Employee performance is a challenge for any organization, especially those who continuously invest in technology in hopes of a return. As technology spending reaches $3 billion dollars in 2018, this marks an ever-growing productivity paradox, especially as we hit the end of one of the hottest hiring periods for employers on record.
J.P. Gownder of research firm Forrester recently took a deeper look at the paradox of employee productivity. He noted that while 6 in 10 employees do their work off a personal computer, only 1 in 10 have job-specific applications that they use daily. In that is a fiscal gap, even as emergent solutions like voice, IoT, and virtual reality come into the fold.
What is also notable about the productivity gap is the cannibalization of work through automation. Forrester forecasts that automation will eliminate 17% of jobs in the United States by 2027, and while the automation industry will offset 10%, the new normal will require new skills and mindsets.
Gownder lists them as:
- Decision context, an interesting area especially as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes popular within organizations. Employees can use smart software to make informed and timely decisions, accelerating business growth and employee performance.
- Execution support, which already happens with modern tools such as Excel or calculators. As software tools become more prevalent and move towards the cloud, execution support solutions will drop in cost while continuing to add business-focused features.
- Robotic opportunity, where the employee of the future will manage robots. While large groups of the workforce will be eliminated by robotic process automation (RPA), remaining skilled workers will be tasked with process improvement, training, and exception handling.
So what does all of this mean for the future of work? For one, Gownder introduces the notion of “Robotics Quotient”, alongside the already well known IQ and EQ. For another, it means the necessity of new skills and creativity, which will serve as the standard for which companies succeed and fail. In all, the future of work is exciting, and we are excited to be right there with you as it happens.
Learn More
If you are wondering how the future of work will affect your organization, you can read Gownder’s report here and reach out to us at www.perficient.com for a conversation with one of our experts.
