AI is changing so many things in the workplace; it can be hard to keep up. Much of what we've seen from AI so far has been around creating new content through generative AI or advancing how we deal with translations and cross-border materials.
But another huge area that has been very successful so far has been AI's ability to transcribe and summarize videos. This has allowed AI to play a significant role in how we run and manage meetings, plus how we distribute the information gathered in those meetings afterward.
We know all about this. We build this, we talk to our customers about this, and we talk to the broader industry.
For this white paper, we spoke to 100 people working in the information economy who participate in at least two video meetings a week. All participants were over the age of 25, and a significant portion were in senior positions.
The majority of people within this study were in companies of over 1,000 people, and the minimum cutoff was working in companies of over 100 people.
So, we're here to find out how AI has changed video meetings for America's enterprises. Let's find out.
In this Xembly article, we’ll cover:
- 5 key considerations for AI and meeting management
- How does this impact meeting management best practices?
- What does this change for the individual?
- What can we expect from the future of AI applications at work?
If you want to access the full report for free you can get it here:
5 key considerations for AI and meeting management from our research
We’ll cover 5 topic areas:
- Adoption is occurring faster than expected
- Meetings are inefficient and AI is disruption
- Sentiment towards AI is firmly positive
- The efficacy of AI explains its spread
- AI adoption beyond meetings: Key trends
Adoption is occurring faster than expected
Our research suggests two thirds of all knowledge workers across a broad range of industries and seniority have used AI in their work in 2023, and 91% believe they’re going to use AI for meetings specifically in 2024. Only one respondent reported they do not want to use AI in future in any capacity.
All major applications of AI technology for meetings had over 35% in reported use. Even advanced features like sending an AI to a meeting on your behalf recorded 18% of people having already tried it.
A promising trend is the certainty of AI use: 60% of respondents are definitely going to use AI for meetings in 2024. The delta between the 69% who have used AI and the 91% who plan to in the coming year shows a significant immediate market opportunity for growth in the sector.
Meetings are inefficient and AI is disruption
Our research reveals not only demand for AI technologies, illustrated through their widespread use and intended future use, but also the existence of a problem for which they can be a solution.
Meetings are a central point of knowledge sharing within an organization yet 62% of workers say their companies don't manage meetings properly - with 35% reporting that notes were either rarely or never taken. Not even 40% of respondents could report meeting best practices were adhered to in their organizations.
Filtering the data to display only companies with over 1,000 employees doesn’t improve the outlook: the rate of adherence to best practices remains consistent, but the number of employees who report having to take their own notes if they wanted any record of the meeting increases by 5 percentage points.
Sentiment towards AI is firmly positive
Within the workplace, when asked to rate their feelings of worry versus excitement on a scale of 1-5, 72% of respondents indicated positive feelings, with 13% undecided and only 15% feeling worried. Of the worried camp, only 1 respondent indicated strong worry.
A very similar theme is visible when asked the same type of question about their feelings on a scale of pessimism versus optimism for the impact of AI on broader society. Only 9% leaned toward pessimism, this time with 3 respondents choosing strong pessimism.
The efficacy of AI explains its spread
Out of all respondents when asked about their experiences of the efficacy of using AI tools to aid their work, only 4% said they had tried it and it hadn’t been beneficial to them. Again, only 1 respondent had a negative experience.
This collection of positive experiences answers previous concerns about a solution in search of a problem. These are real reports from the users of these tools, who are finding them useful day to day at work.
Of useful applications, taking meeting notes (52%) was the biggest winner. Respondents had a single select opportunity so had to make a call about the most useful use case. Both scheduling meetings (13%) and task management applications (20%) also received large sections of the responses.
AI adoption beyond meetings: Key trends
The use case that most users had experience of was AI in the form of Chatbots (77%). Similarly, in terms of exposure, 96% of our surveyed knowledge workers had heard of ChatGPT - which held a significant share of the exposure, seeing Google’s Gemini in second place with 40% of the respondents having heard of that tool.
It seems despite their promising early entry to the AI model ecosystem, Anthropic’s Claude remains in a more niche position. Claude had the same brand recognition as Xembly, with the executive assistant software and the underdog model both tying with 19%. The suggestion here is that there is a portion of the user base who are highly engaged by AI and know multiple players in the space.
Respondents who had heard of Xembly reported much higher instances of recognition of all other tools, with the biggest gains coming for Claude and Copilot. It should be noted that no Xembly users were knowingly approached to participate in this study.
How does this impact meeting management best practices?
There are 4 immediate changes:
- You no longer need to take notes
- Don’t invite people to the meeting to listen
- Lean into radical transparency
- Let AI delegate action items for you
You no longer need to take notes
You don't need to take notes in meetings anymore, and neither does anybody else on your team. The task of taking notes for the purpose of minutes and having an accurate record of discussions is now obsolete.
It's because AI can now do it better than we ever could. AI transcriptions are continually improving. With tools like Xembly, it's straightforward to have AI identify who is speaking at which point during meetings.
Now, if you choose to take notes, it's merely for those personal reminders that aid your thought process. The era of taking minutes is over.
Don’t invite people to the meeting to listen
There's no longer a need to invite people to meetings just for alignment. One of the most inefficient practices at many companies is inviting numerous people to meetings to ensure they're informed about discussions and decisions. Essential communications can be handled before the meeting, and with tools like Xembly, meeting notes can be automatically shared with all attendees and other specified individuals. This ensures everyone who needs to be in the loop is updated with the outcomes, summaries, and access to video and transcription.
Lean into radical transparency
Meeting management best practices are evolving towards radical transparency. When AI can take minutes and integrate them into the company's knowledge base, hoarding information becomes obsolete, except for personal or confidential matters. The vast majority of workplace activities don't need to be secluded.
Large organizations, in particular, require AI tools that offer permissions and roles for necessary security levels. That's why many large enterprises choose Xembly, the only AI executive assistant designed specifically for large U.S. enterprises, embodying new best practices.
Let AI delegate action items for you
AI's capabilities extend beyond transcription to functions akin to project management. Rather than manually summarizing action items and assigning them post-meeting, new AI tools can automatically suggest action items based on meeting discussions and schedule them on attendees' calendars.
You save time and know when other people are going to complete their deliverables by. All done automatically by AI.
What does this change for the individual?
In our Productivity Hero Spotlight series, we interview enterprise leaders to learn how they think about productivity and how they got to where they are in their careers. For our productivity hero spotlight, we spoke to Miru Gunarajah, Senior Vice President of Revenue Operations at Qualtrics.
Miru, based on the East Coast, efficiently manages a global team while striving to strike a balance between work and family. His days are filled with back-to-back meetings, during which he adeptly juggles tasks. To stay organized, Miru relies on thorough note-taking and to-do lists. He places great importance on one-to-one meetings with his team, preferring clear communication and keeping detailed records of discussions. Miru's commitment to effective teamwork and communication is central to his approach to leadership.
Here are 4 key quotes from Miru:
“I take a whole bunch of notes, whether it's in meetings, or it's to-do items. And so that's where some of the note-taking capabilities of Xembly help quite a bit because then that summarizes those notes and gets it out for me.”
“I am hoping that I never have to write an email ever again, and I can say, hey, go send this to XYZ and here's the general context of what I'm trying to get at, and it will craft a beautifully written note and send that out.”
“I think where I have leveraged AI a little bit more is for things where I need more creativity boost. It doesn't have to be full design creative, but simple things… AI has also helped be the sounding board to work through some of those details”
“The biggest thing for me with Xembly is the scheduling. I'm meeting with a whole bunch of folks. The top command I use for Xena is: “@xena, when can I meet with this person?”. And it's almost exactly as I use a real executive assistant; hey, I need to go meet with this person. Can you make that happen? And that's usually the easiest for me.”
To read the full interview with Miru, check out the Productivity Hero Spotlight: Miru Gunarajah.
What can we expect from the future of AI applications at work?
From our research, we can assume the pace of growth within the AI sector will likely continue as the number of organizations currently implementing AI productivity solutions is increasing but still below the number that report the intention to implement these solutions in 2024.
There is a significant market for a unified tool which can bring AI meeting management functionalities together under one system. The companies want to implement it and the workers want it implemented. This kind of unified system is required to maximize the functionality which can be attained across the different use cases.
Workers see AI as being a really positive addition to their workplaces and want to see it implemented further. The data suggests they want to offload the boring, menial, manual day-to-day tasks onto an AI helper. Beyond that, they want AI which can start to take some of their more substantive duties, like attending meetings and communicating with co-workers. This suggests a desire for a more interactive experience, potentially with a virtual proxy which can do certain work with or alongside the worker.
Xembly turns AI executive assistants into an AI chief of staff
Xembly is an AI chief of staff - scheduling meet ups, attending your meetings, recording the notes, creating action items, assigning tasks, and helping team members manage their time so that work gets done.
Here are three advantages of using Xembly:
Smooth AI scheduling
Xembly enables 1:1 appointments and complex multi-person scheduling requests with ease. Whether it's via email, Slack, or a dedicated scheduling link, Xembly's AI aide, Xena, coordinates the details for you and your participants.
Accurate meeting documentation
Xembly documents the essential aspects of your meetings, leaving out anything unnecessary. It provides notes, recordings, and compiles video snippets of important segments. Whether meetings are remote, hybrid, or in-person, Xembly helps you focus on meaningful conversations.
Intelligent task oversight
Xembly’s Task Manager gives direction to your calendar through its auto-task monitoring and time allocation. With Xembly’s Task Manager, users experience a 26% uptick in task completion rates. It creates time for meeting tasks and shapes your timetable to help you get them done.
If you're still not sold, check out our happy customers:
Try Xembly now by clicking here.
