Leaders expect “AI-augmented employees” to generate tangible business returns such as greater efficiency
The tide seems to be turning when it comes to opinion on whether robots and automation will replace humans in the workplace. Last week’s blog covered findings from Infosys that showed artificial intelligence (AI) is actually a driver for investing in people. A new study published by software company, Pegasystems, predicts that pairing humans alongside machine intelligence will create more effective, engaged and meritocratic workforces.
The Future of Work report surveyed 845 senior executives working globally across key industry sectors, including financial services, insurance, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and media, and government, on the increased role AI and robotic automation will play in the workplace of the future.
The survey reveals widespread belief that machine intelligence will work ubiquitously alongside humans over time and seven in 10 respondents (69 per cent) reckon the term ‘workforce’ will evolve to encapsulate both humans and machine intelligence. They also expect “AI-augmented employees” to generate tangible business returns such as more efficiency (73 per cent agree) and better customer service (62 per cent).
Responses suggest, though, that the effect of AI will not only transform the way people work but how they are managed and rewarded. More than three-quarters (78 per cent) believe AI and robotic automation will allow staff to make more informed decisions and lead to a flattening of traditional management hierarchies while a similar number (77 per cent) expect AI to help suggest “next best actions” for most customer service agents within the next five years.
The vast majority (88 per cent) are comfortable working together with machines but are less keen on being managed by them. Four out of five (79 per cent) respondents say they would not be comfortable with an AI-powered boss.
Unbiased machine intelligence could also help organisations in areas such as ensuring equal pay. Two thirds (66 per cent) believe the widespread use of AI will give rise to a more transparent meritocracy in the workplace. Three quarters (74 per cent) think that within 10 years, AI will become standard practice for evaluating employee performance, while 72 per cent predict it will be commonly used to set appropriate rewards and compensation. Four fifths (84 per cent) agree it will be commonplace for AI to calculate the true value added by each worker within a decade, while 44 per cent see this happening within five years.
Don Schuerman, chief technology officer and vice president, product marketing, Pegasystems, reckons that the potential of AI and automation has so far being largely untapped and that organisations must augment their human intelligence with AI across the entire organisation in order to move beyond basic efficiency improvements. “By deploying AI and automation with an end-to-end view in mind, businesses can move closer to fulfilling their customer centric vision,” he says.
This also chimes with some of the discussion at January’s World Economic Forum annual meeting where AI was frequently a topic for discussion. At the launch of a skills initiative there, Bill McDermott, chief executive officer of SAP, added that there are “exciting possibilities” when people and machines work together and pointed towards “a new frontier of augmented humanity”.
There are many challenges ahead when it comes to embedding AI and robotics into the workforce and we must be respectful of the defensive feelings some employees are likely to have. But it does seem it is no longer a case of “man versus machine” but “man and machine” and together we can be a powerful combo.
Rather than putting jobs at risk, factory automation and robots could help tackle ‘worringly’ industry-wide knowledge and skills gaps, new research suggests.
A survey of 2,500 business respondents across 14 countries, from Epicor Software Corporation, found that more than half (54 per cent) reckon robots automate repetitive or mundane work that they would otherwise have to do themselves,
According to the global provider of industry-specific software, that humans are happy to work alongside robots is good news for employers that want to use cutting-edge technology, to plug a growing skills gap on their factory floors.
The same research found that the industrial workforce is getting older, and that only a quarter (23 per cent) of businesses are currently able to attract recruits with the right knowledge.
Use of robots can introduce efficiencies where human resource is low, and they can also encourage young talent into industry – with one third of millennials wanting to work at the cutting-edge of new developments.
Many employees are aware of the benefits of automation, because they already have first-hand experience of robot workmates. One third (31 per cent) report that artificial intelligence (AI), robots, and highly automated machinery, are now a common feature of their day-to-day work, while a similar figure (34 per cent) agree that robots are more efficient than humans in the workplace.
Individuals that work in finance, and those that work in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region may be more up for working with robot co-workers than anyone else – 47 per cent of respondents in APAC agree robots are more efficient than humans (compared to 29 per cent in Europe and Middle East).
One third of those who work in finance agree robots can take stressful tasks away from humans (compared to 23 per cent in IT and one fifth of CEOs).
“The study shows us that the use of robots is a very real, but also very welcome way of solving an otherwise worrying industry-wide knowledge and skills gap,” said Terri Hiskey, vice president, product marketing, manufacturing, at Epicor.
“With employers struggling to find candidates with the right skills or knowledge for entry-level roles, and with employees struggling to keep up with the pressures of business growth, automating aspects of the workforce offers a new way of building efficiencies into the supply chain, and enabling digital transformation.”
Through technology, companies are weaving themselves seamlessly into the fabric of how people live today
Professional services firm Accenture is the latest heavyweight to highlight the importance of a new kind of leadership if organisations are to capitalise on the growth opportunities that technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics offer. But as it points out in its annual technology report, it isn’t only about creating business opportunities but ensuring such technology has the right impact on society. The new era of leadership, therefore, must prioritise “trust and greater responsibility”, it states.
As part of its Technology Vision 2018, Accenture surveyed more than 6,300 business and IT executives worldwide. This year’s report, Intelligent Enterprise Unleashed: Redefine Your Company Based on the Company You Keep, reveals how such technologies aren’t just enabling companies to create innovative products and services but also changing the way people work and live. This, in turn, is changing companies’ relationships with their customers and business partners.
More than four-fifths of respondents (84 per cent) agree that through technology, companies are weaving themselves seamlessly into the fabric of how people live today and Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology & innovation officer, reckons just as cities developed around ports and then railroads, or people rebuilt their lives around electricity, the world today is reimagining itself around digital innovation. “And, by extension, the companies that provide those services. This requires a new type of relationship, built on trust and the sharing of large amounts of personal information.”
It is worthwhile noting that what makes this digital revolution so different from anything that has gone before is its interactivity. Customers have far more access to those who are developing the products and services that they purchase. As Accenture points out, this two-way street is leading to a level of “integrated innovation” and degree of trust between the parties that hasn’t been experienced before. “With this two-way partnership comes new responsibilities – to consumers, employees, government and the public,” it cautions.
The Technology Vision 2018 lists five emerging technology trends that Accenture stresses companies must address if they are to build the partnerships that will be necessary to flourish in the digital revolution. They are:
Citizen AI: raising AI to benefit business and society As artificial intelligence (AI) grows in its capabilities, so does its impact on people’s lives. Businesses looking to capitalise on AI’s potential must acknowledge this impact, “raising” AI to act as responsible representatives of their business.
Extended reality: the end of distance Virtual and augmented reality technologies are transforming the ways people live and work by removing the distance to people, information and experiences.
Data veracity: the importance of trust By transforming themselves to run on data, businesses now face a new kind of vulnerability: inaccurate, manipulated and biased data that leads to corrupted business insights and skewed decisions. To address this challenge, companies must follow a dual mandate to maximise veracity and minimise incentives for data manipulation.
Frictionless business: built to partner at scale Businesses depend on technology-based partnerships for growth, but their own legacy systems aren’t designed to support partnerships at scale. To fully power the connected Intelligent Enterprise, companies must first re-design themselves.
Internet of Thinking: creating intelligent distributed systems Businesses are making big bets on intelligent environments via robotics, AI and immersive experiences, but bringing these intelligent environments to life will require not only adding key skills and workforce capabilities, but also modernising enterprise technology infrastructures.
In my view, the trends make for fascinating reading as well as importantly alerting leaders to the challenges ahead and the exciting opportunities for organisations in the future. Organisations have an opportunity to impact and integrate with society in a way they never have before, and we need to grasp this with both hands. The more important organisations are to society, the more in demand our products and services will be to customers and therefore the greater security of our own future.
Organisations urged to get past the hype and understand how to apply AI to become truly intelligent enterprises
Plans have been unveiled to establish a new university in the city of Milton Keynes that will focus on digital skills. The first undergraduate cohort is expected in 2023 and around 5,000 students will study for qualifications in areas such as digital, cyber, autonomy, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).
It is being developed in partnership with business and plenty of major players are supporting the project. It was announced this week that the exclusively postgraduate Cranfield University has been chosen as the lead higher education provider and other partners include Grant Thornton, MK College, Microsoft and Indian IT and technology solutions provider, Tech Mahindra.
The aim is to design new educational models which will be responsive to the needs of the city’s businesses and its people and Ian Fordham, Microsoft UK director of education, reckons the MK:U vision closely aligns with the tech giant’s mission to empower “every person and every organisation on the planet” to achieve more. “We are confident that this new institution will help ensure students develop the skills they need to thrive in a digital economy.”
It is great to see the UK planning to deliver a ground-up and robust solution for what is potentially one of the biggest skills gaps organisations have ever faced. It should also confirm in leaders’ minds everywhere that digital really is the future and even if technologies such as AI and robotics don’t affect their organisation now, they will more than likely play a part in the future.
According to a report by Capgemini and LinkedIn, the digital skills gap is widening though, and worryingly, budgets for training digital talent have remained flat or decreased in more than half (52 per cent) of organisations. Meanwhile, half of organisations said they “keep talking” about the digital talent gap but are not doing much to bridge it. The Digital Talent Gap – Are Companies Doing Enough? also found that half of employees are investing their own money and additional time beyond office hours to develop digital skills on their own.
Where there is training being provided, more than half of today’s digital talent say training programmes aren’t hugely effective and close to half (45 per cent) describe their organisation’s programmes as “useless and boring”. It is laudable that some employees are investing in their own digital future but a failure on the part of senior leadership, especially given the research also found more than half of organisations (54 per cent) felt the digital talent gap is hampering their digital transformation programmes and that their organisation has lost competitive advantage because of this.
None of it makes sense given the opportunities digital is likely to bring. Indeed, the 11th edition of Capgemini’s flagship publication, the Digital Transformation Review: Artificial Intelligence Decoded, highlights how artificial intelligence will be the most debated, invested in and disruptive business technology trend over the coming years. Lanny Cohen, Capgemini’s chief innovation officer, urges organisations to get past the hype and “understand how to apply this innovation to become a truly intelligent enterprise”. The review tackles the AI talent gap as well as AI’s impact on jobs and the characteristics of AI leaders.
While “we are all technology companies now” is fast becoming an everyday expression, it sends out one of the clearest message yet to leaders that they must invest in digital skills for the future. After all, you wouldn’t head up a pharmaceutical company and not invest in computational biology and genomics or clinical research know-how would you?
Only a minority of HR functions are fully prepared for digitalisation
In three years’ time, more than one fifth (22 per cent) of all work could be automated, compared to just 12 per cent today, according to a new study. Worryingly, the Global Future of Work Survey by Willis Tower Watson, a global advisory, broking and solutions company, reveals that less than seven per cent consider their HR functions are fully prepared for the changing requirements of the digitalisation.
Say it quickly and it might not seem significant but with an average of 22 per cent of work being accounted for by automation, this amounts to a large proportion of a company’s operations. What’s more, the survey also finds that the percentage of employers automating work and seeing an increase in skills requirements is expected to rise sharply from 27 per cent currently to 45 per cent over the next three years.
On reading the findings, I tried to think of a parallel from the first industrial revolution that would resonate with this. Maybe it was failing to recognise the impact of James Hargreaves’ spinning jenny that drastically reduced the labour required to produce cloth. Reportedly, the jenny made it possible for an individual to work eight spools at once and then 120 as further technological advancements were made.
Leaders cannot afford to under-estimate the impact of automation. George Zarkadakis, digital lead for Willis Towers Watson’s talent and rewards practice, sums up the situation well when he says that, on one hand, the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, free agent workers, contractors, consultants and part-time employees brings with it HR challenges that only few organisations are prepared to tackle and on the other hand, many companies recognise the need for breakthrough and innovative approaches and are reinventing work and how talent and skills combine.
Indeed, the survey finds that some companies are putting plans in place for a more automated future. Almost one third (31 per cent) of companies have taken steps to address talent deficits through workforce planning and actions while a similar proportion (32 per cent) of companies have taken action to identify the emerging skills required for their business. Meanwhile, 29 per cent have taken action to match talent to the new work requirements, and 27 per cent have taken action to enable careers based on more agile and flattened organisational structures.
Additionally, Willis Towers Watson reports that half of respondents are either planning to take action this year or considering measures to prepare for the future, such as deconstructing jobs and identifying which tasks can be automated and identifying reskilling pathways for talent whose work is being subsumed by automation (48 per cent). Employers are also taking action to identify “skill and will” gaps as automation changes skill premiums (50 per cent) and to reconfigure total rewards and benefits to fit a radically different workforce (53 per cent).
According to Zarkadakis, most respondents acknowledge that automation will have a significant impact on leaders and managers in the next three years, underscored by the percentage of companies that say automation will change how managers educate workers on the impact of automation on their jobs: (32 per cent this year compared to double (61 per cent) in 2020. In addition, almost two-thirds (63 per cent) say leaders will need to think differently about the requirements and skills for successors and succession management as a result of automation.
“Management and leadership development will be a critical issue for companies of all sizes over the next three years,” he adds. “We know strong leadership is a key driver of employee engagement and retention. But in the face of rapidly changing work automation, companies will need to develop leaders and managers who can orchestrate a radically different work ecosystem while keeping all of the talent in their workplaces fully engaged.”
Zarkadakis is on the mark to highlight the deep-rooted changes needed to prepare for the future. Returning to the earlier parallel with the first industrial revolution, it was, after all, the spinning jenny that was instrumental in starting off the factory system of working. But just like automation, it was accompanied by a fear factor on the part of workers and brought a raft of challenges. Leaders who miss the vital cues being given relating to the future of work do so at their peril.
It is understandable that many UK leaders will have started the year with a sense of trepidation. The impact of Brexit looms large and will come more sharply into focus when Article 50 is triggered. But business leaders cannot afford for 2017 to be just about planning to leave the EU. There are too many other factors to take into consideration if leaders are to future-proof their organisations and ensure their work-forces remain motivated and productive and able to compete on a world stage.
