3 key lessons from AI integration at Walmart

AI integration across HR and enterprises is top of mind for all HR leaders today—and is dominating conversations this week at the HR Tech conference in Las Vegas. It’s a challenge—and opportunity—Donna Morris, chief people officer at Walmart, is navigating at scale, as she leads people operations for a workforce of 2.1 million associates worldwide.

Morris, announced last week as our HR Executive of the Year, says HR needs to play a pivotal role in designing and executing an AI integration strategy—and keep focused in a landscape where pressure to unleash AI quickly is pervasive. Morris draws insights from her own AI integration accomplishments—for instance, designing and rolling out an AI-powered mobile and desktop solution for store associates that has since scaled across the business, as well as a gen AI-driven assistant functioning as a “playground” to encourage associate experimentation with AI.

Morris and her team continue to explore ways to drive efficiencies with AI, including in HR. Her AI integration experiences have highlighted a number of realities that Morris says HR should keep top of mind as they traverse their own AI journeys:

1. Know your destination.

As Walmart’s HR teams began exploring how AI would impact the workforce, it was critical to “position” the work around the broader leadership goal of creating a future Walmart that is “people-led, tech-powered,” she says. That “deliberate” choice to prioritize people has helped inform AI integration decisions.

Having those intentional conversations before any AI integration project is necessary.

“I would encourage my peers to engage with their leadership teams in terms of what role they want technology to play as part of their business as they go forward,” she says. “If you don’t know what you’re building toward, you’re never going to get there.”

That foundation will be important as HR faces pressure from all sides to drive value from AI. The C-suite, boards of directors and other stakeholders all have a “heightened desire” to “move fast,” she says. But HR needs to position AI integration as a true journey.

“If you don’t know your destination, you’re never going to get there.”

2. Step into the leadership role.

Apart from setting the pace, HR can use its seat at the table to keep the focus on the workforce impact during any AI integration project.

Ask questions like:

• What are our internal capabilities?
• Who are our external partners?
• How are we thinking about data?
• Where does AI make sense—and where does it not?

Be a core part of “framing the strategy and the role people will play,” she advises. That work should involve close, cross-organizational partnerships, particularly with tech functions.

“HR has to work really, really closely with digital,” she says. “There are certainly some companies deciding those two should merge; I’m not an advocate saying that needs to be the reality, but rather there needs to be a tight partnership—where you’re looking at, what role will people play, what role will technology play and what is the business really trying to accomplish?”

3. Avoid ‘AI for AI’s sake’.

Without such strategic forethought, organizations can end up with a tech landscape that Morris likens to the famed Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif.—a sprawling mansion once home to a maze of 500 rooms, with doors and windows that led nowhere.

“If you don’t have a deliberate plan to how you’re going to leverage AI, your outcome won’t be as successful,” she says. “You’ll lose time and, frankly, credibility.”

Pursuing “AI for AI’s sake” is not an inexpensive venture either, she adds. Price tags are tied to every decision made along an AI integration journey—so, each step needs to be purposeful.

“We have to be really strategic about where we’re investing,” Morris says, “and how we’re investing.”