Researches Condone Companies Use of AI, Stating that the Threat to Workers is Over-exaggerated

According to a report released earlier this week by the Everest Group, the threat that Intelligent automation, or IA, poses to workers is highly exaggerated, and organizations should not view it as a means to reduce their headcount.

HR Dive’s Valerie Bolden-Barrett reports, the uses of IA can see a marked increase in productivity and deliver as much as a 140 – 200 percent return on investment without the need to reduce the number of workers on their current payroll. 

Everest identified a total of eight businesses that it calls Pinnacle Enterprises. These businesses were most “distinguished by their advanced intelligent automation capabilities and their superior outcomes.”  While most other companies participating in the study found only a 48% ROI, the Pinnacle Enterprises had on average more than a 60%  cost savings, 67% improvement in metrics of their operations, reduced time to market for products and services, and a better experience for both workers and their customers.

In a recent press release, Everest Group Chief Research Guru Michel Janssen revealed what IA as to offer companies that embrace it:

”….., they are delivering strategic business impact over time, particularly in terms of top-line growth, creation of new business models, and decreasing time-to-market.”

Even with the potential promise that automation can bring, workers and other business leaders such as the Wharton School and ESSEC Business School have warned that HR professionals may find challenges in just how reliable or even ethical artificial intelligence solutions can be when it comes to measuring employee performance.

According to an earlier report released in 2016 by the Hackett Group, business leaders and HR managers that utilize AI and IA solutions have shown overall business costs that are around 20% less than businesses that choose not to automate.

It is possible for automated companies to also become less dependent on outside vendors to do necessary tasks within their organizations, making them more agile. Automation gives companies a clear path so that they can upskill current workers and help companies also to take advantage of the new technologies.