Control Engineering Asia, Singapore: Senior Director at Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work Says Humans Must Focus on Honing Capabilities That Cannot be Replicated by Automated Software
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“The digital era will rely on machines, but winning will require — perhaps more than ever — talent pools that can thrive across an increasingly digitized economy,” writes Euan Davis. “The challenge for many companies today is to assemble work teams to blend skills, capabilities and innovative thinking inside, outside and across traditional organizational structures. Oh, and did we mention the need to master the Robots?” Excerpts:
“Make no mistake, knowledge work is undergoing a profound change as analytics, algorithms, big data and automation technologies dramatically enhance innovation, productivity and decision-making. But robots (essentially software tools) are also automating and abolishing rote tasks previously performed by humans.
For example, process automation technology ensures insurance customer payments get to the right place, faster and with more accuracy; retailers automate to extract, authenticate and verify supplier invoices in minutes, not days.
As much as humans are beginning to rely on robots, robots won’t be taking over when it comes to intelligent, knowledge work. Robots need smart people to ask good questions, solve problems creatively, and manage data. It is not about having one or the other; rather, robots will need to work in tandem with humans to enable more agile and smarter businesses.
For all of us to stay ahead of the curve, it is no longer a race about “faster or cheaper”. Humans will need to focus on developing, honing and capitalizing on the capabilities that are uniquely human and cannot be replicated today by automated software ― for example, constructive problem-solving, inventiveness, empathy and physical touch (say, in medical management).
We see the rise of a new digital business architecture that will determine the talents organizations need and the structure in which they are set to work. This new digital business architecture features mastery with data at its core, flatter organizational structures, and an ability to use software tools and robots to augment knowledge work.
At its core is a new work platform that will augment talent with insight, orchestrate new digital workflows (farewell silos!) and create the infrastructure the people working in a digital business need.
Here are five principles organizations can use to begin the journey:
Use data on talent to build better talent: Leading companies are increasingly adopting sophisticated methods of analyzing employee data to enhance their productivity and well-being.
Synthesize what talent likes (and doesn’t like): The true detail of what employees jointly dislike about the job is mostly hidden and unanalyzed. Employees will increasingly use their mobile devices or wearables to monitor the applets in the workplace in order for employers to better understand their productive behavioral patterns.
Build an intelligent workplace: Watch for the rise of the intelligent workplace that can monitor its workers’ environment, moods, wants and needs, to create an all-encompassing, intelligent and unobtrusive working environment.
Enable new human-to-machine workflows: Adding software “robots” will allow talent to work smarter as software begins to automate rote process work and enable new human-to-machine workflows.
Digital technologies and what they enable ― new business models, new revenue flows and radical new cost structures ― are redrawing industry structures and the talents firms need to thrive.
It’s time to get serious about your organization’s most important asset ― its people ― and about giving them the power they need to succeed in this exciting digital age of newer opportunities.”
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