Using AI to Automate the Workplace

In the next 10 years Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be smarter, quicker, and more universal. It will become the most powerful competitive advantage.

70 years ago scientists proposed two approaches to the creation of Artificial Intelligence. They were both based on brain simulations, strict rules, and logic. Today, thanks to the development and transformation of those methods, neural networks can easily recognize faces, understand human speech, and even make decisions.

20 years ago change management demanded such traits as stability, while nowadays almost every enterprise values flexibility. Can we define it another way — one that welcomes digital transformation? Recent advances in AI has put a spotlight on change management quandaries in large and small enterprises that are starting to transform how we work, how we think, and how we live.

Image from Wired

Why is now the right time for management to seriously consider AI implementation in 2019?

Sometimes, solutions to the most complex problems are simple. Modern change management requires a lot of work from empowering people to enact the change and develop organizational flexibility to adapt to rapid external changes. Advanced computations of AI are processing billions of data points and making intuitive leaps by assessing the world around them to create generative design tools for almost every field.

We often think of collaboration as interaction with teammates or co-workers. The accuracy and beautiful complexities of current neural networks have led to a transitional age where we start collaborating not only with people, but also with disruptive technologies.

Human-AI collaboration is, by no means, an emerging movement in an enterprise. It gets interesting to observe how social capital is changing its shape with the combination of absolutely two different skillsets of humans and technologies. AI is currently not that great at intuition but really good at brute-force computation on tons of data. The human might lead, but AI can do lots of fancy moves that together might combine into something greater than the sum of its parts because

• AI intellectualizes the product. Modern automation, voice platforms, smart bots, and intelligent machines convert standard automated systems into an intelligent product that works in response to customers’ requests. It is the foundation to improve devices by giving them an ability to respond to the needs, solve a certain range of problems, and analyze them.
• AI is adaptable. It is developing with the help of algorithms of progressive learning and creates data for future programming. It independently finds the structure and patterns in the data, processing it in such a way that the algorithm itself acquires a certain skill. It eventually becomes a classifier or predictor. Such models quickly adapt to the new data, completely excluding errors, revealing all the potential risks, forming predictions and warnings, or even generating optimized solutions.

Awareness is the prerequisite of any enterprise to a powerful use of AI. It’s just the question of getting sensor data from the real world into AI that will generate relevant decisions that are helpful for us.

So, what are the ways that you can enact enterprise change with AI?

Every time we encounter new technologies, we should essentially ask ourselves what are different ways it can serve us, and be mindful about it. It’s critical for businesses to invest in tools that effectively manage external and internal processes, especially when it comes to general meetings or important calls with customers and stakeholders.

In Fireflies, voice intelligence is integrated with deep learning models trained for a variety of enterprise segments including sales, marketing, operations, and finances.

Such conversation tracking platform helps, for instance, sales and operations teams to quickly get and send information to CRMs or forecast reviews at a higher accuracy. People, who are working in a customer support center, have an ability to analyze calls effectively, driving greater customer satisfaction, and be more productive with automated data capture. Recruiters would definitely want to retain important details from each candidate’s technical/screening calls and then easily search it up.

Other implementations of AI in enterprise management:

• Intellectual spam filters;
• Smart devices and apps that adapt to customers’ requests and interests;
• Dynamic optimization based on machine learning;
• Recognizing objects and images as a tool to work with the audience;
• Automated analytical and predictive systems that ensure the efficiency of delivering various financial services;
• Intellectual business forecasts;
• Personalized services with the goal of effective work with the target audience;
• Voice messaging and technologies of recognizing human speech, etc.

What are the benefits of adopting AI-powered technologies?

1. Systematization of business needs. AI can provide a full-fledged intellectual analysis of the enterprise work by automating all the necessary work processes. The main thing is to set the right goals and choose the most effective technology to use.
2. Increasing the demands on the products and services through personalized approaches to customers with AI assistants and analytical programs. In addition, increasing the consumption rate will mean more and more data, providing invaluable insights for marketers and managers to improve products.
3. Efficiency and cost. Highly developed digital assistants, such as an intelligent voice agent in Fireflies, can save lots of time, clearly formulate and present the most necessary information, create a calendar with important events with reminder functionalities.
4. Understanding risks. AI is constantly learning and improving, which means that it eliminates the adoption of any false decisions, prevents dangerous situations, and generates possible consequences.

Does it mean that AI will replace our jobs?

It’s a fact that the jobs that we have today are going disappear probably quicker than anybody expects. But, it only means that we have to think about different ways that employees need to be trained to adapt to use AI in the workplaces. Voice assistants aren’t replacing anyone’s job. They’re just adding value and efficiency to jobs that already exist. But, how can we make sure that employees are ready to manage AI-powered technologies?

• Education and training. Digital literacy is essential for every employee to understand how the technology works and what are the key benefits of applying it to their everyday routine.
• New skillset development. There is no doubt that AI will change the experiences of employees, and, oftentimes, it will require the development of new soft skills and strengthening the old ones. Instead of memorization and performance of repetitive work, AI technologies will require lots of curiosity and experimentation from human side of an enterprise.

Thanks for reading! If you would like to learn more about how tech can be used for social good, you can check out my club Blueprint here.