Page 8 - index
P. 8
RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS
We have news for you:
It’s not just another day at the office!
Sure, businesses have always changed as manage- Redefinition, not replacement
ment theory, materials and technology evolves – but
never before has the pace of change been as in- Automation is a tool which allows us to produce abun-
tense. dance for little effort. While many studies and articles
would have us believe that over the next 30 years, a
In the video ‘Humans need not apply’, the narrator myriad middle class professions will be outsourced to
(in this case, a clearly robotic voice) proposed that automation, a recent McKinsey article suggests that
“Horses aren’t unemployed now because they got “As the automation of physical and knowledge work
lazy as a species… they are unemployed because advances, many jobs will be redefined rather than elim-
they became unemployable! Many bright, perfectly inated – at least in the short term.”
capable humans will find themselves the new horse
– unemployable through no fault of their own!” According to their research, “Very few occupations will
be automated in their entirety in the near or medium
Driven by technological progress and increasing globali- term. Rather, certain activities are more likely to be au-
zation, the ‘information age’ will leave no paradigm un- tomated, requiring entire business processes to be
turned as it radically disrupts our workplaces and the transformed, and jobs performed by people to be rede-
way we manage them. There’s an urgent need for for- fined, much like the bank teller’s job was redefined with
ward-thinking companies to challenge age-old para- the advent of ATMs.”
digms around both job definition (‘what’ we do); differen-
tiation (‘how’ we do things) and hierarchy (‘who’ does the McKinsey believes, “fewer than 5% of occupations can
‘what’). be entirely automated using current technology. How-
ever, about 60% of occupations could have 30% or
Could changing how we view these today, help us com- more of their constituent activities automated.”
pete tomorrow – and avoid (to as great a degree as is
possible) the horse’s fate? If the price of doing things the In other words, automation is likely to change many
same way becomes much higher than the price of great occupations, and our focus should shift from re-
change, how can we adapt to win? placement to redefinition.
8 November 2016 - Customer Relationship Management (CRM:)
We have news for you:
It’s not just another day at the office!
Sure, businesses have always changed as manage- Redefinition, not replacement
ment theory, materials and technology evolves – but
never before has the pace of change been as in- Automation is a tool which allows us to produce abun-
tense. dance for little effort. While many studies and articles
would have us believe that over the next 30 years, a
In the video ‘Humans need not apply’, the narrator myriad middle class professions will be outsourced to
(in this case, a clearly robotic voice) proposed that automation, a recent McKinsey article suggests that
“Horses aren’t unemployed now because they got “As the automation of physical and knowledge work
lazy as a species… they are unemployed because advances, many jobs will be redefined rather than elim-
they became unemployable! Many bright, perfectly inated – at least in the short term.”
capable humans will find themselves the new horse
– unemployable through no fault of their own!” According to their research, “Very few occupations will
be automated in their entirety in the near or medium
Driven by technological progress and increasing globali- term. Rather, certain activities are more likely to be au-
zation, the ‘information age’ will leave no paradigm un- tomated, requiring entire business processes to be
turned as it radically disrupts our workplaces and the transformed, and jobs performed by people to be rede-
way we manage them. There’s an urgent need for for- fined, much like the bank teller’s job was redefined with
ward-thinking companies to challenge age-old para- the advent of ATMs.”
digms around both job definition (‘what’ we do); differen-
tiation (‘how’ we do things) and hierarchy (‘who’ does the McKinsey believes, “fewer than 5% of occupations can
‘what’). be entirely automated using current technology. How-
ever, about 60% of occupations could have 30% or
Could changing how we view these today, help us com- more of their constituent activities automated.”
pete tomorrow – and avoid (to as great a degree as is
possible) the horse’s fate? If the price of doing things the In other words, automation is likely to change many
same way becomes much higher than the price of great occupations, and our focus should shift from re-
change, how can we adapt to win? placement to redefinition.
8 November 2016 - Customer Relationship Management (CRM:)
