The Rise of the Machines and the 'No-Collar Workforce'

Automation, cognitive tech and artificial intelligence are changing how work gets done. More and more job functions—like customer service, manufacturing, etc.—will likely become fully automated, and others will require collaboration and benefit from augmentation provided by machines.

Yes, machines. Say hello to the "no-collar workforce."

That change has some people fretting that "the robots will take our jobs." But the real story isn't job loss—it's job enhancement and liberation.

"Redesigning legacy practices, systems, and talent models around the tenets of autonomics, HR groups can begin transforming themselves into nimble, fast-moving, dynamic organizations better positioned to support the talent—both mechanized and human—of tomorrow," authors John Liu, managing director, Deloitte Consulting LLP and Mauro Schiavon, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP wrote in a recent report "Oracle Perspective: Tech Trends 2018 - The symphonic enterprise," produced by Deloitte.

As these new technologies continue to evolve in the workplace, companies can create new organizational models, with the biggest impact to come in enterprise applications.

AI and bots, of course, are increasingly finding their way into the modern digital toolkit, revolutionizing how companies and workers implement, engage, and experience cloud-based enterprise applications:

Implementation: Clients don't want to use valuable human talent to manage redundant tasks, such as configuring and regression testing of enterprise applications; this work could be handled by machines, allowing human team members to focus on mission-critical functions.
Interaction: Users now rely on bots to perform non-value add work directly in the systems themselves. For example, there is no need for financial analysts to spend valuable time at the month-end close performing reconciliation when their bot "co-workers" can assume those tasks.
Experience: Virtual assistant bots allow enterprise applications to extend beyond a simple user interface on a web or mobile app. This enables service technicians to focus more of their time on servicing equipment, relying on their virtualized co-workers to provide them with a seamless, personalized experience by handling all the paperwork, ordering new parts as well as escalating and reporting flaws and problems in real-time.

Take this for example: While undergoing a company-wide digital upgrade, a data and telecommunication equipment manufacturer wanted to improve its master data management (MDM) processes and reduce the overall time to create and maintain master data. Using Oracle technology, Deloitte recommended this company use a human-machine collaboration to resolve this MDM problem.

As part of this approach, a bot took over the repeatable tasks of creating and maintaining product master data in the systems, while human "data stewards" at the company started focusing more on collaborating with various functions such as engineering, supply chain, and sales, to oversee the management of each product throughout its lifecycle. The result: A significant reduction in master data errors and a reduction in new product setup time.

Beyond just the advancements in technology, companies should transform their entire corporate culture, so humans and machines exist in a state of harmony, the Deloitte report urges.

Liu and Schiavon wrote, "The no-collar trend offers companies the opportunity to imagine an entirely new organizational model in which humans and machines become co-workers, complementing and enhancing the other's efforts in a unified digital workforce."

How will your business embrace cognitive tech and artificial intelligence? To learn more about the advantages of the no-collar workforce explore this year's Deloitte's 2018 Oracle Tech Trends report.

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The Rise of the Machines and the 'No-Collar Workforce' Companies can benefit significantly as more employees automate and augment their work with cognitive tech.