{"id":3709,"date":"2016-09-30T15:05:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T15:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/virtual-verticalized-workforce_093016\/"},"modified":"2016-09-30T15:05:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T15:05:00","slug":"virtual-verticalized-workforce_093016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/virtual-verticalized-workforce_093016\/","title":{"rendered":"A Virtual, Verticalized Workforce By 2020 \u2013 If We Can Get Out Of Our Own Way"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Hermitage… where modern automation started?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phil reminded me recently of my piece on the Automation Crystal Ball<\/a> and then challenged challenged me to take a longer (and bolder) view as to where Intelligent Automation (IA) will be in 5 years’ time.<\/p>\n

Here’s the interesting piece: to do that, we have to know where we are now. IA isn’t well defined today and stakeholders struggle to find any common ground. So in the midst of that confusion it might be difficult to see a clear path forward. But I’ve already accepted Phil’s challenge so I’ll start first by offering my views on where we are today so to have better clarity on where I think IA will go.<\/p>\n

Blurred Perceptions Rule Right Now: Today’s Game Is To Create Shared Understanding and Definition<\/h2>\n

First, it’s NOT about tools, technology, and hollow promises to solve the most pressing issues of mankind (although who doesn’t want to save mankind?). Instead, at HfS we believe the relevant context for discussing IA is service delivery. Most approaches to IA involve decoupling routine work from labor arbitrage. At it’s core, it means IA is about automating mind-numbing, repetitive pieces of everyone’s jobs – giving companies two benefits:<\/p>\n

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  1. Lower costs by reducing the number of people needed for “grunt work.” This savings goes way beyond what could be achieved simply by swapping out higher paid workers with lower paid ones (even if the lower-paid workers were equally or more talented.)<\/li>\n
  2. Increasing opportunities for workers to do creative work, develop new avenues for revenue creation and skill growth, and improving the job satisfaction of workers who no longer have to suffer through boring, routing tasks.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Our research shows that the IA is still a nascent market amidst the confusion we discussed earlier. But as the market begins to firm up around this service delivery perspective on IA, we see exponential growth coming. The seeds of that growth have been planted by suppliers and buyers. The supply side has built out strong capabilities by setting up IA centers of excellence and by continuously integrating the plethora of IA tools. The picture of the demand is much more difficult to assess as IA clients tend to shy away from discussing their projects in public. They often don’t want to give away perceived competitive advantages or are concerned about the socio-economic implication of the topic. However, in private buyers tell us they’re piloting, testing, building and otherwise beginning to engage in IA.<\/p>\n

    Suppliers And Buyers Must Co-Create A Consolidated Understanding<\/h2>\n

    Against this background of an extremely blurred perception of IA, what are the issues that need to be addressed in order to see an acceleration in the market development? The following points provide a high level call to action:<\/p>\n

    Buyers need to:<\/p>\n