Michael Spataro is the chief customer officer at Legion Technologies, an innovator in workforce management (WFM).
Over the next five years, artificial intelligence will disrupt almost 25% of all jobs worldwide, the World Economic Forum predicted (download required). But for many professions, the AI revolution is already underway, and in this era of slimming and cost-cutting, it’s here not a moment too soon.
One way businesses are introducing AI to optimize their costs is through intelligent automation. Through helping lead a company that provides intelligent automation solutions, I’ve seen that, with AI as its central force, intelligent automation can empower companies and their employees to be more productive by automating certain tasks and improving the decision-making process. This can help free up valuable time for other critical business activities, such as customer service and employee development.
On the surface, “intelligent automation” sounds like something reserved for the technology industry. But it has numerous cross-industrial applications, from retail to manufacturing and every industry in between.
As we move toward a more automated future, business leaders should work to develop a better understanding of intelligent automation.
Automation is changing the nature of work.
With the past year’s rapid advancements in AI, I believe automation is going to become a mainstay in everyday workplace processes, such as data collection and analysis, paperwork, reporting and even accounting. As these tasks become more automated, human monitoring, input and analysis will change, ultimately reshaping the very nature of the way we approach work.
For some employees, this might mean more interfacing with machines on a daily basis. For others, especially people working in customer-facing roles, automation can help reduce the onus of tedious manual processes like scheduling so they can focus on their customers and colleagues.
At my company, we’ve seen first-hand how intelligent automation is changing the way employers with large hourly workforces are running their businesses—from forecasting customer demand to providing early access to earned wages. Things that used to take hours to do can now be done in mere minutes.
That said, these technologies won’t be successful without proper human input, control and change management. A company’s employees will become the ultimate system of checks and balances. Understanding how to work with automated systems and ensure they’re working properly will become a critical part of job training for everyone.
In the AI race, slow and steady is the way.
As more businesses adopt intelligent automation, regulators are casting an increasingly critical eye on the tools they are using, how these tools collect information and whether they are using that information to make decisions in fair, unbiased ways.
Business leaders implementing these technologies need to take a thoughtful approach to how and where this AI-powered innovation can (and whether it should) be deployed in their business. Rushing headlong into this level of digital transformation with an undercooked strategy will create developmental headaches in the best-case scenario or, in worse cases, more serious problems like compliance and finance issues.
When transforming business processes, the idea is to proceed with an ethos of intelligent automation as a way to make existing processes more efficient, not replace them—or your people—completely. This is where internal communication becomes vitally important, particularly in the training phase. Make sure employees understand exactly how the solutions could make things easier for their individual roles. Introduce the technology little by little—not drip-feeding, but at a digestible pace so as to minimize potential skills gaps.
It’s also important to have an accountability system in place. Every workforce automation strategy should have checks for the following.
• Security: What data do your automated systems need access to? How can you protect all stakeholder credentials?
• Ethics: How are you going to ensure these technologies are being used ethically?
• Benchmarking: How are you going to measure success? What’s your plan to increase efficiency?
That lattermost point is another reason not to move too quickly. In an economic downturn, efficiency is imperative, but you need to plan for the long term. Strive for sustainability in your automation strategy by centering it around the party it impacts the most: your people.
People will always be your most important asset.
Ideally, with the introduction of intelligent automation, humans will focus on what humans are best at engaging their teams, liaising with customers and bringing empathy and sensitivity to important decisions. These are all things that require immense energy. Automation could be the relief that helps keep employees from expending that energy and burning out—but only if the automated solutions are implemented with a human-centric approach.
Leaders must focus on how automation will benefit people, not just their bottom line. Can it enable people to do work they couldn’t do before? Does it give them more time to focus on the interpersonal aspects of their jobs? Does it give them more time outside of work? For example, automated workforce management technology can help employees achieve more flexibility and have more autonomy over their schedules.
Moreover, leaders should examine how the technology bears similarities to current processes. Knowing your current employees’ points of reference will help your company to better tailor the training when you onboard them to new tech.
Finally, make sure your people know their value. At a time when talk of AI replacing human labor is reaching a fever pitch, it’s never been more important to support employees and reinforce their worth. Fortunately, intelligent automation will give us the time to invest more in them.
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