Technological advances and hence innovation is inevitable for the improvement of day-to-day lives of mankind. Innovation of labor saving technologies has always been new and been evolving. With rapid digital transformation and hence acceleration, there are growing fears among the workforce in different organizations that ArtificiaI Intelligence will displace them from their jobs. The looming enemies include AI, internet of things (IoT), industrial robotics, basically anything to do with digital transformation and related aspects.

Modern business models within organizations are innovative and are easily adapting to disruptive digital strategy as digital adoption is progressing rapidly across industries. Many companies have been gradually (or) already embraced and incorporated the easiest way to integrate platform business practices into their own companies by using preexisting digital tools to engage their existing workforce.

A few questions pondering to look into:

a) how is this digital transformation going to impact?

b) how is the AI revolution any different?

c) how will the upcoming changes affect the future of the workforce?

d) Will the changes render the workforce unemployable due to lack of relevant skills?

e) Will mass unemployment (and hence job losses) be triggered in the process?

Digital Transformation is happening abruptly and companies are developing new leadership and culture designed around understanding their customer base. Within organizations, Corporate leaders, Policy makers, educators and individuals need to understand the evolving trends better to ensure a smooth transition and better usage for the benefit of improving the quality of our lives.There will be technology and skill gaps to overcome most of the time, and it will take years of effort to create the right team meeting common goals. A clear Vision/Leadership of what companies want to achieve with these leading technologies does matter by embarking on the best way to bring value to the market.

Problem Statement:

Let’s look at the aspects of Automation vs Augmentation pertaining to the vulnerability that AI can bring in the jobs sector. All modern day jobs can be broadly categorized into high risk and low risk aspects.

High risk jobs are those that involve a combination of mundane, repetitive, predictable tasks and can be replicated by an intelligent robot or algorithm or an automated system. Real life examples include:

• assembly line processes,
• delivering packages,
• burger flipping,
• flight ticket rescheduling upon customer instruction,
• verifying prescriptions at a pharmacy,
• creating custom travel packages,
• serving tables at a restaurant,
• housekeeping or even writing basic news briefs etc,

Low risk jobs are those requiring a higher order of human intelligence or intuition which are harder to be automated/simulated by an algorithm. Here, technology has potential to augment humans – in other words enabling them to do better work in less time. So instead of replacing them, they work side-by-side as coworkers. Real life examples include:

• copy improvement (readability, grammar, etc.) for writers,
• changes for design teams,
• facial recognition assessment for recruiters to determine culture fit,
• teaching assistants bots for human instructors or trainers,
• logo generator for brand teams,
• virtual executive assistants (EAs) for CXOs,
• robotic nursing assistants to support over-burdened doctors,
• predictive sales AI for lead conversion,
• machine learning for financial underwriters to better assess loan applications etc,

 

Workforce Transition and Skills in Demand:

Up to a quarter of the global workforce may need to transition into new professions or at least upgrade their skills radically by 2030, as per a report from McKinsey . Going forward, an average person will need to change careers 5-7 times during their working life.

The past century has witnessed the demise or diminishment of job titles of:

• travel agent,
• switchboard operator,
• milkman,
• elevator operator and so on.

Meanwhile, during the early 2010’s new titles as follows have emerged:

• app developer,
• social media director,
• data scientist and so on….

In the future, core human abilities—such as

• adaptability quotient (AQ),
• storytelling,
• imagination,
• creativity,
• emotional intelligence,

which can’t be easily recreated by technology easily —will be more in-demand and in rise. Uprise in computer-related professions will take shape and huge demand in the following aspects are bound to happen:

• science,
• data analysis,
• software automation,
• engineering,
• digital marketing,
• quantum computing,
• cybersecurity,
• blockchain
• design and so on.

Apart from the above, jobs that involve little or no automation but that do require compassionate human interaction such as:

• health care,
• social service,
• coaching
• eLearning/eTraining and so on.

Also, there is an increasing trend around creating an environmental edge, in which case climate literacy and green skills are becoming supercritical and are of vital importance to address collectively.

The Way Forward:

Three aspects to look into:

Aspect-1:

As organizations and countries around the globe prepare for digital adoption, one of the pre-requisites is credible workforce data to make decision making more objective. This could mean making use of more analytical forecasting models to predict supply and demand chains in the ever-changing and ever-evolving labor market. The key lies in integrating these findings into industry-level workforce strategies at the granular level for optimal performance.

Aspect-2:

Educational system should look to revamp themselves to become more responsive to dynamic future needs.

Need to look into the following interventions as improvements:

• Industry-academia collaboration,
• apprenticeships,
• real time curriculum tweaks
• career mentorship

Aspect-3:

Organizations need to build infrastructure, platforms and partnerships around corporate upskilling and reskilling of their existing people. Companies that make these timely investments stand to gain a competitive edge over those that continue with traditional workforce practices, which need to be discarded from time-to-time.

Conclusion:

Companies need to step-up and take the initiative of technology adoption for embracing digital transformation and hence digital acceleration.

An LXP such as mPowerO, can help you in an end-to-end training development solution, from identifying the right skills to building them while providing an impactful learning experience, across various verticals & industry sectors. For instance, as the distributed workforce do not have time to learn, they need an OJT platform that is mobile-friendly as they are always on-the-go.

Upskilling Frontline workforce with Learning Experiential Platforms (LXP) driven by the latest advanced technologies is crucial to get the most out of this valuable resource. By creating a culture of continuous, interactive learning/training through on-the-job training for the frontline staff via m-Learning with LXP tool from mPowerO, a frontline workforce enablement solution, can help train the frontline and take them to the desired next level.

mPowerO platform can assist in managing the complete lifecycle of a frontline, from onboarding to moving them up the career ladder by empowering them with the right skills and knowledge, with an improved performance.

OJT with the right mix of the latest technology via an automated skilling platform creates uninterrupted learning/training and seamlessness in a hybrid work model/environment, thus promoting impactful learning experiences.

An LXP can be a definitive helping hand in providing impactful personalized learning/training experiences in order for the employees to be successful and also the organization.

An LXP powered by the latest AI could further keep up the Frontline workforce up-to-date through micro-learning content merged with AI content recommendations along with an advanced data analytics platform to showcase the outcomes for better learning/training outcomes and learning/training experiences.

For upskilling Your Frontline workforce, mPowerO provides continuous support and is an end-to-end offering to Online Learning Platforms/Solutions, Digital Publishing Solutions, Upskilling/ReSkilling and Skilling training opportunities for medium to large companies.

mPowerO has evolved from being an Online Learning Solution (LMS) to serving as LXP in order to accommodate larger targeted audiences for educational/publishing and skilling requirements of various medium to large organizations/enterprises.

Talk to our expert team members for a deeper understanding and more related information.

Reach out via email at info@mpowero.com or visit us at https://www.mpowero.com/ for more information.

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