part of what makes this technology so unique and appealing. For businesses, especially for those in scalable, regulated environments, predictability is paramount. Software robots—which operate deterministically—are ideal since their work is supervised and audited. As such, management teams never have to worry about the robots making whimsical (and potentially catastrophic) decisions, like impulsively increasing or decreasing employee salaries.
The Perks of a Virtual Workforce
In addition to security, another primary benefit of auditable software robots is unparalleled efficiency. Fans of software robots have found that the machines can complete tasks in a fraction of the time that humans do. For instance, telecom provider Telefonica has been able to minimize SIM card data transfer processes from 24 hours to a matter of seconds, enabling their customers to be able to use their phones almost immediately. This type of efficiency gain is one of the biggest draws of a virtual workforce: according to a study from MIT, respondents preferred working with (and even being managed by) robots over humans due to their ability to spur overall productivity. By enabling increased efficiency, as well as improved accuracy, organizations are able to offer enhanced user experiences, crucial for business success.
Making Robots Work for Your Business
So how can businesses effectively use these auditable, reliable and efficient software robots? Any rules-based procedure—think administrative, repetitive processes—is appropriate for completion by a virtual workforce. Companies in industries spanning financial services, healthcare, retail, telecom, and energy have used software robots to take on core customer services, HR, payroll, finance, and admin processing jobs (amongst others).
Perhaps the greatest benefit of software robots, however, is their ability to drive any system—regardless of the technology it is written in—on premise or in the cloud. This universal access means that software robots can execute any application that a person can so long as they have the necessary access rights. This removes one of the biggest barriers to automation in the software world: universal access to systems and the data those systems securely control.
Software robots’ ability to automate rules-based work and drive multiple, incompatible systems is a game-changing quality and one that offers boundless opportunities for innovation. People no longer have to worry about time-consuming, repetitive jobs—jobs that are ripe for automation. In fact, according to a recent report from Oxford University, 47 percent of jobs in the U.S. are likely to become automated. By delegating these jobs, which involve repetitive, manual labor, to a virtual workforce, businesses can allocate strategic, creative, and interpersonal work to people.
Yes, robots will replace some jobs. However, as history has proven time and time again—and as we have already seen through early adopters of software robots—for roles replaced or augmented by automation, there are opportunities for new job roles and re-allocation of human resources to roles that best suit their human skills. In fact, according to Erik Brynjolfsson, co-author of The Second Machine Age, the rise of robots will incite millions of new jobs by 2025. What’s more, displaced human workers are shifting, and will continue to shift, to jobs that are more satisfactory than the repetitive, monotonous tasks people have had to do until this point. These jobs—harnessing people’s natural empathetic, interpersonal, and strategic skills—are more rewarding to employees and bring greater value to business customers.
As more and more organizations realize the value of—and deploy—a virtual workforce, robots are poised to shake up the way we work over the next ten years. In fact, case studies already exist where organizations have been able to allocate 25 to 50 percent of labor to software robots. While it may take time to work out the kinks of a collaborative robot/human workforce, it will pay off as people find themselves in more valuable, satisfactory roles better suited for their skill sets. By delivering never- before-reached levels of productivity, accuracy, and customer service, virtual workforces will help enterprises achieve new heights of business performance and vast opportunities for innovation. It’s time to get on board with software robots and launch a new era of work.