Mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, and big data are having a huge impact on enterprises throughout the world. So much so, that these technologies are an imperative for business. They are indeed technologies that can influence a strategic advantage on business outcomes.
The common narrative among these technologies is data. The excessive volumes of data that daily inundate the workplace can be a major inhibitor to productivity. The end goal is to develop the ability to effectively utilize vast amounts of data. Successful data management through automation can free personnel to address more critical initiatives and myriad market opportunities. This is the ongoing challenge, for this is how companies grow, achieve profitability, and gain a competitive advantage.
Technology and automation will influence almost every job function
Technology is embedded into many aspects of a business to improve processes, services, reliability, compliance, security, and much more. From accounting to marketing, ecommerce to engineering, and sales to supply chains; employees, partners, and customers all rely upon a company’s ability to effectively utilize technology.
Innovation often causes us to move two steps forward, and one step back. These technologies are no exception, and can be victims of their own success. With so much data coming from mobile phones, user workflows, and IoT connected devices, enterprises are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up. A recent survey of business leaders conducted by ServiceNow found the increase in the volume of work associated with data from mobile devices and IoT is negatively impacting employee productivity and creativity. Over 90% of the survey respondents indicated skilled employees across departments, including executives, spend too much time on administrative and manual tasks.
Not only are they losing productivity, they are spending less time on strategic initiatives that need their attention. Automating business processes across people, applications, data, and systems will address many of these challenges. Reducing the tedious tasks of manually dealing with data can unleash user productivity and effectiveness. When machines begin doing the heavy lifting, by applying automated workflows to replace manual tasks, employees are able to achieve greater output and creativity. Leveraging machines to automate everyday tasks will help drive revenue growth, create new jobs, and enable employees to be more valuable contributors.
Automation will optimize business productivity
The tremendous amounts of data are compelling companies to implement workplace automation in hopes that it will increase employee productivity, satisfaction, and creativity. The ServiceNow State of Work survey found that 94% of respondents say automation will increase demand for skills that enable employees to work smarter and achieve more. Their reasoning is, when jobs are automated; collaboration, creative problem solving, and communication will be greatly improved. By eliminating outdated processes and automating repetitive and manual tasks, businesses can save time and increase their agility. Employees will actually become more empowered from the efficiency and creativity unleashed by automation.
Workplace automation can be used to train machines to route IT requests with extreme accuracy. For example, a company can use data models to set categories of inquiries and assign response tickets to the appropriate teams, as well as calculate the associated risks. With automation, hundreds of thousands of IoT machine requests can be reliably categorized and routed for appropriate responses.
Workplace automation allows companies to predict and prevent service outages with anomaly detection. Using an algorithm that identifies patterns that are likely to lead to an outage, the system learns the normal range of behavior and flags outliers that can indicate future errors or malfunctions. It can even identify root cause issues.
How will automation affect jobs?
Everyone understands the benefits that come from economic growth and increased employment, yet many fear automation will destroy jobs. Clearly, there will be workers affected by automation, and they will need to be retrained and transitioned into new positions. As these jobs are redefined, there is an opportunity for employees to grow and learn new skills.
While the vast majority of today’s occupations are not appropriate for full automation, nearly every job could benefit from partial automation. So, rather than replacing jobs, workplace automation will in fact enhance employee productivity and drive economic growth. Their jobs actually become more valuable to the enterprise.
Workplace automation is set to make massive inroads into our personal and professional lives. We’re already seeing the impact in consumer markets, from cars that park and drive themselves to smart home technologies that monitor and respond to light, temperature, and movement. E-commerce automates many tasks by letting us simply click on a product, purchase it, and have it delivered to our door - all from the comfort of our home.
However, the biggest impact of automation is likely to be in the workplace, where it can fundamentally change the whole workplace paradigm. The vast majority of companies that have their business processes automated are seeing increased employee productivity, and more time for strategic initiatives.
Focusing on the job skills needed for this new “automated economy” will be critical for businesses going forward. By automating routine tasks, automation can free up skilled employees for high-value work – increasing productivity, innovation, and creativity. Automation will enable businesses to navigate the ongoing explosion of data, which will only increase as our world becomes connected through mobility and the Internet of Things.
