Narayan AmmachchiNew technologies such as robotics process automation (RPA), cognitive computing, and artificial intelligence (AI) are propelling robots from factory floors to corporate offices.
Next-gen tech is speeding up business operations and cutting operational costs by up to 80%, and is expected to “turbocharge” companies with shared-service organizations (SSOs), according to a study by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
“The benefits go beyond cost, however,” stated the firm. “RPA and cognitive computing make the SSO more flexible and responsive to employees (for example, during holidays). They can scale up to meet spikes in demand or to handle predictable peak loads, such as closing the books at the end of a month.”
As more processes are automated, many job profiles will become obsolete, yet new jobs will appear in the arenas of data science, AI integration, and for people who can configure and control robots.
Many businesses are still far away from capitalizing on these digital tools, with a few still appearing to be clueless as to how to deploy them.
“Many companies are still at the starting line in terms of building an SSO that can fully tap into technology,” says Andrew Toma, a senior partner at BCG and coauthor of the report. “They still have multiple processes and an ad hoc approach that limits their ability to digitize the critical work that SSOs do.”
One of the key benefits of robotic automation tools is their ability to operate functions without any human supervision. Cognitive computing systems, for example, mimic the way the human brain works, solving problems without human assistance. It can synthesize information from a tremendous variety of inputs, such as analyst reports, tweets, call center transcripts, emails, texts, newspapers, and blogs.
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