Organisations believe that pairing humans alongside machine intelligence will create a more effective, engaged, and meritocratic workforce, according to a new global study released by Pegasystems Inc. (NASDAQ: PEGA), the software company empowering customer engagement at the world’s leading enterprises.
Pega surveyed 845 senior executives working globally across key industry sectors, including financial services, insurance, manufacturing, retail, telecommunications and media, and government, on the increased role artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic automation will play in the workplace of the future.
The survey uncovered widespread belief that machine intelligence will work ubiquitously alongside humans over time – so much so that seven out of 10 respondents (69 percent) believe the term ‘workforce’ will evolve to encapsulate both humans and machine intelligence.
They also expect AI-augmented employees to generate tangible business returns such as more efficiency (73 percent agree) and better customer service (62 percent).
But the effects may extend even deeper as AI transforms the way people work, are managed, and rewarded.
Empowering employees with more autonomy
By augmenting their work with machine intelligence, human employees will be empowered with more autonomy and a greater sense of job satisfaction, according to the survey:
Establishing a more transparent, meritocratic workplace
As organisations increasingly come under scrutiny on equal pay for equal work issues, the study found the use of unbiased machine intelligence to analyse employee effectiveness could be the key to leveling the playing field:
Leveraging machine intelligence to manage the gig economy
Respondents expect the number of permanent employees at Fortune 500 companies to be cut in half by 2030. But while this shift to the so-called gig economy brings new flexibility to employers to hire on demand, it also opens new challenges:
“AI and automation technologies have generated tremendous hype, but the potential within the enterprise remains largely untapped,“ said Don Schuerman, chief technology officer and vice president, product marketing, Pegasystems.
“Organisation must augment their human intelligence with AI across the entire organisation in order to move beyond basic efficiency improvements,” he added.
“By deploying AI and automation with an end-to-end view in mind, businesses can move closer to fulfilling their customer centric vision.”
