The Future of Work Includes a Hybrid Combination of Human and Digital Employees

Artificial intelligence is on course to completely transform the future of work, particularly the ways in which we accomplish our most important tasks. This is quickly leading us to arguably the most groundbreaking development of the 21st century: the hybrid workforce. Consisting of human and digital workers, the hybrid workforce brings together a highly cohesive team with different strengths. This comes at a time when we find ourselves redefining the future of work out of necessity in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As organizations drive digital first strategies they will bring together digital and human employees to work together, side-by-side, optimally aligned to complement each other’s strengths. It’s not about displacement but rather enablement. As digital employees help eliminate up to 69% of routine low-value work, humans will continue to transition to higher-value and higher-impact activities, just as they have throughout history.

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Fueled by an uptick in adoption that encourages businesses to scale quickly, AI is estimated to become a $169 billion market by 2025. The actual business value could be even higher, with Gartner estimating the value at close to $3 trillion by 2021.

Gone are the days of robotic AI that’s stiff, inflexible and has limited capacity to actually understand human intent. Today AI has evolved into a conversational entity capable of communicating with unprecedented realism, intelligence and lifelike accuracy. These innovations are developing quickly, but there are a few strategies managers can employ to take advantage of them before the competition catches on.

But it’s not just about being ahead of the competition – it’s also about being able to scale quickly and flexibly in order to cope with our fluctuating circumstances. Now, more than ever, it is important to support staff working from the home office. It is vital that spikes in customer care centers are also monitored and managed accordingly. This will undoubtedly help in the transition to remote/online processes, which so many businesses are currently facing.

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Be Clear About your Intent and Anticipated Outcomes

The first step is to have a very clear explanation for the roles of digital employees and how they will complement a human workforce. There needs to be clear strategic vision in which they can see how the human employees will benefit from the digital colleagues. That vision should form the foundation of their organizational changes. You need to ask yourself: how are they going to drive change in the organization? How are employees personally incented to enable their digital colleagues? That clear vision should then be transparently communicated.

But don’t assume that everyone is excited about AI. You need to ensure alignment in the organization through a clear communications plan so that everyone understands how the digital employee will empower them.

Determine the Use case before Getting Started

Especially today, amidst unprecedented sudden challenges that have hit the business world, it might be tempting to jump on the AI bandwagon just to keep up. But it is vital that every business carefully evaluate its options before making a decision – and, most importantly, they must select the proper use case.

You should start by leveraging conversational AI to help with the most high-volume, recurring and mundane tasks. A typical starting point involves key employee-facing service centers, such as IT and HR Service Desks. Customer-facing contact centers, which support the people who purchased your product or service, should also be considered.

With digital employees as the first line of defense, customer- and employee-facing experts can help resolve the most challenging inquiries.

And once the conversational AI has escalated to a human expert, the technology can take on a support role. As a KPMC and HFS Research pointed out in a recent report entitled, “Propel Your Business Operations ‘Straight To Digital’ With Digital Associates,” this is a great opportunity for AI to complement and enable the existing workforce.

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Don’t Think of the Hybrid Workforce as a Side Project

Through decades of implementing AI in large complex organizations, we’ve learned that the pace at which AI is adopted, the impact it has, and the value it brings has little to do with technology itself. This is difficult for a technologist to admit. But the reality is that the impact is being driven primarily by Organizational Change Management and organizational culture.

We’ve seen AI solutions in some organizations fly to the moon, while in other firms it’s still sitting in the hangar.

When evaluating the hybrid workforce, the key questions to ask are: Is this a priority for the organization? Does it have champions? Is it an organization mandate? Has it been positioned to enable the workforce to be successful in collaboration with their digital colleagues?

Given the initial disruption this type of organizational change will bring, organizations should make it a top priority before agreeing to take it on. Simply put, a hybrid workforce will not be successful as a side project.

The Hybrid Workforce is the Bridge to Success

When the hybrid workforce is implemented, human and digital employees will unite for greater productivity and success. This union will enhance the work human employees do every single day, allowing them to grow, prosper and focus on the tasks that matter most. By being able to zero in on objectives that have a direct impact on the business – economically or operationally – human staff can increase their value within the organization. This could actually lead to greater job security as AI takes over the tasks that had previously bogged them down.

As digital first becomes the new standard of delivery, it will be critical for enterprise organizations to understand how to start and where to drive change. While change is always a challenge, the transformational impact, as well as the long-term payoff, make this type of AI adoption not only attractive but essential to long-term survival for today’s enterprises and their employees.