Few years back, FICCI and Nasscom partnered with EY to publish a study titled ‘Future of Jobs in India – A 2022 Perspective’ which summarized that 10-20% of jobs would create new roles in the IT-BPM industry. Another 60-65% of existing workforce in the IT industry would be employed in roles which will require new skillsets.
In context to the above trend, employee retention has become an equally important topic of discussion. Amazon has recently announced plans to retrain their employees in light of automation, and a TUC report further highlighted the need to improve business perception and preparedness for AI and automation technology in the workplace.
Small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) may find the task of preparing their workforce for automation more challenging than their larger counterparts as the ways in which automation will be used may not be fully envisioned by their management. As much as it is an important investment to make, it is worthy to note that staying ahead of competition is crucial too. This means that while determining whether to automate, SMEs can take this opportunity to assess the overall operational efficiencies and how to achieve scalable, end-to-end business process automation.
It is therefore of paramount importance that SMEs act swiftly and invest in intelligent automation, a market that is expected to grow from $8 billion in 2019 to $14.4 billion by 2024. At the heart of this market is a type of deep automation that is powered by fractal science, which can efficiently work with more limited datasets and is easier to train. These converged solutions can harness the collective power of thousands of bots on their machines as opposed to just one.
The way forward with Integrated Automation Platform
Companies need to first identify what processes requires automation, which employees need retraining or upskilling, and then decide what automation platform they need to deploy in
order to meet these needs. Once this has been ascertained, it should be easier to pinpoint which roles need retraining, and then they can prepare accordingly.
Integrated automation platforms (IAP) built on fractal science technology will play a key role in cultivating the next generation of augmented workforce who is ready to evolve along with the cutting-edge technologies to define the 21st century future of workplace.
Automation solutions in use today are simply unsuitable for unstructured data, which will make up 80% of the world’s data by 2025, and there isn’t enough visibility and awareness over solutions that can address such data, like intelligent automation and IAP powered by fractal science. IAP will significantly reduce the level of human intervention required in traditionally manual tasks and will help businesses in their journey towards digital transformation. Business processes should be looked at as end-to-end and not as a single business process. A multitenancy solution that allows for maximum bot utilization, understands all types of data, and provides businesses with a one-stop solution for data curation will thrive in an AI-enabled smart digital workforce.
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AI will have an impact on jobs across a variety of industries and companies will need to give workers the opportunity to not just to upskill, but also to reskill
Asheesh Mehra, Co-Founder and Group CEO, AntWorks
The critical role of HR in automating the workforce
The role of HR is will evolve in the next few years, and it is crucial to make sure that employees are being retrained sufficiently. As per a 2019 Deloitte report on "Global Human Capital Trends", only 17% of respondents believed that they are ready to manage a workforce of humans, robots and AI working side by side. This shows the instrumental role of HR in a company’s automation strategy by helping employees with the right set of data and tools to make them more effective.
This will shape how workers view their employers for years to come. A culture of positivity and upskilling will benefit organizations greatly where employees view AI as a positive force that will aid in their jobs. Whilst this could be deemed as an uphill task, having an open and transparent dialogue with employees about work automation will engender their trust and buy-in for any changes that may affect how they work. Don’t just upskill, reskill.
AI will have an impact on jobs across a variety of industries and companies will need to give workers the opportunity to not just to upskill, but also to reskill, so that they can undertake higher value roles, as well as taking on entirely new jobs. Adding value is one of the most important things for the modern worker, with employees three times more likely to work for a company that gives them purpose. This process begins by setting clear expectations of what this reskilling will entail and being transparent about how it will affect employees’ working lives.
