They'll think, 'I tin bash thing with that time. I tin drawback a coffee,'" she said.

"However, that attack doesn't make worth for the business. It doesn't deed the apical and bottommost lines."

Also: Is your concern AI-ready? 5 ways to debar falling behind

Vogel told ZDNET that professionals who privation to make benefits from clip savings created by AI indispensable thrust operational changes.

"That alteration indispensable beryllium connected a ample scale. So, they'll person to optimize something, make a caller product, oregon spell adjacent further and set the concern model," she said.

"If you privation to get worth from AI, implementing the exertion is conscionable 1 element. The important parts are the operational changes oregon concern exemplary transformations you request to marque to make a instrumentality successful the future."

2. Reinvent yourself oregon your section

Adobe CIO Cindy Stoddard said professionals who spot their enactment relation being completed by AI should find ways to reinvent themselves.

She gave the illustration of her firm's application of AI and robotic process automation that has led, successful immoderate cases, to the removal of arsenic overmuch arsenic 95% of a person's role. Those affected person moved into caller areas.

"They're inactive with the company, but doing thing different," she said. "Some radical person adjacent looked astatine wherever they are successful that space, and they've reinvented the full section to beryllium antithetic organizations."

Also: 5 ways to boost your team's productivity - without relying connected generative AI

Stoddard told ZDNET however Adobe's Employee Experience Group ensures caller IT services conscionable concern idiosyncratic requirements and assesses however caller AI systems mightiness impact people's roles.

"It's astir however we look astatine the adjacent generation. You can't basal still. Adobe is 40-plus years old. And look astatine however we've evolved implicit those years," she said.

"People wrong the institution ever see questions like, 'Hey, however bash I reinvent my relation oregon department?' And my mindset is that if you bash that enactment right, the adjacent large happening volition come. So, I would promote radical to reinvent themselves and reinvent their departments."

3. Focus connected the things you bask

LinkedIn main merchandise serviceman Tomer Cohen encouraged professionals to usage the productivity boosts offered by AI to deliberation strategically astir however they usage their clip astatine work.

"Go backmost to the thought of, 'Why did I adjacent take this job?'" helium said, earlier giving an example. "If you chose marketing, you wanted to turn the institution done large initiatives, strategy, and creativity. Go backmost to that absorption alternatively of the day-to-day activities that capable your time."

Also: The apical 20 AI tools of 2025 - and the No. 1 happening to retrieve erstwhile you usage them

Cohen gave ZDNET different example, suggesting that professionals who physique integer solutions to concern challenges privation to walk clip connected ideation and uncovering retired what customers require.

He said generative AI allows workers to walk much clip connected the things they bask that are much apt to make worth for their employers.

"I often perceive radical say, 'I don't person capable time.' This exertion allows you to bash more, but it besides allows you to bash the things that are unsocial to you, the strategic, the human-centric worldly that makes you much invaluable than the incremental and mundane tasks you request to bash to get from constituent A to B."

4. Unlock caller opportunities

Joe Depa, main innovation serviceman astatine advisor EY, said his firm's unit usage AI to trim the regulatory load and summation their absorption connected caller concern areas.

"Tax information has to beryllium precocious prime and compliant with section rules and regulations," helium said. "One of the things we tin bash with taxation information is usage agentic AI to assistance negociate information compliance tasks astatine a velocity that couldn't beryllium completed before."

Depa told ZDNET that utilizing AI to chopped the regulatory load means taxation professionals tin ore connected higher-value, much strategical work. He gave an example.

"In immoderate cases, what we're doing present is helping our clients look astatine the data, not conscionable for taxation and compliance purposes, but for however they tin simulate and exemplary antithetic scenarios," helium said.

Also: AI agents aren't conscionable assistants: How they're changing the aboriginal of enactment today

"For example, tariffs are a large taxable of treatment close now. So, tin I usage my taxation information to assistance simulate what would hap if tariffs were applied successful definite countries, and what would beryllium the impact, not lone connected taxation and compliance, but besides connected my proviso chain, workforce, and request patterns that volition change owed to planetary macroeconomic and geopolitical changes?"

Depa encouraged different professionals to look for ways that AI tin assistance unlock caller opportunities successful caller areas.

"Look astatine your occupation otherwise and recognize however repetitive tasks tin beryllium managed by AI to escaped up clip truthful you tin absorption connected strategical tasks. I deliberation that capableness volition beryllium captious arsenic we deliberation astir agentic AI successful the future."

5. Learn immoderate caller skills

Caroline Carruthers, CEO astatine information consultancy Carruthers and Jackson, said professionals should usage the clip they prevention by applying AI to boost their well-being.

"Focus connected the important stuff, specified arsenic family, friends, and yourself," she said. "A small spot of selfishness is not a atrocious thing. It's the full lifesaver analogy. You've got to instrumentality attraction of yourself earlier you tin attraction for different people."

Carruthers told ZDNET she loves the thought of AI giving radical much time, and she hopes radical volition usage this accidental to boost their productivity.

"I anticipation they're learning a caller skill, being creative, and doing each the fantastic things that quality beings are susceptible of."

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Carruthers' squad is already utilizing AI successful its enactment processes, specified arsenic helping to nutrient the firm's latest report, its Data Maturity Index.

"We did it for the archetypal pass, and we openly admit that astatine the extremity of the report. We speech astir however this is however we deliberation AI should beryllium used. I wanted to marque the constituent that we usage it successful our business," she said, earlier explaining however the consultancy uses AI successful different areas and wherever they gully the line.

"We usage AI for the simplest things, similar tracking gathering notes and summarizing issues for clients. However, nary 1 successful my enactment would interaction AI to assistance marque decisions."

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