Did we learn nothing from COVID-19?
So the COVID-19 wave is at the beginning stages of passing us by…we hope…
COVID-19 gave rise to companies being more interested in these technologies, as we experienced some of the most negative-disruptive times in business, with our inability to keep up with demand.
Many businesses in their panic, leant into the need for greater need for Automation, but really only to fix a hole in the dam wall at the time, where their ‘people’ based workforce were impacted and companies therefore leant on ‘digital workforce’ alternatives.
After getting relatively back on track, we saw a rise in interest in these technologies, but for most companies…a falling back into thinking about these technologies…as additive technologies…and not as workforce alternatives.
The rise and fall of the Digital Workforce
Contributing to the confusion in the early stages of technologies like, Robotic Process Automation, Intelligent Document Processing, Conversational Artificial Intelligence and even API’s, we saw a lot of marketing hype surrounding each of these technologies…claiming the title…‘Digital Workforce’.
This only compounded the confusion in the market, as buyers were left to try and understand the unique differences that these technologies solve for.
This has seen a pull back from the software market on leveraging this terminology to simplify their message…however this is taking our collective mindset back to tactics and starting to dampen the strategic opportunity before us.
The blended workforce strategy
To harness the true strategic value from these technologies, we need to take a big step back and look at the opportunity through a total organisational lens.
We need to understand the strategic goals of the business and how we can use these technologies as a part of a blended workforce strategy.
It is not a single technology lens that we need to be looking through, but rather a ‘solution to a strategic problem’ mindset that we need to look through to be able to extract maximum value from these technologies.
Starting with People
We have been looking at the opportunity through the wrong lens!
We need to look at how we can positively exploit what we all know to be our best asset…our people.
To exhaust the strategic opportunity before us, we need to adopt a ‘people first’ strategy…not a ‘technology…then what?’… strategy!
How many people are sitting on university degrees, years of development… and are sitting in roles that can be augmented or even replaced by these technologies today?
Companies roll out a lot of rhetoric surrounding people as their first priority, but the flashing lights of these technologies averts our eyes away from the real opportunity.
Unlocking the Emotional Quotient and the Intelligence Quotient in what is ‘truly’ our largest asset, ‘is’ the opportunity for growth and profit gain.
The ability to compete, is not tied up in how we can automate our processes. Digital Workers can play a contributing role…sure to improve the agility of our business models…
The biggest asset to create competitive differentiation is tied up in the EQ and IQ of our people…who are being left to last, in the process of thinking about the cause and effect of technology opportunity for our businesses.
Therefore, the biggest opportunity in front of us is freeing up our most strategic asset to grow our companies…our people!
The opportunity for HR and IT to play a role in growth
Unlocking the opportunity before us, sits in what have traditionally been seen in business as support functions.
The role of Human Resources and IT in formulating what the new ‘blended workforce’ can look like for organisations is here now!
This also provides an opportunity for these functions to rise from the ‘back office’ to the ‘front office’ and play a highly valuable role in the growth of the organisation so that people can play a far more strategic contributing role.
The way we look at these technologies, then comes into the frame on how we can exploit these technologies to unlock more Emotional Quotient and Intelligence Quotient in our organisations.
It also unlocks the opportunity for organisations to retain their valuable employees by developing their careers and give them an opportunity for personal growth and greater contribution.
Where to from here?
The opportunities before us are enormous, if we just start re-thinking the way we approach embracing these technologies within our organisations.
A2B Transformation partner with Human Resource specialists who can guide you through your future blended workforce strategy, to ensure you are maximising the value of your people and the latest in Automation technologies in the market to take your business through a new phase of growth.
Contact Us for a free consultation to understand our model and how we take you from A2B.
