A Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. two-armed duAro robot serves a cup of coffee during a media preview ... [+] of the human-less cafe inside Nestle SA's Nescafe coffee shop in the Harajuku district of Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. The staff-less cafe will open for 10 days from today. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg
When I read about how COVID-19 could accelerate the robot takeover of human jobs, I wondered: Is the acceleration of automation detrimental to innovation and customer experience in the long run? Are we going to see a repeat of mistakes weve made in the past?
First, automation is unstoppable. It starts by replacing dangerous, mundane and undesirable jobs. Eventually AI replaces human roles that it can outperform. Once it could only compete for manual labor, but now it can assume decision-making roles. As that decision-making capability becomes more robust, it will replace more humans at work. Its inevitable that many human jobs will be eliminated. The technology exists to replace many more humans than we currently have. Recessions typically drive automation. This one may leave fewer jobs available as businesses rush to cut costs and stand up operations that dont stop when humans get sick. But were a long way from a future where the only jobs left are for faith leaders. We still rely on humans to be creative and compassionate for now. Given these limits, will innovation and empathy suffer in the next wave of automation?
Consider the fate that befell Elon Musk when he rushed to fulfill his dream of a fully automated factory in 2018. Tesla met only half its goal to produce 5,000 cars that year. When asked about the cause of the shortfall, he said Excessive automation was a mistake Humans are underrated. Humans are still the undisputed masters of context, creative problem solving and intuitive leaps. Too much automation too fast deprives a company of an army of observers who do so much more than tighten widgets or answer customers questions. Im reminded of this 2006 gem from Gary Hamel:
Unlike its Western rivals, Toyota has long believed that first-line employees can be more than cogs in a soulless manufacturing machine; they can be problem solvers, innovators and change agents. While American companies relied on staff experts to come up with process improvements, Toyota gave every employee the skills, the tools and the permission to solve problems as they arose and to head off new problems before they occurred. The result: Year after year, Toyota has been able to get more out of its people than its competitors have been able to get out of theirs.
Consider the manager who has risen from the ranks of execution to inspiring those who execute. A good manager relies on her team to stay informed, surface ideas, identify problems or target efficiency improvements. She may drive what innovations follow, but she does this with their help. Imagine if she wasnt allowed to talk to her front-line team or do anything but observe them quietly working away? If her job still existed, how much innovation could she continue to drive? This is the reality when your team consists of robots and process-automation software.
Consider call centers. The goal of an inbound call center is to resolve customer issues and ensure good experiences and satisfaction for them. Were automating many aspects of customer touch points: automated call routing, chat, simple issue resolution and more. Businesses use such automation to reduce costs and improve efficiencies by minimizing human-customer contact. This may work in the near term but in the long run, without humans in the loop observing these interactions firsthand, can we still drive innovation? How do we spot opportunities for new product development or enhancements to current products?
Its not just innovation that suffers. Automation can put an empathy wall between your company and the humans who support it. Without humans present for interactions, how can we better understand customer preferences? How can we learn more about the quality of user adoption or market preferences? What about the intangible insights, hunches and revelations derived from human-to-human communication? When we automate customer touch points, are we ready to lose loyal customers? A Vonage study recently indicated that 61% of customers who speak with interactive virtual assistants report a negative experience. Even worse, 51% report having abandoned a business because of such an experience. Some businesses can differentiate by avoiding automation where consumers expect it. When a company replaces a typically automated touch point with an AI-assisted, high-performing human, it can be a pleasant and brand-affirming surprise for consumers. Rushing to automation means missing out on these opportunities.
So what should we do? Do we avoid automation? We could no less do this than avoid the march of time. But we can move toward automation at a pace that does more good than harm to our business and customers. While we automate roles, we can think twice before letting the humans who occupied them go. We can reskill and upskill some employees so that they can use their familiarity with the business in new, more strategic or customer-facing ways.
We often forget that the ultimate objective of all business effort is to serve human beings. As we remove humans from business processes, we remove the human touch from them as well. When we start expecting human beings to conform to what AI drives as opposed to having AI adapt to what humans want, customers, employees and profits can suffer. Automation is inevitable. It cant and shouldnt be stifled. But those who drive decisions need to be aware of the costnot just in human workers, but in the empathy and ingenuity theyll take with them.
See the rest here:
Preserve Innovation And Empathy As You Automate - Forbes
- The Automation Conference - December 9th, 2016 [December 9th, 2016]
- The Best Home Automation Systems of 2016 | Top Ten Reviews - December 24th, 2016 [December 24th, 2016]
- Compact Automation - Actuators, Hydraulic Cylinders, Linear ... - December 24th, 2016 [December 24th, 2016]
- What is Home Automation? | Home Automation Systems - December 24th, 2016 [December 24th, 2016]
- Job Seekers - Automation Personnel Services - December 24th, 2016 [December 24th, 2016]
- iAutomation - December 25th, 2016 [December 25th, 2016]
- Beyond Automation - hbr.org - December 25th, 2016 [December 25th, 2016]
- Automation The Car Company Tycoon Game on Steam - December 25th, 2016 [December 25th, 2016]
- Automation - Wikipedia - December 25th, 2016 [December 25th, 2016]
- Build automation - Wikipedia - December 26th, 2016 [December 26th, 2016]
- Home - Enerwave Home Automation - December 27th, 2016 [December 27th, 2016]
- Automation | Technologies | Systems | Integrator ... - December 27th, 2016 [December 27th, 2016]
- Automation - DESHAZO - December 27th, 2016 [December 27th, 2016]
- Custom Automation & Machine Design | Automation GT - December 27th, 2016 [December 27th, 2016]
- IT Automation - BMC - December 27th, 2016 [December 27th, 2016]
- Werner Electric | Automation - January 28th, 2017 [January 28th, 2017]
- Automationtechies | Automation Engineering Recruiting - January 28th, 2017 [January 28th, 2017]
- Automation - Mazak Corporation - January 28th, 2017 [January 28th, 2017]
- Automation | Food Engineering - January 28th, 2017 [January 28th, 2017]
- Test Automation Services for Development of Regression ... - January 28th, 2017 [January 28th, 2017]
- UI Automation Overview - msdn.microsoft.com - February 5th, 2017 [February 5th, 2017]
- The Evolution of Automation and What It Means for the Integration Industry - Commercial Integrator - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Automation, robots could replace 250000 public sector workers in the next 15 years - Computer Business Review - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- New telecom transformation goals require service automation - TechTarget - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Automation expected to displace insurance underwriters, real estate brokers - CIO Dive - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The Perks Of Automation And The Risks: Why To Think Twice About Getting Into That Driverless Uber - Forbes - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Voices Reinventing enterprise finance by overhauling AP automation - Accounting Today - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- DFLabs Launches the First Security Automation and Orchestration Platform based Upon Supervised Active Intelligence - Business Wire (press release) - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- VIDEO: Going Big on Automation in a Small Footprint Facility - ENGINEERING.com - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Building a better model of human-automation interaction - Phys.org - Phys.Org - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Cruise Automation Is Testing an App For Hailing Self-Driving Cars - Fortune - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- AlixPartners examines automation in manufacturing and logistics management - Logistics Management - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Women need to look out for each other in automated workplaces - The Guardian - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Automation vs. the H-1B visa program: Which matters to employees? - TechTarget - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Automation is the unavoidable future of the economy - The Daily Cougar - February 8th, 2017 [February 8th, 2017]
- Speeders beware: Legislation would allow automation crackdown ... - SFGate - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Robots versus bureaucrats: Why public sector work is ripe for automation - Financial Post - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Rockwell Automation Surged 10% in January as Growth Picked Up Steam - Motley Fool - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- Global Medical Automation Market to Reach Approximately $75.6 Billion by 2025 - By End User, Application ... - PR Newswire (press release) - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Automation 'key' to advancing Thai production - The Nation - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- WorkWave Releases New Lead Management And Marketing ... - PR Newswire (press release) - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- 'We employ insane levels of automation' Kris Canekeratne - Times of India - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Most people are optimistic about workplace automation, social data suggests - ZDNet - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Yes, there's a job creation argument for automation and technology ... - The Hill (blog) - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Technobabble: Automation and the modern worker - CIO Dive - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- Improving Behavior Through Automation of Vehicle Systems - School Transportation News (blog) - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Automation Nightmare: Philosopher Warns We Are Creating a World Without Consciousness - Big Think - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Why Don't We See More Automation in Federal Networks? - Nextgov - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Automation can revitalize the US workforce - Fox News - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- Readers Write (Feb. 12): The moose population; jobs, start-ups and automation; diversity in the funny pages - Minneapolis Star Tribune - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- Automation can replace bureaucrats and save taxpayers money - Hot Air - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- TigerStop hopes to ride automation to new heights - The Columbian - February 12th, 2017 [February 12th, 2017]
- Your Most Valuable Resource is Time Get More of it through Automation - CMS Critic (press release) (blog) - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- What Does Device Automation Mean for Users? - Medical Device and Diagnostics Industry (blog) - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- How To Beat Automation And Not Lose Your Job - Forbes - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Logistics firm gets automation boost - The Straits Times - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- PP Control & Automation launch new video to kick-start exciting plans for 2017 - Manufacturer.com - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- Automation's Impace on Data Center Monitoring Alerts - The Data Center Journal - February 14th, 2017 [February 14th, 2017]
- Hollysys Automation Technologies Reports Unaudited Financial Results for the First Half Year and the Second Quarter ... - PR Newswire (press release) - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- 4 Automation Hacks to Save You Money and Manpower - Yahoo Finance - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Istuary Innovation Group and Bluewrist Partner to Bring Robotics and Automation into China's Manufacturing Sector - Yahoo Finance - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Redwood Software Named a Strong Performer in Independent Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Report - Yahoo Finance - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Boeing ramps up automation, innovation as it readies 737MAX | The ... - The Seattle Times - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Robots and AI are coming for our jobs, but can augmentation save us from automation? - Digital Trends - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- The Impact of Bad Data in Automation: Why Quality Management is Critical - R & D Magazine - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Automation: Are We Empowering Human Interaction Or Displacing It? - Business 2 Community - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Life in the Fast LaneAutomation with Software-Defined Intelligence - InfoWorld - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Luddite Lefty Journalists Apparently Think Workplace Automation is Conservatives' Fault [VIDEO] - Daily Caller - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Will automation define the future of network technology? - TechTarget - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Editorial: Improving automation - The Motorship - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- TigerText Unveils Role-based Scheduling Automation, Amazon Alexa integration - HIT Consultant - February 17th, 2017 [February 17th, 2017]
- 89% people want automation at workplace: Adobe - Economic Times - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Delta veers to EV parts, automation - Bangkok Post - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Robotic process automation makes nearshore outsourcing more ... - CIO - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- The working-class job that Trump could save from automation - Washington Post - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- China must be ready for automation - Basic Income News - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Bill Gates Says Robots Should Be Taxed Like Workers - Fortune - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Trump and automation challenge India's IT industry - VentureBeat - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Both Trump and Automation Are Challenging India's IT Industry - Fortune - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- 89% people want automation at workplace: Adobe - ETCIO.com - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]