The Future of AI in the Workplace | News

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Published Tuesday 19th October 2021

In 2015, just 10% of organisations said they already used AI – or artificial intelligence. That number rose to 37% in 2019, indicating that one in three businesses were already using AI at this point (Gartner, 2019). AI is here to stay and will revolutionise the workplace this decade.

However, there is a huge concern that AI will lead to job losses. McKinsey found that roughly 15% of the global workforce could be displaced by automation between 2016 – 2030. The important word here, however, is “could”. It’s not necessarily bad news.

Creation of New Jobs and the Evolution of Existing Ones

Although AI could displace certain jobs, research indicates that more jobs will be created. Historically, technology has led to roles that didn’t previously exist, such as app developers. AI is expected to do the same, through increased investment and by providing entrepreneurs with innovative tools which could open up new business areas.

Instead of replacing humans, machines will work alongside us to improve ways of working. There are still limitations to what AI can do – it can only do what it’s been told. As a result, we’re likely to see partial automation, particularly in jobs with repetitive tasks which could evolve towards managing and troubleshooting robotic systems. This is already the case at businesses like Amazon, where employees who carried out manual jobs are now robot operators.

More Time and More Productivity

By offloading routine tasks to AI, employees will have more time to concentrate on complex work. According to PwC (2018), 54% of business executives have said that adopting AI led to greater productivity. It also increases employee engagement by improving the quality of jobs.

AI can also process data faster than any human, which gives people more time to work with it. This data can be turned into digestible insights to help isolate trends or predict what a company needs to perform. A good example of this is cancer research. AI can analyse data in seconds when it would take a researcher weeks, speeding up the search for a cure for cancer. Again, we see AI working alongside humans, not against them.

Greater Personalisation and Business Intelligence

AI’s ability to process data also leads to increased intelligence. It can monitor website analytics to customise content for customers based on their demographics. AI can also provide instant intelligence for customer-facing employees to help them better understand customers’ needs in real-time.

The intelligence generated by AI benefits businesses in other ways. It can be used to monitor patterns of unplanned absence or to understand why some employees are more productive than others. These ‘people analytics’ can be utilised to reduce risk and improve decision-making in talent management.

The Future

A world with AI doesn’t mean a full technological takeover. Instead, AI will be our partner, working with us to make us more efficient and productive. The team at Expense Reduction Analysts constantly monitor the latest trends in technology to ensure we can continue to help you optimise your business, stay ahead of the curve and improve performance. To learn more, take a look at our website or contact us today.

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