Here's the paradox: it takes people to automate. Enterprises are moving aggressively to automate as many of their processes as possible, through artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotic process automation. Automation opens up new types of career opportunities, from programming to training. Automation also liberates employees for higher-level tasks. But it can't simply be inserted into operations without forethought and consideration of the wider impact.
That's the word coming out of a survey[2] of 4,000 employees released by Automation Anywhere. Overall, people don't fear automation -- if anything, most welcome it. They express high levels of curiosity as to how AI can help them do their jobs better. Almost three quarters (72 percent) see the technology as something they work with, rather than something that will replace them. This is opposed to just eight percent of respondents who strongly feel the opposite.
A majority (57 percent) of employees say their productivity would accelerate in the long run if their organization provided more opportunities to trial different types of automation or AI, compared to just 16 percent who feel things will bog down.
Currently, 38 percent of employees use some form of automation to perform their jobs, and there is an expectation that this number will continue to increase.
The survey's authors, led by Dr. Chris Brauer of the University of London, says the key to automation is not wiping away and replacing human workers, but finding ways for human and digital workers to work side by side, complementing one another's skills. "We found that augmented companies not only enjoyed 28 percent greater performance levels, but also scored 33 percent higher on factors deemed to make a workplace more 'human,'" he points out.