Industry Updates

TM Forum, a leading global industry association, in collaboration with Huawei and major telecom operators, has officially released the AI Talent and Skill Matrix White Paper (IG1492C).

The white paper elaborates on the critical challenges facing talent strategies during the organizational transition into AI-native enterprises. It outlines how a systematic skill matrix can drive AI talent capacity building and organizational transformation, while showcasing successful practical use cases from global leading operators. This blueprint provides invaluable insights and references for telecom operators worldwide, as well as the broader technology sector.

AI Talent Strategy: From Technological Deployment to Organizational Remodeling

The white paper highlights that as organizations transition into AI-native enterprises, success no longer primarily hinges on underlying technologies, but rather on talent strategies. Forward-thinking companies are shifting away from managing static job titles toward deconstructing roles into granular tasks and skills. Accordingly, the HR function must evolve from a traditional "gatekeeper" to an "orchestrator," responsible for integrating and managing human and AI team members within a hybrid operating model. A modern talent strategy must manage AI as "digital workers" to unlock organizational resilience. When human ingenuity, machine computing power, and AI agents seamlessly converge within dynamic environments, a revolutionary learning ecosystem is born.

AI Talent and Skill Matrix: A Structured Competency Framework

The white paper systematically defines the AI Talent and Skill Matrix framework, focusing on addressing three critical missions:

• Bridging Business and Talent Strategies: Diagnosing pain points and gaps in organization and talent development during AI transformation.
• Diagnosing Human-Machine Collaboration: Enabling organizations to be more agile and innovative in future team composition.
• Defining Skills for Humans and Machines: Transitioning the role of humans from mere executors into outcome owners and AI orchestrators.

AI Talent and Skills Matrix vertically stratified by Computing, Models, Applications, and Business, and horizontally segmented by the processes of Construction and R&D, Products and Solutions, Delivery and Operations, and Enablement for all employees, this matrix cross-defines talent skill standards to help enterprises effectively build, maintain, utilize, and monetize computing power:

• Computing: Possesses capabilities in the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of computing power platforms, ensuring the stable operation of computing infrastructure.
• Model: Possesses capabilities in model selection, data preparation, fine-tuning, and evaluation, supporting the efficient and precise operation of upper-layer applications.
• Application: Understands business scenarios and possesses capabilities such as RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) and Agent development, accelerating the implementation of AI applications and driving business innovation.
• Business: Gains insights into customer needs and possesses capabilities in product sales and solution design, supporting AI commercial monetization.

Pioneering Practices in AI Talent Transformation

The white paper benchmarks several successful practices from industry pioneers:

• Operator A in Country T: By diagnosing root causes and areas for improvement, Operator A successfully constructed its skill matrix by defining key roles and competencies for typical AI operational scenarios.
• Operator M in China: By building a strategic framework to cultivate "AI-ready" talent, Operator M identified skill hierarchies and critical AI development scenarios, providing a structured pathway to align human resources with the technical requirements of intelligent computing.

Moving Forward Together: AI Talent Strategy Gains Industry Consensus

The white paper concludes that unlocking the full value of an AI-native enterprise requires a fundamental realignment of talent strategy. Organizations must look beyond simple technical deployment. By building robust learning ecosystems and embracing a continuous learning paradigm, they can transform a hybrid workforce into a future-proof engine of competitive advantage.

The release of this white paper signifies that systematic AI talent and skill management concepts have achieved broader industry recognition. It heralds a future where an increasing number of organizations will join forces to advance talent strategy transformations, jointly opening a new chapter of talent management in the AI-native era.

Source: https://www.huawei.com/en/news/2026/6/otf-aitalent-skill-matrix