Book excerpt: Strategic Workforce Planning is a practical guide to effectively assess, manage and prepare for current and future workforce requirements. It demystifies the often complex and seemingly technical world of strategic workforce planning to explain what it is, why it's necessary and most importantly, how to do it. Packed full of advice and real-world examples, Strategic Workforce Planning is a playbook for workforce planning from beginning to end. It enables HR professionals to answer core business questions including how do I analyze future hiring demand? How do I assess what skills will be required in the future? How should I prioritize investments like training and development? How do I assess the supply of talent around the world? How do I identify the business drivers that impact workforce demand? It also covers the impact of artificial intelligence (AI), automation and machine learning on the global workforce and how to deal with these implications. Whether you're a start-up, small business or a large corporate, this book will show you how to align people strategy with company strategy to ensure your organization maintains its competitive advantage.