The Future Employee: The Rise of AI in Portuguese Altice Labs

Abstract

This case study was conducted in the scope of the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in today’s society and provides the answer to the following questions: How are companies following the AI technology revolution?, How are organizational culture and identity changing within companies? and Where are companies investing in order to prepare to the upcoming competitive future? To answer these questions a semi-structured interview was done with Jorge Sousa, the Head of M2M/IoT & API Management & Virtual Assistant - Network and Service Solutions Department in Altice Labs. Altice Labs is owned by the multinational Altice Group and is responsible for the innovation and development of new solutions, technologies and trends in the telecommunications area for all the Altice group. Having already won several awards such as the Dell EMC Award in 2018 and the international Technology Leadership Award in 2017. Altice Labs is in a privileged position that only a few companies are in, performing high tech R&D. From this case study we conclude that organizational Identity and Culture are changing due to the external stimulus that AI is having in the market. These changes are being implemented as a sense-giving function of the organizational leaders and spokesmen that recognize the need of staying competitive in the market. The impact on the labor force status quo, layoffs and company culture are presented, aligning the interviewee’s opinion with the current theories on company culture, offering also an analysis on the tendencies of this revolution and summarizing the interviewee’s perspectives.