The future of employment has been all the talk in the media in recent months following several massive technological advances in Artificial Intelligence (Ai) and Robotics.
Whilst automation has been impacting the production and manufacturing industries for some time. We are now seeing technologies emerging which will massively impact services industries.
Pizza Hut has made headlines of late with trials of a fleet of walking, talking humanoid robots to take orders and process payments called "Pepper". Pepper is a humanoid robot developed by Japanese technology firm SoftBank that can read and respond to human gestures, expressions and tone of voice, allowing customers to communicate with the robot "just like they would with friends and family".
Imagine a fleet of robots with no sick days, unlimited work hours, no personal issues, and can be trained in 5 minutes via simply inserting a chip?! Interesting, exciting and scary all rolled into one. But it is coming regardless. So what does this mean for the future of service industry work?
In 10 years, RosterElf's Scheduling Software will be used to roster your robots and not actual people?
Undoubtedly, Ai and advanced robotics will massively change many workplaces, and jobs will need to change. Some estimates from leading economists in the field say that somewhere between 9% and 40% of workers in the West could lose jobs to automation over the next two or so decades. So if you are an employer or employee, you need to start thinking about the change coming and how you can respond.
Employees must focus on growing their skills and experience beyond simple and repetitive tasks to ensure their abilities are increasingly in demand. This could include management training and focusing on natural and meaningful customer service.
For businesses, the change has massive cost-saving potential. It should be seen as an opportunity to automate repetitive tasks and instead re-deploy the workforce into activities that add tangible value to the business and grow the bottom line. For instance, in hospitality, technologies like Pepper enable repetitive tasks like order taking to be done effectively and at a low cost so employees can focus on providing accurate and meaningful customer interactions.
No one knows the future other than its coming. Like most technological advances, Ai and robotics will undoubtedly be a mix of positive and negative for both business and society. The most important thing is for everyone to recognise the change in the wind and ensure they are both prepared and flexible in their response.
Cheers,
Simon Ingleson
CEO and Founder
RosterElf
