Future of Sourcing - Digital Workforce https://www.futureofsourcing.com/tags/digital-workforce en The Digital Dilemma: How an Outsourcing Partner can Combat the IT Skills Shortage https://www.futureofsourcing.com/the-digital-dilemma-how-an-outsourcing-partner-can-combat-the-it-skills-shortage <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/The%20Digital%20Dilemma.jpg"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/The%20Digital%20Dilemma.jpg" title="The Digital Dilemma: How an Outsourcing Partner can Combat the IT Skills Shortage" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1324-ZiNuImczcnY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/The%20Digital%20Dilemma.jpg?itok=f4VhzcIf" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div>Based on the speed with which the world is adopting and embracing new technology, we could easily have 500,000 IT roles to fill by 2020. For companies around the world, building new products to compete (and win) against competitors is hard, and the game is only getting tougher. Talent is difficult to find and even harder to retain. If you&rsquo;re not using innovative technology, you&rsquo;ll undoubtedly struggle in the war for <a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/it-outsourcing-changing-landscape" target="_blank">IT talent</a>.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>So, why is talent difficult to find? As we move into an era that is more technological than ever before, skills required for the roles being created must also adapt. For example, finding a software engineer who knows Java is hard enough, but finding a programmer with strong enough math skills to keep up with the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning is even harder. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>In-house Talent vs. Outsourcing Talent&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>In the war for talent, companies can choose to invest and source talent in-house, however, it&rsquo;s not an easy challenge and not everyone wins. For business leaders, it&rsquo;s hard to justify investing in people who you might later lose to competitors. What is more, the decision to keep talent in-house is a battle that must be fought on two fronts &ndash; in the war for business and the war for talent. Companies seldom can afford this.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>However, the other option is to outsource talent: with around 50 percent of companies already using outsourcing in one form or another, it&rsquo;s the new normal in IT. But using external companies to help with R&amp;D doesn&rsquo;t often happen because it&rsquo;s seen as a risk.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>So, is it possible to have an innovation partner? Is it possible to outsource innovation?&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>It&rsquo;s hard, but achievable and crucial to find the right match for your business. Organisations around the world typically prefer a partner rather than just an outsourcer. Ideally, you want a partner that understands your business as much as you do, and understands the industry and technology. This results in faster delivery to the market, increases the likelihood of shared innovation and attracts skilled talent. &nbsp;&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Building Partnerships&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>If your work with an outsourcer is a true partnership, it can flourish. Communication between the two companies should be on a variety of levels (e.g., at both a management and engineer level), which is maintained and nourished throughout the partnership. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Culture also should be taken into consideration. With similar values and cultural alignment, a partnership will develop. When you look for an outsourcing partner, these questions should be addressed:&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <ul> <li>What objectives do you have?</li> <li>What processes do you have in place and which do you need?</li> <li>Do you trust them?&nbsp;</li> </ul> <div>Trust matters the most, but it is often the most difficult to achieve quickly.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><a href="http://futureofsourcing.com/from-compliance-to-guidance-the-evolution-of-outsourcing" target="_blank">If two organisations in a partnership have trust</a>, it can help during difficult situations. With trust in place, the teams can go through many problems together and find mutual solutions. However, there are plenty of mistakes than can inhibit the partnership, and consequently the trust. This includes a lack of cultural alignment and talent retention. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>Retaining Talent in a Partnership &nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>When you look for a partner, it&rsquo;s important to not only focus on the skills that the organisation currently has, but also their means of sourcing new talent and retaining current talent. It&rsquo;s critical that the company you work with is also winning in the war for skilled workers and is motivating employees to stay with the organisation. If you begin working with a partner and their skilled team, and then they leave, it will greatly inhibit the project (and likely the partnership too). &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>When it comes to choosing the right partner, there is plenty to take into consideration. From honesty and transparency to having joint responsibility, an outsourcer should be a partner to the organisation and prioritise attracting and keeping skilled workers. After all, there can&rsquo;t be innovation without talent.</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/it-outsourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">IT Outsourcing</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-acquisition" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Acquisition</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-sourcing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Sourcing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="The Digital Dilemma: How an Outsourcing Partner can Combat the IT Skills Shortage - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/the-digital-dilemma-how-an-outsourcing-partner-can-combat-the-it-skills-shortage"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/europemiddle-eastafrica" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Europe/Middle East/Africa</a></div></div></div> Wed, 28 Nov 2018 18:47:56 +0000 Jaroslaw Czaja 1324 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/the-digital-dilemma-how-an-outsourcing-partner-can-combat-the-it-skills-shortage#comments The Rules of Outsourcing Have Changed https://www.futureofsourcing.com/the-rules-of-outsourcing-have-changed <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Outsourcing-the%20rules%20have%20changed%20624x325.jpg"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Outsourcing-the%20rules%20have%20changed%20624x325.jpg" title="Future-proof your enterprise for an automated, tech-driven future." class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1271-ZiNuImczcnY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Outsourcing-the%20rules%20have%20changed%20624x325.jpg?itok=xFY06o0g" width="624" height="325" alt="Future-proof your enterprise for an automated, tech-driven future." title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div><strong>The Pace of Transformation&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>As the pace of <a href="http://www.futureofsourcing.com/network-challenges-in-a-world-of-digital-transformation" target="_blank">transformation</a> ramps up in the technology industry, the chasm is widening between the number of roles that need to be filled and the number of relevantly qualified resources to fill them. Technology is changing the world and our lives at such a rapid pace that it&rsquo;s hard for companies to keep up with the shifts caused. Examples of major technology shifts include the <a href="http://www.futureofsourcing.com/artificial-intelligence-whats-now-and-next-in-iot-driven-supply-chain-innovation" target="_blank">Internet of Things (IoT)</a> and apps (cloud-based and mobile). By 2020, it is predicted that <a href="https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2636073" target="_blank">7.6 billion people will have 100 billion connected</a> devices that run 1 trillion apps.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Technology shifts open up, which is good for business, but this creates larger workloads for software development departments. The challenge is that companies lack the technology, skills sets, resources and strategies to <a href="http://www.futureofsourcing.com/orchestration-vs-integration-finding-the-best-way-to-manage-automation" target="_blank">manage their workforces</a> effectively. It&rsquo;s predicted that by <a href="https://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240233165/Firms-lack-technology-for-workforce-of-the-future" target="_blank">2020 over 80 percent of companies</a> will rely on temporary or contingent workers to fill skills gaps as the battle to recruit talent intensifies. As the pace of transformation increases in the technology industry, companies are struggling to find the people they need, with many claiming that graduates are leaving university without relevant skills and talent. In the same time span, the U.K. is expected to have a shortage of <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/coadec-brexit-talent-shortage2020-2017-2?IR=T" target="_blank">800,000 tech workers</a>. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>The Traditional Offshore Outsource Model is Broken&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Due to the current and impending shortfall of IT professionals for the U.K. market and the challenge to find talent, other issues will arise in the form of retention. Supply and demand are already an issue and companies will enter bidding wars to lock down the best IT and digital professionals. Retention will be a problem as IT professionals will accept better paying jobs, so how to secure and keep digital talent must be addressed. The traditional outsourcing model to offshore companies will no longer suffice. With AI developments happening so quickly, it no longer makes service or commercial sense to offshore as it once did. It is no longer true that a supplier who can muster thousands of cheap resources (which are not as cheap as they used to be) represents a compelling proposition.  &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div><strong>What is the answer?&nbsp;</strong></div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>When considering outsourcing, which companies will have to do to fulfill demand, they will need to think carefully. Leveraging a <a href="http://www.futureofsourcing.com/cultural-counterparts-the-advantage-of-nearshoring" target="_blank">nearshore model</a> is becoming very popular. Companies can use nearshore delivery centers with best-in-class experts who are trained and up to speed with the latest technologies and software development tools and methodologies. The nearshore model is proving to be very successful and companies that leverage delivery centers can use several engagement models from managed teams, extended teams and managed projects. This model is proving to be more cost effective, with an increase in quality and speed to market. &nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>Gone are the days when companies can afford to wait for multiple attempts before getting it right. With the velocity of change and the speed at which things need to be done, using an onshore model with a trusted advisor is the key. To lock down and secure resources for the long term, companies should look to partner with outsource providers that have pioneered, built and managed teams that eventually become fully owned assets of their clients (while ensuring that the culture of their client is fully embedded from the outset). This will enable companies to build, recruit and retain their digital talent for an automated, tech-driven future.&nbsp;</div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/nearshoring" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Nearshoring</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/internet-of-things-iot" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Internet of Things (IoT)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/talent-management" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Talent Management</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/transformation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Transformation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="The Rules of Outsourcing Have Changed - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/the-rules-of-outsourcing-have-changed"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Thu, 30 Aug 2018 17:55:38 +0000 Graham Fell 1271 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/the-rules-of-outsourcing-have-changed#comments It’s Always Good to (Twitter) Chat https://www.futureofsourcing.com/its-always-good-to-twitter-chat <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Enate%20Chat-624x325.jpg"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Enate%20Chat-624x325.jpg" title="It’s Always Good to (Twitter) Chat" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1220-ZiNuImczcnY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Enate%20Chat-624x325.jpg?itok=p8ycsNMW" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-intro field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p><span xml:lang="EN-GB">A</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">utomation lessons from the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">first #</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">EnateChat</span></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{98d003a9-a995-45fc-a59a-c18a4319b0ff}{216}" paraid="491192179"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">On the 28</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB"><span data-fontsize="11">th</span></span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of June,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Enate</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;held its first ever&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">#</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">EnateChat</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">Twitter chat. We were looking to tap into the thoughts, opinions and predictions of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">automation/RP</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">A</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;community</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">and</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;I was</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">asked to lead the chat, posing&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">a series of questions</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">looking&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">to spark debate.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">I&rsquo;m&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">thrilled&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">to say that</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23EnateChat&amp;src=typd" target="_blank">#</a></span><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23EnateChat&amp;src=typd" target="_blank"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">EnateChat</span></a><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;was a big success!&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{df5a505c-9325-4e64-b2c5-9f43d96ca950}{23}" paraid="1203938019"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">I</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">n&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">rapid-fire</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;half-hour discussion on how to make the most&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the combined human/digital workforce, we saw users joining the chat from as far afield as India, Poland</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;and the USA</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, pinging over 100 tweets&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">during the 30-</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">minute slot</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">. Symphony Ventures, SIG</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;and ISG</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, were just a few of the companies that got involved</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, and we also&nbsp;</span>heard from journalist Adi Gaskell and Outsource Magazine editors Sarah Holliman and Hailey Corr, who were able to offer their own unique take on the automation space.</p> <p paraeid="{df5a505c-9325-4e64-b2c5-9f43d96ca950}{23}" paraid="1203938019"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">It was fantastic to see the interest and passion that people have when it comes to automation and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">a</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;world&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">where&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">bots and human</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">are increasingly&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">co-</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">existing</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">. To that end, there were some common themes that&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">emerged during the chat, all&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">of which&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">cent</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">e</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">red</span>&nbsp;on the problem of&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">integrating the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;digital workforce with human workers.</span></p> <p paraeid="{df5a505c-9325-4e64-b2c5-9f43d96ca950}{23}" paraid="1203938019"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-GB">1.)&nbsp;Automation&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">implementation&nbsp;and taking the &lsquo;R&rsquo; out of RPA and RSO</span></strong></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{df5a505c-9325-4e64-b2c5-9f43d96ca950}{152}" paraid="855469027"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">While Adi Gaskell made the point that it&rsquo;s nice to see&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the silliness about robots taking over the world dying down</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;there seems to be a lingering problem for businesses&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">introducing</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;bots into their workforce.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;Many users agreed that&nbsp;</span><a href="http://outsourcemag.com/robotic-process-automation-rpa-drives-value-and-saves-money-but-it-is-not-a-magic-wand" target="_blank"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">implementation is the main&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">issue</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span></a>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">and that interest in automation/RPA at</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;board-level wasn&rsquo;t matched by the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">capability on the ground.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">Sarah Holliman, SIG, suggested there</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;are also potential issues with making sure that the human workforce is comfortable with the introduction of</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;RPA software (or physical automation) into the working environment</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">:&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">H</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ow do you make the humans in the workplace feel like the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bots?src=hash" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">bot</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">s</span></a><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;are part of the team?</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{df5a505c-9325-4e64-b2c5-9f43d96ca950}{217}" paraid="1059102894"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Humanising the digital, and making sure that humans remain in ultimate control, were</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;good</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;&lsquo;airbag&rsquo; solutions.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Dawn&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Tiura</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of SIG put forward:&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">I would love it if we were able to take the R out of RPA and RSO,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">wouldn&rsquo;t</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;you?</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://outsourcemag.com/author/kit-cox" target="_blank">Kit Cox</a> of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Enate</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;responded:&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN">It would certainly</span><span xml:lang="EN">&nbsp;highlight the key difference between <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/gearing-up-for-the-fifth-industrial-revolution-a-glass-half-full" target="_blank">Process and Service</a>.</span><span xml:lang="EN">&rdquo;</span></p> <p paraeid="{df5a505c-9325-4e64-b2c5-9f43d96ca950}{217}" paraid="1059102894"><strong>2.) People are getting the business benefits of bots</strong></p> </div> </div> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{da2910bf-a8d2-4e6a-b7b5-2149c1433152}{13}" paraid="1763717290"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Kamal Saran provided an excellent example for the benefits of automation taking on tasks&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">that</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">might typically be seen as&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">drudge work</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;in order to provide a more efficient and beneficial service. He asked users to consider a&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">public sector</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;employee who can manage RPA software to collect data from multiple systems and verify the benefits&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">to which&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">a citizen might be entitled</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;The human worker can arrive at the correct decision more quickly</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;and has time freed up to focus on the unique elements of each case</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">which may&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">require soft skills.</span></p> <p paraeid="{da2910bf-a8d2-4e6a-b7b5-2149c1433152}{13}" paraid="1763717290"><strong><span xml:lang="EN-GB">3.)&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Automation needs to go hand in hand with orchestration</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p> </div> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{da2910bf-a8d2-4e6a-b7b5-2149c1433152}{62}" paraid="1214523868"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Lee Lundy from Symphony Ventures stated that bots seemed most scary or alien when they&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">aren&rsquo;t doing a given role&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">[</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">as</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">]</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">part of the team</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">It&rsquo;s this&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">disconnect</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;between</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;the</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;acquisition and</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;implementation</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">bots</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;that can lead to the workforce operating below expected levels. Chris&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Gayner</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, Lee&rsquo;s colleague,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">also added that&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">not all bots are created equal</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&mdash;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">assistive bots that work with humans need to be treated differently to process/transaction bots</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&mdash;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">and thus require a different&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">comms</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">strategy</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.&rdquo;</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">He also added</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">that being clear about&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">virtual workers</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rsquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;purpose</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;and managing them efficiently with sufficient oversight was key to success.</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{da2910bf-a8d2-4e6a-b7b5-2149c1433152}{149}" paraid="1168555566"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Busy times during</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">#</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">EnateChat</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;over a half hour period</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&mdash;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">before I&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">knew it</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;it was time</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;bring things to a close</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Hey&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ho</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, &ldquo;l</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">eave them wanting more</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;as the saying goes.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">We&rsquo;r</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">e already looking forward to the next one&hellip;watch this space!</span></p> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/robotic-process-automation-rpa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Robotic Process Automation (RPA)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/robotic-service-orchestration-rso" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Robotic Service Orchestration (RSO)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Automation</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/task-bots" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Task Bots</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="It&amp;rsquo;s Always Good to (Twitter) Chat - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/its-always-good-to-twitter-chat"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 20 Jul 2018 16:48:18 +0000 Eleanor Matthews 1220 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/its-always-good-to-twitter-chat#comments Robot Workers and Human Problems: Hiring (and firing) your digital workforce https://www.futureofsourcing.com/robot-workers-and-human-problems-hiring-and-firing-your-digital-workforce <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Robot%20Workers-Human%20Problems.jpg"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/Robot%20Workers-Human%20Problems.jpg" title="Robot Workers and Human Problems: Hiring (and firing) your digital workforce " class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-1189-ZiNuImczcnY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/Robot%20Workers-Human%20Problems.jpg?itok=iFK7NaZE" width="624" height="325" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{48a7008a-7edd-4cc2-9d71-7406d4943cce}{187}" paraid="791694753"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Picture the scene:</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;you&rsquo;re in the middle</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of hiring for a role in your HR department.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;At the interview stage, some bright young candidate takes a seat.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;You ask the classic question, &ldquo;So why should I hire you?&rdquo;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{48a7008a-7edd-4cc2-9d71-7406d4943cce}{201}" paraid="1797190502" style="margin-left: 40px;"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Erm</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&hellip;you shouldn&rsquo;t really.&rdquo;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{48a7008a-7edd-4cc2-9d71-7406d4943cce}{209}" paraid="493653776" style="margin-left: 40px;"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry?</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{48a7008a-7edd-4cc2-9d71-7406d4943cce}{217}" paraid="1756956618" style="margin-left: 40px;"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Well if you wait 12 months I&rsquo;ll be better at the role and&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">cheaper to hire.&rdquo;</span></p> <p paraeid="{48a7008a-7edd-4cc2-9d71-7406d4943cce}{217}" paraid="1756956618" style="margin-left: 40px;"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&ldquo;Oh&hellip;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">well now I don&rsquo;t&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">want</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;to hire you, but what about the work that needs doing&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">now?</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rdquo;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{48a7008a-7edd-4cc2-9d71-7406d4943cce}{243}" paraid="1910965128"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Whilst you&rsquo;re unlikely to hear&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">this exchange in the human world</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">, it&rsquo;s a real&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">consideration</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;when it comes to the <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/robotic-process-automation-rpa-drives-value-and-saves-money-but-it-is-not-a-magic-wand" target="_blank">Robotic Process Automation (RPA) market</a>.&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Why should I pick (&lsquo;hire&rsquo;) something now when there is something better and cheaper&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">coming down the line in two&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">years</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rsquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;time?&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">At the same time, how do I meet my short-term automation needs?&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{e6001792-af95-4986-a97b-c94e766f125a}{14}" paraid="1182760161"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">The marketplace</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">looks as if it&rsquo;s going to&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">get</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;more cut-throat as RPA tools become cheap</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">er and more effective. So as&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">the&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&lsquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">price per bot</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rsquo;&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">falls fast</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">,&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">flexibility has a key role to play in</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;making the best use of&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">you</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">r</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">RPA capabilities.&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{e6001792-af95-4986-a97b-c94e766f125a}{54}" paraid="602317561"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">However, t</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">his flexibility can&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">suffer</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;when</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;companies insist on viewing</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">RPA</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;as something that can only be obtained through an <a href="http://outsourcemag.com/automation-an-inevitable-reality-for-procurement" target="_blank">IT procurement&nbsp;</a></span><span xml:lang="EN-GB"><a href="http://outsourcemag.com/automation-an-inevitable-reality-for-procurement" target="_blank">process</a>. Whether due to perceived complexit</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">y o</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">r a fixation on short term&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">financial incentives,</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">treating the acquisition and management of your digital workforce in the same way you t</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">reat, for example, your CRM, could</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;prove to</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;be a little&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">short-</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">sighted.&nbsp;</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{e6001792-af95-4986-a97b-c94e766f125a}{96}" paraid="1644625696"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Making business-oriented hiring decisions is the cornerstone of human recruitment, so why should it be any different for RPA bots?</span>&nbsp;L<span xml:lang="EN-GB">et&rsquo;s look at this more as a business question and less as&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">an IT-centric decision.</span>&nbsp;<span xml:lang="EN-GB">Here are the two most common misconceptions that lead businesses to lump choosing RPA tools in with traditional IT procurement:</span></p> <ol> <li paraeid="{e6001792-af95-4986-a97b-c94e766f125a}{96}" paraid="1644625696">&lsquo;Our team should be trained on one tool&rsquo;<br /><span xml:lang="EN-GB">Rubbish! T</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ech developers in all walks of life&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">are</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;able to switch between languages and development environments with li</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">ttle or no difficulty. RPA can be seen as a development system like any other. Even if you have to invest in a couple of weeks&rsquo; extra training for your team, their increased business flexibility will pay you back with interest.&nbsp;</span>&nbsp; &lsquo;We want to access volume discounts&rsquo;</li> <li paraeid="{e6001792-af95-4986-a97b-c94e766f125a}{96}" paraid="1644625696"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&lsquo;We want to access volume discounts&rsquo;<br />While you might be able to reduce initial costs by investing in just one tool, you are at the same time&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">significantly</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;increasing risk by putting all your eggs in one bask</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">et, so to speak.&nbsp;</span></li> </ol> </div> </div> <div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p paraeid="{e6001792-af95-4986-a97b-c94e766f125a}{160}" paraid="2133701317"><span xml:lang="EN-GB">It&rsquo;s essential in the current market that companies have a virtual&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&lsquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">quiver</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&rsquo;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;of RPA tools that</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;is kept under review on an annual basis at the very least.</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;One of the beauties with digital workers is that you don&rsquo;t&nbsp;</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">feel guilty about firing them after</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">&nbsp;a year when a more capable digi</span><span xml:lang="EN-GB">tal worker appears on the scene!</span></p> </div> <div style="clear:both;"> <p>We need to let business units choose the most efficient RPA tool for them and ensure that&nbsp;behind it all there is an RSO (Robotic&nbsp;Service Orchestration) platform to provide governance and control across the&nbsp;entire digital workforce.</p> </div> </div> <p>&nbsp;</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/robotic-process-automation-rpa-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Robotic Process Automation (RPA)</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Automation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/artificial-intelligence-ai" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Artificial Intelligence (AI)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/task-bots" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Task Bots</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Robot Workers and Human Problems: Hiring (and firing) your digital workforce - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/robot-workers-and-human-problems-hiring-and-firing-your-digital-workforce"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 06 Jun 2018 21:38:58 +0000 Kit Cox 1189 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/robot-workers-and-human-problems-hiring-and-firing-your-digital-workforce#comments Travel to Utopia? https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/890 <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/xRPA-April-2014-2-420x215.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.j1hEB3WawU.jpg"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/xRPA-April-2014-2-420x215.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.j1hEB3WawU.jpg" title="Travel to Utopia?" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-890-ZiNuImczcnY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/xRPA-April-2014-2-420x215.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.j1hEB3WawU.jpg?itok=W_1zCfTg" width="420" height="215" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><em>Earlier today, I had the honour of delivering the final presentation at the&nbsp;<a href="http://sig.org/" target="_blank">Sourcing Industry Group (SIG)</a>&lsquo;s latest London Regional Roundtable &ndash; this time round, actually, a joint effort with the wonderful folks at the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.acte.org/Home.htm" target="_blank">Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE)</a>, which also comprised the ACTE London Corporate Travel Procurement Forum. It was a great day full of valuable discussion (and, of course, very useful networking) which really highlighted the many synergies between the two organisations, and the many lessons which procurement and business travel professionals can learn from each other; on a personal level I&rsquo;d like to congratulate the SIG and ACTE teams who worked so hard to make this event a resounding success, sentiments which I&rsquo;m sure would be shared by every one of the delegates participating today. (You can&nbsp;<a href="http://outsourcemag.com/qa-caroline-allen-acte/" target="_blank">read here</a>&nbsp;my interview with ACTE&rsquo;s European Regional Director, Caroline Allen, carried out in the run-up to the event.)</em></p> <p><em>While much of the discussion was, of course, carried out on an off-the-record basis, I&rsquo;m looking forward to publishing on these pages some content by some of the conference&rsquo;s excellent speakers in the near future &ndash; and, of course, I have no need to subject myself to the same restrictions, so thought I&rsquo;d share with you (below) a somewhat edited version of my presentation, entitled &lsquo;The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace tomorrow&rsquo;. In the transition from audio to the written word you&rsquo;ll miss, of course, my dulcet tones &ndash; fortunately my stammering, stuttering and general gibbering didn&rsquo;t make the final text &ndash; and I&rsquo;m also not publishing the slides which accompanied the presentation and have made a few edits to adjust for that omission. In the main, however, the copy below is very similar to what I actually delivered this afternoon, and I hope provides some food for thought on what is after all a topic of vast and growing significance to all of us.</em></p> <p><em>I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on this presentation; when I&rsquo;ve discussed similar themes here in the past such discussion has always prompted a lot of excellent responses from you, dear readers, and I hope that this trend continues: as always you can send your thoughts to me at <a href="mailto:jliddell@sig.org">jliddell@sig.org</a> &ndash; and please make clear whether you&rsquo;re happy for your comments to be published in any future article on this topic.</em></p> <hr style="clear:both;" /> <p><strong>The role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace tomorrow</strong></p> <p>Let&rsquo;s start by imagining the journey someone might take to get to an event like this in a few years&rsquo; time. We&rsquo;ll call her Alice; I don&rsquo;t know what she does, specifically, but we&rsquo;ll suppose it&rsquo;s a job that hasn&rsquo;t yet been automated away&hellip;</p> <p>Alice gets up extremely early one morning, gets herself ready for the day, and goes outside where a car is waiting for her that she&rsquo;s booked via an app the previous night. It&rsquo;s a fully automated, driverless car &ndash; built of course using techniques relying overwhelmingly on robots &ndash; and the booking and payment for the journey have all been processed completely electronically. During the drive to the airport &ndash; a drive managed by extremely complex software at least some of which itself has been written by other software &ndash; Alice logs onto her email and responds to at least a few messages which have been automatically generated by bots both within and outside her own organisation, communicating through an infrastructure monitored and at least partially designed by more software.</p> <p>At the airport Alice checks herself in via a self-service terminal and proceeds through the security zone which is comparatively heavily staffed thanks to the power of the security lobby &ndash; though even here most of the employees are really in place to ensure travellers pass through the various bits of kit which do the actual security work. She settles in for a quick coffee prepared entirely by robots &ndash; again, the resulting transaction is a purely electronic one &ndash; and reads, on her tablet, some news articles: two of the articles have been written from start to finish by software, and Alice simply doesn&rsquo;t notice any differences between those and the articles written by human journalists.</p> <p>When the time comes to board her plane, she scans her boarding documents under the supervision of a very bored flesh-and-blood employee and takes her seat, for a journey operated from start to finish by an autopilot, though human beings are still present in the cockpit for the peace of mind of the travellers. During her flight &ndash; booked and paid for, of course, entirely electronically &ndash; Alice enjoys a bit of downtime by logging onto Netflix and catching up on the latest season of&nbsp;<em>American Crime Story: Who Killed Kim Kardashian?</em>; when the plane pulls up to the terminal she disembarks, goes through immigration where the sole person-to-person interaction is with the woman who stamps her passport, and leaves the airport straight into the waiting embrace of another driverless car which takes her directly, at optimal speed, to the conference centre &ndash; where at last she starts interacting in a meaningful way with members of her own species.</p> <p>OK, so this isn&rsquo;t a particularly detailed little narrative &ndash; but one thing to point out is that much of what occurs is already relatively commonplace, and those things that aren&rsquo;t probably aren&rsquo;t that far off (depending, mostly, on when we think driverless cars will start replacing human-driven taxis: with Uber paying its drivers a mere 20% of the fare that may well be some time away at this rate).</p> <p>Let&rsquo;s take a look at the jobs in this tale which are still performed by humans. The majority of them, in a heavily regulated institution like an airport, will be there because the law mandates that human beings are still part of the process. It&rsquo;s a staple of society that laws change at a much slower rate than technology advances, and it&rsquo;s safe to say that this will continue to be so barring some miraculous turn of events &ndash; perhaps the Trump Revolution will bring a new broom to the American legislative system, for example&hellip; &ndash; and in the example I&rsquo;ve given we also have to take into consideration the fact that powerful vested interests gain financially from employing a great many people in the security process, which is something else unlikely to change. So for at least the foreseeable future, travellers such as Alice will encounter a number of human beings who are there not because systems which could replace them don&rsquo;t exist, but because the implementation of those systems is blocked for specific reasons outside the normal framework within which automation is implemented &ndash; that is, the business-based desire for efficiency and cost savings.</p> <p>That efficiency and savings drive, however, has gone unfettered by legislation throughout most of the rest of what comprises Alice&rsquo;s journey, and the most obvious consequence &ndash; visible and invisible &ndash; is the removal of people, wherever possible, from the activity chain. The same drivers are at play in the utilisation of driverless taxis as in the automation of Alice&rsquo;s booking process: the removal from the process of the costs of employing people &ndash; both one-off such as hiring and regular such as wages &ndash; and the removal of human error. This month saw details emerge of what is apparently the first traffic accident which can actually be blamed on one of Google&rsquo;s driverless cars (as opposed to accidents involving them but where the responsibility lies with other, human, drivers); considering the huge number of miles now driven by these vehicles that&rsquo;s a pretty astonishing safety record, and the same principles apply to the software taking and processing Alice&rsquo;s travel bookings: their error rate will be vastly below the equivalent processing carried out by people.</p> <p>The story of automation thus far can be described pretty simply: where there is a compelling business case, and unobstructed by any other considerations (legislative, social, union-related etc) organisations will replace humans with machines. This constant predates the Industrial Revolution, and despite the various forms of Luddism which have arisen in opposition to it, remains the case today. For most of that time, of course, it has been a concept of most relevance to manufacturing, in that the automation that has been possible has been a very physical thing: first steam-powered machines and later very complex computer-guided robots have replaced human workers in the factory, and enabled the creation of objects with an accuracy simply unachievable by human beings &ndash; and at a much greater rate of efficiency.</p> <p>Today, a new automation revolution is at hand &ndash; and it&rsquo;s taking the form of zeroes and ones, not steam and iron. Staggering advances in information technology have led to the creation of software which is increasingly able to replicate, and subsequently improve upon, the work of its human predecessors &ndash; and it is this new breed of software (and, in some sectors, highly specialised hardware developed to carry out its instructions) which is set to turn the world of business &ndash; indeed, our world as we know it &ndash; upside down.</p> <p>That sounds dramatic, but I assure you it&rsquo;s taking place as we speak. Last year, at the most recent SIG London roundtable, I spoke on a related theme and as part of my presentation I played a video which had gone viral on YouTube entitled &lsquo;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pq-S557XQU" target="_blank">Humans Need Not Apply</a>&rsquo;, in which its creator outlines why he believes humans today are in a similar situation to that of horses immediately prior to the development of the internal combustion engine: this is, on the verge of becoming economically redundant. When I agreed to speak on this topic today I promised that I wouldn&rsquo;t put the audience on quite so much of a downer this time round, so we&rsquo;ll leave that video on YouTube&hellip;. While I do recommend it to you all, you do not however need to watch it to be familiar with either its basic premise or the generally portentous tone it exudes, since hardly a week goes by now without one renowned consultancy or another issuing a gloomy forecast of the scale of the revolution ahead of us, with variously millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions of jobs set to be handed over to the all-conquering machines within a generation. Again, not to dwell on this apocalyptic scenario for now, but it&rsquo;s worth pointing out that the changes making the headlines are already well underway: much of the back office activity taking place behind the scenes of Alice&rsquo;s story is already overwhelmingly digitised and automated compared with how it would have been carried out certainly within living memory and even within the timespan of the careers of most of us in this room, and eradicating the remaining human touchpoints is an ongoing and lucrative mission for software and service providers the world over.</p> <p>In my narrative, when Alice has made it through the comparatively densely populated security zone, and is waiting to board her flight, she does something which would currently involve interacting with a human employee but which in my hypothetical near-future does not: she orders and enjoys a coffee. This represents a type of activity not impacted by legislation of the sort which keeps the security area staffed but which nevertheless isn&rsquo;t universally an open and shut business case for automation: the kind of service in which human staff can increasingly be seen as a &ldquo;nice to have&rdquo; or even a &ldquo;value-add&rdquo;. Alice chooses to go to a fully automated refreshment bar and pays for her coffee via her smartphone; the coffee is prepared &ndash; according to instructions generated through her frequent use of this particular chain &ndash; and served to her by an actual physical robot (it&rsquo;s important to bear in mind that many of the uses of the word &ldquo;robot&rdquo; in the tech arena today don&rsquo;t refer to this kind of physical machine, but to software: this is the case for example with the term &ldquo;robotic process automation&rdquo; which I&rsquo;ll be coming onto in a minute). Elsewhere in the airport are establishments where the baristas, bar staff and waiters remain of the&nbsp;<em>Homo sapiens</em>&nbsp;persuasion, for people who don&rsquo;t mind paying a little extra for the human touch; Alice isn&rsquo;t feeling particularly sociable today and, besides, she knows when she goes to this particular automated coffee bar she&rsquo;s going to get her drink prepared exactly the way she likes it. The point is that the staff employed in the other bars and restaurants are not there because their presence is necessary, but because it is preferred by some of the patrons: their employers have decided that those businesses benefit from retaining the legacy hardware (or &ldquo;meatware&rdquo; to use a particularly delightful term increasingly at play).</p> <p>Therefore when we come to look at the kind of jobs which will still be carried out by humans in the future &ndash; the relatively near future &ndash; we must bear in mind this kind of discretionary or niche employment, especially in service work (rather than business services): of course, the advent of the motor car did not mean that the professions of cartwright or blacksmith disappeared completely from the face of the earth; it just meant that their numbers dropped to nearly nothing, and those who still ply their trade do so because there remains an attraction amongst certain people with a certain degree of disposable wealth to such traditional craftsmanship. They are no longer necessary, but for some people a nice-to-have &ndash; and so it will be with many roles in the service sector. I imagine it will be a long, long time before top-end restaurants do away with human waiters, sommeliers and the like &ndash; even though it will be perfectly feasible to do so. Human nature, in other words, will sustain many people in roles which could technically be done away with completely, because the business case for retaining them will remain intact. However, in many &ndash; perhaps most &ndash; cases, certainly at the lower end of the value chain, that business case won&rsquo;t be there: we can see that development occurring already in the restaurant sector with McDonald&rsquo;s introducing ordering via tablet, and indeed it&rsquo;s been commonplace for many decades on a very basic level in the form of the vending machines we&rsquo;ve all grown up with.</p> <p>Let&rsquo;s leave Alice for a while in the wonderland of her conference and step back a little, and get acquainted with some of the technology which is driving all this change, before I return later to look a bit deeper into what all this implies, as per the title of this presentation, for our workplaces tomorrow (though hopefully I&rsquo;ve already given sufficient indication that much of this transformation is already taking place today).</p> <p>The phrase most commonly invoked when describing the kind of software I&rsquo;m talking about here is &ldquo;Artificial Intelligence&rdquo;, or AI, long a staple of science fiction but increasingly genuine science fact &ndash; up to a point, anyway. It&rsquo;s defined as &ldquo;the study of man-made computational devices and systems which can be made to act in an &lsquo;intelligent&rsquo; way.&rdquo; There are many degrees of AI, some of which we have already attained (see the software which can beat chess, Go, or even&nbsp;<em>Jeopardy!</em>&nbsp;champions) and some which remain a long way off; you&rsquo;ll encounter great claims to AI capability on the market and I advise all of you if you haven&rsquo;t already to read up on this topic in depth and formulate your own ideas about what AI actually means, since it&rsquo;s going to be of supreme importance to humanity before too long&hellip;</p> <p>As I hope I&rsquo;ve outlined already, digital technologies are indeed changing the way we work &ndash; and that graphic<em>&nbsp;[a modified version of the famous image &lsquo;The Ascent of Man&rsquo;]</em>&nbsp;is actually for me a very insightful one since my personal belief is that artificially intelligent technology represents the next evolutionary phase for humanity and/or life on Earth, but that&rsquo;s definitely a topic beyond the remit of this presentation. At any rate we can imagine how that progression is mirrored by the changes in the manufacturing sector over the last couple of hundred years, except in that case the last image would now more appropriately be a computer-guided robotic welding arm rather than a human being.</p> <p>AI is indeed taking some of the work off our plates &ndash; and, of course, one of the major issues we as a species have to face is how people are to put food on their plates once the work&rsquo;s been taken off them. Having played the video I mentioned at the last SIG London event, much of the discussion which followed looked at how society will cope with the changes which are coming, and I&rsquo;ll digress slightly here to say that that discussion and pretty much every one I&rsquo;ve had on this topic saw people split into two camps: the optimists who believe that history shows that when radical change of this nature happens new work emerges as a result, and therefore the spectre of mass unemployment is mere doom-mongery since people will generally be redeployed rather than moved out of the workforce entirely; and the pessimists who think that&rsquo;s a load of bollocks. While as you may have guessed I tend to side with the pessimists, the fact is we simply don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen &ndash; and that&rsquo;s somewhat alarming in itself.</p> <p>Digression over: as&nbsp;<em>[the quote on the slide]</em>&nbsp;says &ldquo;the premise of AI is its ability to learn from the data it collects&rdquo;: this ability to learn is fundamental to what makes us human, and fundamental to to genuine AI. A piece of software which processes invoices to an incredible degree of accuracy according to very fine instructions given to it by its developer may be a wonderful piece of kit, but it isn&rsquo;t AI; it becomes AI to a degree when it learns to do its job better through the process of doing that job.</p> <p>As I said, AI is a widely used term with many different definitions so it&rsquo;s worth looking at some of its subsets which you may encounter in the press and in the literature covering the field. Artificial narrow intelligence is a type of artificial intelligence that specialises in one area. An example of this would be teaching a computer to play chess better than a human world champion. Artificial general intelligence refers to computers that are as smart as humans in terms of performing any intellectual task that a human being can. Artificial super intelligence refers to computers that are much smarter than any human in practically every field.</p> <p>The term &lsquo;artificial intelligence&rsquo; has been used for a very long time; the technology itself has been in development for longer than we might realise. The joke goes that &ldquo;AI has been the future for more than half a century&rdquo;; we&rsquo;ve gone from Alan Turing in 1950 pondering the question of what would make a computer &ldquo;intelligent&rdquo; to today&rsquo;s plethora of dazzling software which, nevertheless, does not get us to the point of having created artifical general intelligence: that is still, half a century on, the future &ndash; but if you listen to the likes of futurist Ray Kurzweil and keep an eye on Moore&rsquo;s law, you may well conclude that it is no longer stuff of the distant future.</p> <p>We can also see<em>&nbsp;[on the slide shown]</em>&nbsp;that &ldquo;big data is a primary driver for advancements in AI technology&rdquo;. Personally, I hate the term &ldquo;big data&rdquo; but that&rsquo;s irrelevant: there&rsquo;s no doubt that the availability of and our ability to analyse and depict simply tremendous amounts of data is fundamental to the ongoing evolution of AI.</p> <p>What is big data? In summary big data collates information from various internal and external sources &mdash; including enterprise database content, social media, sensors in products, mobile devices and more. It takes this data in real-time or near-real time, massages it and leverages it to make decisions about products and services that better meet the needs of customers. Companies can also use big data to find new revenue sources or to make operational decisions, and to discover unprecedented insight, improved decision-making and new sources of profit. When big data meets software which can learn, we get a revolution.</p> <p>I mentioned robotic process automation earlier: RPA refers to software platforms that use virtual robots to manipulate existing application software in the same way that a person processes a transaction or completes a request. It uses the existing desktop interface to access other applications and handles complex business processes with near-zero error rate.</p> <p>In essence, RPA is a software that drives software. The virtual robot, which is a software, sits on servers and connects via a virtual private network (or VPN) with a company&rsquo;s user application. It is driven by procedural or rules-based processes which can be quite complex but of low to moderate risk. RPA applies technology that configures software (aka a &ldquo;robot&rdquo;) to capture and interpret existing applications for things such as: processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other systems. RPA allows companies to quickly, easily and cost-effectively automate business processes that can be quite complex in nature, without requiring expensive platforms to do so. In most cases, robots deliver with 100% accuracy.</p> <p>Companies that use large-scale labour for high-volume, highly transactional general knowledge process work, such as business process outsourcing providers, have an opportunity to save time and money with RPA, which has seen improved accuracy, cycle time and productivity. It allows companies to access areas that were not previously automated for whatever reason, consequently removing people from repetitive tasks. Much of the debate about the future impact of this technology on society, as I mentioned, centres on whether the people being removed from these tasks will be redeployed on more interesting, higher-value, strategic work. One of the pressures which I believe mitigates against this is that organisations can&rsquo;t help but see this as a long-term cost-saver &ndash; and the cost being saved is that of the employees, and is therefore not saved at all if they&rsquo;re retained and redeployed.</p> <p>It isn&rsquo;t hard to see why the potential cost savings are so attractive: RPA benefits being touted often include 40% to 70% labour cost reductions and near-zero error rates, so it&rsquo;s no surprise that companies are using RPA to automate, digitise and standardise the bulk of their repetitive back-office work. Retaining the replaced employees removes those savings at a stroke and indeed adds to the cost burden because RPA solutions are far from free &ndash; and there is of course no guarantee that an employee good at performing transactional, repetitive work would be good at the higher-value strategic work which the optimist camp says will be waiting round the corner for him or her. As long as organisations view RPA as a cost saving measure first and foremost, it&rsquo;s my belief that the overwhelming majority of those employees are going to be joining the dole queue very soon &ndash; if, that is, their societies provide unemployment benefit&hellip;</p> <p>Many of you will be aware of the term &ldquo;cognitive computing&rdquo; which refers to the development of computer programs that can teach themselves to grow and change when exposed to new data. Another term you might hear in place of cognitive computing is &ldquo;machine learning.&rdquo; Cognitive computing uses simple computer simulations similar to how biological neurons behave, to extract rules and patterns from sets of data. It is iterative, which is important because as computer models are exposed to new data, they are able to independently adapt. They learn from each data input, make predictions and produce reliable, repeatable decisions and results. Retargeting is an example of cognitive computing. This is when you see ads pop up on your computer advertising things you recently searched for online. Netflix is another example when it makes recommendations based on movies you&rsquo;ve recently watched. Spam filters use cognitive computing to decide what emails to deliver and which ones to reject. During Alice&rsquo;s journey she encountered all of these varieties of cognitive computing, already widely at play today.</p> <p>I said that we get a revolution when big data meets AI. Here&rsquo;s one reason why: cognitive computing allows companies to analyse massive data sets and deliver high-value predictions that can guide better decisions in real time without human intervention. Cognitive computing can create thousands of models a week versus humans who can create one or two good models in a week. This results in trend and forecasting information that companies can use to make better business decisions. It automates tasks normally completed by humans and therefore reduces costs by addressing them significantly faster. Because the information is based on massive amounts of historical data, it provides confidence in the actions that it takes. By being able to synthesise data from different sources and learn from those inputs, cognitive computing allows companies to customise products and services in very personalised ways.</p> <p>So, a quick summary of all this. Artificial intelligence studies man-made computational devices that can be made to act in an &ldquo;intelligent&rdquo; or &ldquo;human&rdquo; way. It requires data to do so. Data comes in many forms: unstructured data can come from social media, videos, GPS information, tracking sensors, etc., and structured data comes from relational databases. Big data takes&nbsp;<em>all</em>&nbsp;of that information and makes sense out of it. Robotic process automation takes the information that has been collated through big data and makes predictions. Cognitive computing goes even further in that it learns from all the previous inputs and changes things based on those learnings.</p> <p>Hopefully I&rsquo;ve already convinced you that we&rsquo;re already experiencing a revolution, but as added evidence here are a few examples of AI of varying degrees and types that are already prevalent today:</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li><em>Retail</em>&nbsp;&ndash; self-checkout lines utilise smart technologies to ring up food purchases.</li> <li><em>Automated call centres</em>&nbsp;&ndash; for years these have been in place for customer service and they continue to grow in use as computers learn with each call how to make adjustments.</li> <li><em>Manufacturing</em>&nbsp;&ndash; assembly lines are one of the most ubiquitous uses of robotics with machines eliminating the need for humans to perform repetitive tasks.</li> <li><em>Consumer products</em>&nbsp;&ndash; Siri is a classic example of a computer that has been programmed to respond to your requests and learn from you in the process. For example when you say a name differently than Siri thinks it is pronounced and she then asks you to teach her how to say it properly: that is a very tangible way to see how computers can learn.</li> </ul> <p>And then, a quick look at how this technology is already impacting upon the sourcing profession&hellip; As digital age services become more and more prevalent, companies need to be aware that traditional approaches to supplier selection do not fit these services. More specifically, yesterday&rsquo;s contract templates will not meet the needs for today&rsquo;s digital age providers. A few examples of this:</p> <ul style="list-style-type:square;"> <li>Traditionally it is assumed that suppliers will provide services that meet customer needs. The digital age assumption is that customers will buy what the supplier is delivering.</li> <li>A traditional assumption in an outsourcing contract is that you will be hiring human labour &ndash; that services will be provided by people. The digital age assumption is that the labour you are contracting for comes by way of computers with RPA and cognitive computing.</li> <li>The pricing under contracting was previously metered primarily on inputs or specific tasks being performed. The digital assumption is that pricing is based on access to a fixed cost infrastructure.</li> <li>Another traditional assumption is that the value is primarily in performing needed activities. The digital age assumption is that value is primarily in data generated by services.</li> <li>Finally a traditional assumption in an outsourcing contract is that there will be long-term commitments for services. The digital age assumption is that contract terms will be shorter.</li> </ul> <p>And finally, a bit of optimism at the end of the deck: as I described earlier, some jobs aren&rsquo;t on the chopping board any time soon, and not just those in the security area at the airport. C-level jobs, for example, will never be replaced by automation (partly, it has to be said, because turkeys don&rsquo;t vote for Christmas). Many low-level jobs are also not subject to automation any time soon: we&rsquo;ll need to wait for the emergence of physical robots with all the dexterity and intellect of a human craftsmen, at an equivalent pricepoint, before jobs like basic apprentice-level plumbing, or even anything involving climbing a step-ladder, will be replaced. Mid-level jobs are most &ldquo;at risk,&rdquo; yet anytime that creative thinking or problem-solving is required, a human is almost always going to be a superior choice to a machine until we reach that artificial super intelligence phase.</p> <p>OK, so: what does the workforce of the future look like? I&rsquo;m going to caveat this by admitting, frankly, that I don&rsquo;t know for sure &ndash; though in my defence if you can find anyone who genuinely can predict the future I&rsquo;d suggest that&rsquo;s probably a more remarkable development than even the technology I&rsquo;m talking about. So let&rsquo;s agree that we&rsquo;re entering the realm of conjecture &ndash; but that it is at least partially informed conjecture.</p> <p>One thing which I&rsquo;m pretty confident about is that across the board it&rsquo;s going to be a smaller workforce &ndash; and that applies to areas where you might think our robot replacements are still at the science fiction stage. Going back to Alice&rsquo;s journey: drinking her robot-served coffee she reads the news, and encounters without knowing it a couple of articles written entirely by software. Science fiction? No: fact, today. Software is already writing thousands of articles every day &ndash; some of them of a very low quality, admittedly, but some of them actually published in respected papers around the world. Currently these tend to be very data-heavy, basic-prose articles like weather forecasts, but the tech is evolving incredibly quickly and I recently read a review of a football match which was entirely generated by software and which could easily have made the pages of something like a school newsletter or the&nbsp;<em>Daily Mail</em>. My profession, journalism, is already experiencing the AI revolution.</p> <p>What about yours? Well, I won&rsquo;t begin to pretend I&rsquo;m an expert on the business travel sector, but both that and the sourcing profession generally fit into the very large category of work which requires a significant degree of problem-solving and decision-making &ndash; which tends to make it relatively resistant to the kind of AI currently available &ndash; but where the more transactional activity is ripe for plucking by the machine conquistadors and in many cases has already been plucked. As the tech gets more advanced, the more aspects of the job it is able to carry out &ndash; and, as I said earlier, the iron rule is that when an organisation sees a business case for automation, barring external constraints, it will implement it.</p> <p>When we reach the more distant possibilities of AI &ndash; the general and super-intelligence levels &ndash; all bets are off as, unfortunately for us, no matter how great we may be at our jobs the fact is that we won&rsquo;t be as good as a machine of hugely superior intellect. That point remains a way off &ndash; but getting there will be a gradual progression and during that process more and more elements of what makes up a job even at a senior level will be opened up to software &ndash; and following the aforementioned iron law of automation, software will be deployed. Therefore, with less work to be carried out by people, it stands to reason that even in our professions fewer people will be retained to carry out the work. The specific nature of that work will of course vary by profession and organisation but it will be heavily focussed towards problem-solving &ndash; and increasingly involving a good degree of integration and interaction with the software that is carrying out the rest of the work. Liaising with artificial intelligences will become an ever-increasing part of one&rsquo;s workload, and of course new skills will have to be developed in order to accomplish that.</p> <p>So, the workforce at the upper ends of most businesses will be smaller, more strategically focussed and requiring more technology-related skills &ndash; and it&rsquo;s possible that people skills, long the supposed bedrock of any self-respecting manager&rsquo;s edifice, will become necessarily less important since there&rsquo;ll be fewer people with whom to engage and whom to manage.</p> <p>Because, let&rsquo;s make no mistake here, at the lower end of many organisations the human toll will be catastrophic. Again, the iron law: if technology can replace people and save a business money, the business will do it if it can, and you can pick any sector you like &ndash; right now there are incredibly smart and innovative companies working round the clock developing technology that will take &ndash; or even are taking right now &ndash; those employees out of the workforce. Logistics: driverless trucks and drone delivery. Financial services: next-generation modelling and &ldquo;robo advisors&rdquo;. Healthcare: robotic surgeons and remote diagnostics. Literally every sector in business has opportunities and where they&rsquo;re not limited by law or pragmatism they&rsquo;ll be snapped up.</p> <p>This has huge ramifications for parts of the upper echelons of an organisation too: think of the impact on the HR function for example of a wide-scale reduction in headcount (alongside, of course, the advent of similarly revolutionary technology within HR itself) or, indeed, on the procurement function now only having to source items for a fraction of the former workforce. I can&rsquo;t see into the future but I would bet my bits on the fact that this revolution will profoundly impact every function as well as every sector.</p> <p>And then, of course, there are the socio-economic ramifications &ndash; and while, again, I can&rsquo;t see into the future, and while I did promise not to be too depressing, if you believe as I do that unless we change radically our societies&rsquo; approach to wealth allocation, welfare and the working week we run the risk of creating a vast, permanently unemployed underclass with limited or no access to capital and no way of participating beyond at a mere survival level in the global economy. And if that&rsquo;s the case, then we need to think again about the workforce because the question for most organisations will be: where are our customers? If business continues its headlong &ndash; and, let me be clear, entirely understandable, and non- rather than un-ethical &ndash; rush into efficiency and automation-derived cost savings, it runs the risk of throttling itself by laying off the workforce which keeps the economy going.</p> <p>You can see this in Alice&rsquo;s journey: bar those people employed because the law mandates that they must be, she doesn&rsquo;t interact with anybody. Those people who would formerly have played a part in her journey represent jobs which can be taken out of the economic system forever &ndash; people whose consumer spending, investments and tax payments no longer drive the economy. Yet those people themselves haven&rsquo;t disappeared &ndash; merely their jobs. The people still require food, and shelter, and clothing and everything else that keeps us alive and sane. But they are no longer earning anything in order to fund meeting their needs. So Alice&rsquo;s journey, wondrous though it is from many angles, is also a bit of a warning: unless we reassess the entire foundation of our society &ndash; dramatic though that sounds &ndash; we run the risk of automating ourselves into catastrophe. To return for a moment to the title of this presentation, I can&rsquo;t tell you exactly what the workforce of the future looks like, other than to say that without a lot of very careful, radical thinking, and some very tough and politically explosive decisions, we risk not having one at all.</p> <p>However, in light of my promise to avoid depressing everyone, especially this close to drinks, let&rsquo;s don some rose-tinted spectacles to conclude. Firstly, along with a remarkable capacity for self-harm, humanity has an incredible aptitude for problem-solving and overcoming challenges, and it&rsquo;s perfectly plausible that we&rsquo;ll demonstrate that once again when confronting this one: that we are able to reorganise society in a way that makes the most of the incredible opportunities arising, increasing leisure time for all and actually redeploying to more interesting work at least a good proportion of those employees whose jobs are being automated away. This technology has the potential to free minds as well as boost bottom lines, and if we can deal with the sociological side-effects coherently we could find ourselves enjoying something akin to Utopia.</p> <p>And, finally, we can enter some truly far-out territory, with questions about the nature of life, the purpose of the human race and our destiny as a thinking species. Many people, myself and Stephen Hawking included &ndash; sometimes one has to make one&rsquo;s own associations &ndash; fear the rise of uncontrolled AI, and the impact of automation upon society; yet that is to separate the intelligences we create from ourselves in a way which might well be missing the profoundest point of all. What if we&rsquo;re not creating our replacements, our successors, but new facets of our future selves &ndash; what if the human race of the future is a species bound with and enhanced by technology at every level from molecular to metaphysical? Then the challenges arising today will come to be seen as mere growing pains in the evolution of our next incarnation, and will be forgotten just as quickly. What travel, or procurement, or business generally, will look like then is beyond anyone&rsquo;s guess &ndash; but I suspect we will not, at least, need to concern ourselves with who gets the extra leg room seats. At least, by then, I am sure I won&rsquo;t.</p> <p><em>The above was delivered to the SIG London Regional Roundtable/ACTE London Corporate Travel Procurement Forum on March 15, 2016. For more information on the Sourcing Industry Group see&nbsp;<a href="http://sig.org/" target="_blank">www.sig.org</a>; to find out more about ACTE see&nbsp;<a href="https://www.acte.org/Home.htm" target="_blank">www.acte.org/Home.htm</a>.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Automation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/robotic-process-automation-rpa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Robotic Process Automation (RPA)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/innovation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Innovation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/robots" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Robots</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="Travel to Utopia? - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/890"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Wed, 16 Mar 2016 04:53:24 +0000 Jamie Liddell 890 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com The robots don't want our jobs! https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/855 <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/xAdrian-Guttridge-May-2015-2-420x215.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.NsxEdpUxOv_1.jpg"><a href="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/articles/xAdrian-Guttridge-May-2015-2-420x215.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.NsxEdpUxOv_1.jpg" title="The robots don&#039;t want our jobs!" class="colorbox" rel="gallery-node-855-ZiNuImczcnY"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/sites/default/files/styles/juicebox_medium/public/articles/xAdrian-Guttridge-May-2015-2-420x215.jpg.pagespeed.ic_.NsxEdpUxOv_1.jpg?itok=b9518BFo" width="420" height="215" alt="" title="" /></a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Robots hit the headlines over many national and industry outlets this week. The clincher statistic, as reported by Bloomberg,&nbsp;<em>The Times,</em>&nbsp;and most of the international press, is that over five million jobs will be lost by 2020 as a result of developments in artificial intelligence, robotics and other technological change.</p> <p>So are the robots going to be taking away your jobs? Firstly, the 5,000,000 job loss statistic is taken from a survey of 15 economies covering about 1.9 billion workers, or about 65 per cent of the world&rsquo;s total workforce. 5m from 1.9bn looks relatively small. Secondly, the statistic refers to AI, robotics and other technological change. So it&rsquo;s not just the robots.</p> <p>Although not as scary as the original statistical forecasts predict, perhaps we do need to be prepared for a disruptive evolution to the labour market, the likes of which we have seen before. These changes are nothing new; in 1860, 80% of the world&rsquo;s population was employed by agriculture. By the end of WW2 that had dropped to 40%, and now&nbsp;as few as 2% of the working population are involved in agrigulture in the most developed economies such as the UK.</p> <p><strong>People still have jobs, they just have different jobs</strong></p> <p>The challenge with new technologies is the expected dramatic shift in what people will be doing over the next 15-20 years. Our job mobility has to keep speed with the technological change. It&rsquo;s a simple fact that technological change extrapolates the speed at which technology change. Just look at how many centuries we had to wait for the telephone, before waiting another 100 years for a workable mobile version. Yet within 20 years of the debut of the mobile phone, smartphones emerged. Now imagine the same acceleration in progress with robotics and AI.</p> <p>People will have less time to re-skill, so we have to have the foresight to create the infrastructure to deal with this change.</p> <p><strong>It&rsquo;s an automated world</strong></p> <p>When we look at business practices today and how they could be affected by automation, we see that the threat may not be as provoking as the headlines suggest.</p> <p>Much of the work that the reports focus on covers administrative roles that are primarily rules-based, repetitive tasks. For many companies this already has been, or soon will be, moved offshore. We fear for jobs that are going to move anyway. With automation, this work can be brought back onshore, and jobs will be retained or recreated in the management of the automation.</p> <p>Automation will mean more productivity with fewer people. The real challenge is: how quickly can people re-skill and adapt to create more from this technical opportunity?</p> <p><strong>A unique opportunity for women?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>One group that is likely to be most affected is women. Women are likely to feel the impact more strongly because they are under-represented in job sectors that are expected to expand, such as computer science, engineering and other STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematical) professions.</p> <p>Nonetheless, Saadia Zahidi, head of the global challenge on gender parity at the World Economic Forum, argued that the shift could be used as the catalyst to encourage more women to enter STEM professions.</p> <p>&ldquo;There is a unique opportunity to address long-existing gender divides in the economy. If we don&rsquo;t take advantage of this, we will see more gender segregation in the workforce, affecting wages and livelihoods, not to mention greater economic inequality in society as a whole,&rdquo; she said.</p> <p><strong>When the baby boomers retire&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>The other big workforce issue to consider is that the onset of robots might go some way to mitigating the impact of the retirements coming over the next ten years. An astonishing one-third&nbsp;of the workforce will go into retirement in the UK, for example, but only a fraction of their replacements are coming through the education system in the UK. Industry will need to address the gap without necessarily opting to attract talent from other countries, as will have to be the case otherwise.</p> <p><strong>Equal ground?</strong></p> <p>So the potential impact of automation and AI could be as positive as it is negative, the only difference being that the positive is not necessarily as headline-making. The fact is, automation and AI will massively increase demand for people with the right technical skills over the next 15-20 years.</p> <p>The older skills of keeping the old systems alive will need to shift to a proliferation of development skills and new technologies. The overall goal is to make technology easier to work with, enabling people without technical skills to put ideas into motion.</p> <p>The solution, as authors of &lsquo;The Future of Jobs&rsquo; report WEF founder Klaus Schwab and managing board member Richard Samans, say, sums up where industry focus needs to be: &ldquo;It is critical that businesses take an active role in supporting their current workforces through re-training, that individuals take a proactive approach to their own lifelong learning and that governments create the enabling environment, rapidly and creatively, to assist these efforts.&rdquo;</p> <p>So, what is our advice to business leaders? Embrace the new technology. Embrace it and map out how what your digital workforce might look; for the good of the business, its people, and, quite likely, the planet, in our new and automated world.</p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/automation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Automation</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/robotic-process-automation-rpa" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Robotic Process Automation (RPA)</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/digital-workforce" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Digital Workforce</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tags/innovation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Innovation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-addthis field-type-addthis field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div class="addthis_toolbox addthis_default_style " addthis:title="The robots don&#039;t want our jobs! - Future of Sourcing" addthis:url="https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/855"><a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_linkedin"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_facebook"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_twitter"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_googleplus"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_pinterest_share"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_reddit"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_email"></a> <a href="https://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=300" class="addthis_button_print"></a> </div> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-region field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix"><div class="field-label">Region:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/regions/global" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Global</a></div></div></div> Fri, 22 Jan 2016 15:15:29 +0000 Jamie Liddell 855 at https://www.futureofsourcing.com https://www.futureofsourcing.com/node/855#comments