Artificial intelligence is taking over power in almost all areas now and the case is no different in HR technologies. There are talks like AI is going to replace HR professionals making the technology redundant which is not true at least in a few upcoming years.
Of course, AI has changed the way HR professionals have been working over decades as it has extended human capabilities that made them even more effective.
Importantly, companies are taking the assistance of these technologies to automate many of the time consuming tasks. This in turn is helping the employees to work on more important areas and utilize the saved time effectively to improve the overall productivity.
If anyone says that AI is slowly redefining the functions of HR tech, it is more or less true to some extent.
Here we can have
a look at some of the most important changes or benefits that are experienced
in HR tech with the role of AI.
1. Personalized on boarding for employees
AI systems can make the on boarding session really helpful for a new employee. They don’t need to fumble just because the person at nearest desktop is from a different department or if they are short of training in the role. AI system can in fact speed up the process by answering the most critical questions.
They
can flawlessly move on with the right set of information including the
contacts, locations or even the training suggestions to easily get going. An AI
engine can also connect them to the new hire web pages where they can get lot
of relevant information.
2. Learning and development
AI assisted learning programs are helping employees to sharpen their skills and improve their performance. HR professionals can just focus on any additional learning needs or arrangement of training sessions while employees can get a standard learning platform through AI programs.
Many
companies are now adapting game based programs where employees play games to
improve their skills online without the need of any real time classroom. AI is
shifting learning to a self service domain as employees can choose their
relevant short duration digital courses to enhance their grades.
3. AI recruiters
The recruiting process is one of the most time consuming and tedious process according to HR professionals. Filtering a group of eligible candidates from thousands of applications and then going through several level of recruitment process can be a hectic task.
However, the AI recruiters can make the job easy for them as almost half of the task can be handled without human interaction.
The systems can almost offer custom experiences to candidates by automating of scheduling interviews and assisting with feedback to proposed candidates.
The applicants can even get their questions answered in real time. This makes way for human recruiters to utilise more of their time to convert candidates to hires.
4. Cognitive supported decision making
The day to day decisions at the work place can be triggered by involvement of cognitive AI. Many of the tasks handled by HR people can be now well integrated and collaborated without many hassles.
This can be handling vacation requests when too many employees opt for leaves in the same time frame, systematic approach for team training, assisting in hiring processes and even suggesting for a break by determining your mood.
Decisions
for tomorrow are suggested based on the data from the past and smart algorithms
provide AI with prescient and insightful abilities. Predictive quality and
reliability is maintained with its brilliance of creating models and
interpreting data sets.
5. Smarter people analytics
Companies have been trying hard to collect relevant data about their customers over years to build an insight of their future behaviour. However, AI can do smarter people analytics thus taking away the hardest part of this most time consuming area.
HR professionals just need to do their part by enabling these AI machines to determine what type of data to analyze, track, protect and manage.
Of
course such innovative ways to attract top talent and deliver improved
candidate experience help companies to stay different from their competitors.
6. Reduce human biases:
It is not quite surprising to know that human biases can be an important factor when it comes to decision making in various company processes.
This is especially evident in the recruitment process as they tend to shortlist or filter candidates based on their unconscious bias. This can include going for candidates who are more or like similar to them or based on languages.
However, the AI based recruitment and filtering can reduce this to a great extent as it can minimize these bias patterns which in turn enhance their hiring communications and receive varied applicants.
Moreover, the software can sift through thousands of candidate applications at a much faster rate.
7. Employee analytics & retention
The AI features and possibilities can not only track big data regarding employees like her past record but even their mood over a period. Their emails and browsing history can be tracked thus reporting to management for corrective actions.
Similarly,
mood meters can figure out the sentiments of employees over the period and help
organizations to build up strategies to improve employee retention rates. Such
moves can easily identify the employees who are planning to move out and thus
plan for talks and discussions to improve their employee experience.
8. Mechanizing repetitive tasks
There are lots of low value tasks that are repetitive in nature but unavoidable for which human effort and time is used every day. The AI assistance can automate these tasks which save the otherwise used up time which can be used productively for some other tasks.
Instead of routine administrative tasks, their focus can be instead shifted to some strategic areas where human involvement is mandatory.
HR
teams can save the time for more value added tasks like continuous feedback and
mentoring. Even electronic employee helpdesks can be created where automatic
responses can be received for common queries.
9. Improved relationships with employees
In addition to hiring the right set of employees, the AI intelligence can even offer assistance to improve the existing employee relations. As common business processes are streamlined, the chances of human error are minimized and thus save many employees from mistakes due to burn out sessions.
Moreover, the engagement surveys and similar tools are being effective to figure out the employee characteristics and temperaments and match them to the right departments, roles and co-workers.
They also have more ‘people time’ to interact with employees and solve their insecurities with hands on approach which was not feasible in the past due to time constraints.
10. Expand HR as a resource
The AI involvement in many time-consuming tasks can in fact expand their role as a resource for the company. As they get more time and freedom to dedicate on performance management, they can grow and sharpen their skills to contribute more to company’s betterment.
Their
focus can be diverted to employee growth and productivity as well as building a
positive working environment. Moreover,
they can have an eye on the working of AI and closely watch the trends to apply
the same in their profile to make a difference from the competitors.
11. Smart assistants
Would you be astonished if you have a smart assistant at office that help you make decisions from data analytics rather than insights? The smart assistants approach from AI system is seriously making a difference in the way managers can make decisions about their team’s progress.
Such assistance can in fact drive appropriate and contextual alerts to managers. This will be based on conversations happening within a company to spot out what has to be addressed and when to be addressed without any second thought.
Proactively making decisions can surely save a lot of time and of course utilize the best of many valuable resources.
It is somewhat true that the HR departments are leaving some of the time consuming tasks to AI looking to streamline the tough operations and thereby enhance workplace efficiency.
Even surveys have pointed out that HR professionals believe that AI can transform their talent acquisition in some way or the other. Streamlining of day to day operations, round the clock support, and performance management has made the technology more relevant and widely accepted in comparatively a short time.
Instead of thinking AI as some alien that has come to steal their role in the near future, HR departments have warm welcomed it and are utilizing its features and options to improve their quality of work.
Moreover, as professionals work more closely with AI, they are exploring more and more options and potential of the technology. This is giving a clear hint of future HR being a working partnership of machines and human brilliance.
What does BMW and 90% of Fortune 500 companies have in common? They all use Microsoft’s cloud computing. The service, known as Microsoft Azure (earlier known as Windows Azure) has been used by many corporations since its launch in 2010 to manage data, develop applications, perform predictive analysis and much more on the cloud.
In this post we will explain on what exactly is Microsoft Azure, how it is used by businesses across the globe to save time and costs. We will also touch upon cloud computing as a market broadly and how Microsoft Azure fits in this $210 billion market.
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud services were the buzzword in business and IT industry about a decade ago. Whether your work is related to technology or not, you have definitely heard of cloud computing. Cloud computing is model to provide sharable computing resources such as storage, applications, software, services etc. that can be used on-demand.
Cloud computing was envisioned in the 1960s as ‘ Intergalactic Computer Network’. However, the idea only took off after internet could offer sufficient bandwidth to access this service in the late 1990s.
SalesForce.com was the first one to offer enterprise applications through website in 1999. This paved the way for cloud services and many players small and big jumped into the market.
Amazon Web services was among the first few to offer web based services that could be accessed by anyone via internet.
Soon a suite of services were offered to business. Data storage, application development and software applications could all be hosted in the cloud. This meant that companies no longer needed to own tools and software. Instead, these were offered on a pay-as-you-use basis or Software as a service (SaaS).
Take cloud storage for example. Earlier companies had to buy or lease their servers to store their own data. This is known as on-premise computing. With cloud storage data is stored in cloud; that is, in the servers owned, managed and maintained by cloud service providers.
This is also known as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) as it is essentially renting out just the required space needed for your data storage.
What is Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft already had a huge share of enterprise software market by 2007. Most of the big corporations were already using Microsoft’s Exchange E-mail software offered as SaaS (Software as a Service). In 2008, Microsoft announced its cloud service Microsoft Azure and launched it in 2010.
With Azure, Microsoft envisioned to offer much more than SaaS. With Microsoft Azure developers could develop, deploy and manage applications; create Virtual Machines; create and host websites; develop applications for mobile devices.
Microsoft has added many more services with each passing year. Here is what Microsoft Azure has to offer to companies all sizes and at any location.
Azure offers hundreds of features and services. They can be classified broadly under four categories:
1. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
This is simply providing physical infrastructure on a shared basis. Azure provides computing infrastructure such as server, networking and data center management as a service. Virtual Machines are also a service under IaaS.
Examples of services provided under LaaS are – storage, backup & recovery of data, high-performance computing, website hosting, big data analytics etc. All of these require a high computation power and additional hard-disk space. This can be easily provided by LaaS providers.
Additionally LaaS gives the flexibility of scaling up or down the infrastructure as per the demands of business. This means that companies only pay for what they use and do not have to block resources in extra capacity.
2. Platform as a Service (PaaS)
In addition to resources provided under IaaS, this provides the development tools, database management systems and middleware. This gives developers tools to build, deploy and manage applications. Azure manages all the software licenses and application infrastructure so that you can concentrate on developing amazing applications.
From building to testing and updating; PaaS supports you throughout while cutting coding time and adding capabilities to your development teams.
3. Software as a Service (SaaS)
SaaS goes a step further and provides cloud-based apps over internet. Microsoft Azure manages all the software and hardware requirement for app. Users can connect to the app via the internet and companies are billed on pay-as-you-go basis.
Microsoft Office 365 is an example of SaaS. Customer Relationship Management software and ERP are other examples that you might be familiar with.
4. Mobile Service (mBaaS)
This is similar to PaaS. The only difference being that mBaaS or mobile backend as a service give tools to build and deploy application meant for mobile devices.
There are hundreds of services that Microsoft Azure is offering under these broad headings. Here are a few important categories to give you an idea of how Microsoft Azure services can be used for:
1. Database Services
Manage, store and secure data in a business. Azure provides service to manage SQL database so that you can concentrate on using the data rather than managing it.
Data backup, disaster recovery and data migration are some of the other services that are offered under database management services.
2. Computing Services
Azure can host Virtual Machines for processes that require super computing power. Azure supports up to 9 operating systems and gives a choice of various languages to build, deploy and manage applications.
3. Analytics
With Azure, businesses can stream and maintain big data from smart devices. Services are available for predictive analysis, machine learning and statistical modeling to help businesses make sense of the stream of big data coming in.
4. Media
Companies such as NBC sports, Xbox and Fuji Television Network are using Microsoft Azure’s services to encode and stream video at a massive scale. Azure’s Media services allow companies to deliver live and on-demand content with any scalability.
5. AI & Machine Learning
Azure offers a plethora of services under AI and Machine Learning so that clients can build and manage predictive analysis, build and scale bot services, train deep learning and neural networks.
Some of the services under this are Azure Batch AI, Machine Learning Studio, Azure Bot Service and Azure Data bricks.
These are just some of the broad categories to services available in Microsoft cloud. Some of the other categories are Database Management, Internet of things, Migration, Mobile, Networking, Security, Storage, Web, Developer Tools and Management Tools.
As you can see Azure offers everything a business could possibly need. Whether it’s a simple ERP to run your day to day business or complex machine learning to develop cutting edge apps; Microsoft Azure can support you in its services under IaaS, PaaS and SaaS.
How does it work?
Companies that have all their data and processes up and running in cloud call themselves ‘cloud-native’. From application building to machine learning companies are uploading everything to cloud. So how is running businesses in the cloud made possible?
Cloud computing is enabled by virtualization technology. It allows a CPU to run multiple operating systems (OS) at once. This process performed at a massive scale at Microsoft Datacenters is what makes cloud computing possible.
Here is a video that clearly explains how Microsoft Azure works on Virtualization technology.
The Cloud Computing Market.
The cloud service market is set to grow to $555 billion by 2020 according to Allied Market Research. SaaS is expected to grow the fastest as a segment of cloud services. With adoption of cloud services by all companies large and small and increasing demand for technology services across all industries, cloud services are expected to grow at a fast pace in coming years.
Big players such as Amazon, Google, and IBM are all in the race along with Microsoft Azure. Amazon Web Services is the market leader with 47% share in the market. Microsoft Azure is still behind with little over 10% market share.
However Microsoft is growing at a pace faster than Amazon is expected to catch up soon. In fact, Microsoft Azure has grown at a triple digit growth rate since its launch. Google Cloud Platform is another big player with a much smaller share of 4% as of now.
The cloud services space is expected to remain competitive with each player aggressively adding data centers and dropping prices. Microsoft is set to capture a major portion of this market which is still in its early development stage. Each player is launching cutting edge capabilities in order to stay ahead in the game.
Because of the following advantages the adoption of Azure and other cloud services will only grow in the coming years:
1. Cost Savings
It is estimated that cloud service would save as much as 35% of annual operational costs. Cost savings is the one of the main factors driving adoption of could services in enterprises. With cloud services, companies can do away with infrastructure cost, server cost, maintenance & repair, floor space, staff for upkeep. All these are taken care of by the service provider and businesses only have to pay for the capacity they use.
2. Scaling
Take the case of problems faced by AtmanCo which offers personality testing application for improved job placement. The start-up had to turn away customers because their servers could not scale to support customer demand. Seasonality in demand and sudden traffic can be a problem with fixed infrastructure in a company.
These problems are non- existent in the cloud enabled world. Companies can easily scale up their IT infrastructure using pooled resources in the cloud. In times of less demand they can cut back extra capacity just as easily. This flexibility is vital for start-ups and companies with a seasonal demand.
3. Security
The risk of losing all your data and work is increased in an on-premise infrastructure. Disasters like fire, flood, cyber attack or server breakdown are real threats to a business. This risk can be taken care by cloud storage since the data is stored in multiple remote locations.
Disaster recovery plans offered as cloud service ensures everything from major attacks to a minor power outage is taken care of. Azure Advanced Threat Protection is even able to detect advanced attacks on database.
4. Innovation
Perhaps the best advantage of cloud is the freedom it gives employees to put ideas into practices quickly. With IT infrastructure up and running in the cloud, IT does not have to waste their time in maintenance, routine tasks and fire fighting incidents. Instead they can concentrate on implementing valuable business ideas with hundreds of tools available to them on the cloud.
How is it priced?
If you are running your own servers and licensing software currently, Microsoft Azure will definitely turn out to be cheaper for you. With flexible purchase and all the advantages mentioned above choosing cloud over on-premise is a no-brainer.
The pricing is pay-as-you- go basis with each service being charged separately by hour. Some services may be charged per execution. For example, Virtual machine is charged $0.5/hour whereas compute functions are charged at $13.22/ million execution. Many services are free for 12 months in a limited capacity.
Microsoft gives its client up to 72% cost savings on entering a lock-in period of one to three years. This means that you book your services in advance instead to the pay-as-you-go model. This is a good option for clients who are sure of using Azure services in the long run.
Future of Microsoft Azure
Microsoft Azure currently has 54 datacenter regions with more additions announced regularly. This is one of the USP of Azure as there global infrastructure is larger than any other player in the market. With aggressive marketing strategy and continuous additions of new capabilities, Azure market share is expected to grow to over 20% in the coming years.
Over 70 compliance covering and US government’s trust as cloud service provider the future of Microsoft Azure looks bright and promising.
Final Thoughts
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing service fit for companies big and small across all sectors. From cutting edge machine learning of Virtual Machines (VMs) to streaming on-demand content, Azure is making everything possible with shared platform.
What’s more! More than hundreds of services are available cheap, scalable and within minutes for everyone now. The playing field has leveled up for startups too, who don’t need to spend on expensive infrastructure or software licensing. Microsoft Azure makes everything a business needs available through SaaS, PaaS and IaaS.
With the next wave of big data coming from smart devices, cloud services are going to be more than just remote platforms. They are going to be critical infrastructure and enabler of technology. Although Microsoft Azure is second in terms of market leader, its global footprint and stronghold in enterprise line-of-business will definitely give it a boost in coming years.
AI or Artificial Intelligence is a buzzword we hear everywhere along with words such as big data, internet of things and virtual reality. By June 2017, Amazon had sold more than 16.1 million Amazon Echos, Amazon’s AI powered speaker device.
You have already encountered AI in your life if you use Facebook or surf Amazon. Facebook Messenger itself has more than 100,000 chatbots that brands are using reach its 900 million users.
AI is also set to make its way from personal lives to workplace too. It’s just a matter of time before our offices are penetrated with various AI technologies.
In fact, a survey by Deloitte found that 41% of respondents have fully implemented or made significant progress in adopting AI technologies in the workforce. Yet only 15% of the 10,000 HR surveyed said they are prepared to manage a workforce “with people, robots, and AI working side by side.”
Many are apprehensive about the introduction of AI in workplaces. Some concerns are understandable whereas others are just a result of ignorance about the technology. Here are some myths about AI that give it a bad name.
Myths about AI
AI will cause mass unemployment
One of the biggest worries is that AI will replace humans to cause mass unemployment. Celebrities like Elon Musk have publicly voiced their concern over AI replacing human-force.
Just like replacing floor workers with machines during industrialization did not cause mass unemployment, AI will actually create more jobs. AI will take over the mundane and transactional work and leaving us to concentrate on ‘human worthy tasks’.
They will be like assistants that manage your meetings, prepares your reports, and send out your mails so that you can concentrate on coming up with new solutions and strategy to tackle problems. Besides we can look forward to having more jobs in machine learning, data analytics, cyber security, etc.
AI , Machine Learning and Data Mining are the same
All of these terms are related and it can get confusing for a layman. Artificial Intelligence is the ability of machines to understand mined data to take a decision that is considered smart by human standards.
Machine learning (ML) goes a step further and learns how to learn from data. ML is the vehicle that is driving AI and they work hand in hand to come up with solutions that sometimes smarter than a human.
AI Apocalypse is imminent
Many people also fear that AI will become so smart that it will take over the world. While we cannot rule out the likelihood absolutely there is no evidence to suggest that this will happen for sure. As with any other technology it is the human user who determines whether the technology is beneficial or threatening to humanity.
Take the case of nuclear power. It is possible to use it as a clean energy source or for destruction of communities. AI apocalypse is just a thought experiment at best right now.
Whether we are free from these myths or not AI technology is growing at an accelerated rate today. Business leaders have understood that they have to embrace AI if they want to remain competitive in the market.
Consider the following stats to know what’s on business leaders mind when it comes to AI:
Business leaders identify AI as fundamental to company success in future and 72% of them said AI is a business advantage (PwC)
47% of digitally mature organizations said that they have a defined AI strategy. (Adobe)
Consumers are not aware of the extent of AI penetration in their day to day lives. Only 33% percent said they used AI technology whereas the actual usage of AI powered service and device was 77% (Pega)
31% of enterprises said that AI is on their agenda for the next twelve months. (Adobe)
80% of executives believe that AI boosts productivity (The Motley Fool)
With AI market predicted to cross $5 billion by 2020, there is going to be tremendous change in the way we work, hire and do business at workplace. Let us look at the AI powered enterprise solutions market.
AI Powered Enterprise Applications Market
AI market is an exciting place to be today. It is a dynamic market with big names, new age Silicon Valley start ups and niche boutique companies all competing with each other.
According to Markets & Markets, Enterprise AI Market was valued at $845 million in 2017 and is set to grow to $6 billion by 2022. Application of AI in security, marketing, customer support, HR & Recruitment and process automation are expected to drive a growth rate of 48%.
Some of the big names in the industry are IBM, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Iris AI and Apple. All of these big players are investing heavily in the technology and acquiring promising start ups in the AI space.
Google is on a shopping spree for AI start ups and has acquired 12 AI start-ups in four years including DeepMind. Similarly, IBM and Apple have acquired three and four start-ups respectively.
A wave of AI start-ups working on niche AI solutions is emerging in Silicon Valley and across the globe. According to The New York Times there are 45 AI start-ups working on chips alone.
Companies showing potential are quickly acquired. According to CB Insights, 115 of 120 AI companies that exited the market in 2017 did so by acquisition.
So if you are looking for AI powered solution for your company, prepare to be overwhelmed by the number of vendors. There are a lot of questions that will crop up when you are searching for your AI partner. Here are some tips to make your search easier.
Tips to Choose the Right AI Enterprise Solution
> Be prepared for AI– AI is not a software that you can install and forget about. Introducing AI is a big change and your teams need to be prepared for it.
First of all, you need enough big data for AI investment to pay off. You also need staff skilled in AI and data for day to day operations. If collaborative teams are new to your company then you will also need to make changes in company hierarchy (this is discussed below in AI in HR section).
In short AI is an investment of time, effort, money and data and complete commitment from top management is essential in its implementation.
> Big vendor vs. Small start up– Both the options have their pros and cons. Big players are usually known for generic solutions that can work in all industries whereas small start ups specialize in industry (healthcare, education, manufacturing) or functionality (like HR, marketing, operations, etc.,).
Accordingly, some company want to avoid dealing with multiple small vendors and pick big players whereas others go for tailor-made solutions offered by small companies.
> Data Sensitivity – Choice of vendor will also depend on whether you are willing to share your data externally or not. Many big players offer MLaaS (Machine Learning as Service) and cloud computing option. If you are not comfortable sharing data then on premise solution would be a suitable option.
> Vendor Support – As mentioned AI implementation is a long term project. You must choose a vendor willing to offer great after sales support in terms of training your staff, handling roadblocks and managing change in your organization.
> Cost– Lastly cost will also be a major consideration especially in this market where the big players can bill you exorbitantly high. Fortunately small start-ups are coming with competitive pricing and driving the prices down.
This was the overview of the market on the whole. Let us now look at how AI is powering each of the functionality with our workplace.
Artificial Intelligence in HR
Imagine your surprise when you come to know that the HR you interacted with during your hiring process was actually an Artificially Intelligent agent. Yes, AI is taking over from the HR when it comes to hiring, recruiting, training and employee engagement.
For example, Textio uses augmented writing (application of AI on writing) to give HRs a fitting job description to attract right talent. It does this my analyzing data on similar job postings and the kind of candidates it attracted. Companies such as Apple and Twitter are using the technology to attract the best in class employees.
Another software, Veriato, analyses employee mails and messages for words that reflect employee emotions and feelings. It then scores each employee on positive and negative sentiments. This score can have application in measuring employee engagement, productivity or detecting company fraud and cyber attacks.
Similarly there are specialized software for HR processes like MontageTalent for interviewing, Talla for on-boarding and growBot for social recognition.
Changing HR Structure to accommodate AI colleagues
The Deloitte survey found that 56% of respondents are already redesigning their HR programs to leverage digital and mobile tools, and 33% are utilizing some form of AI technology to deliver HR functions.
Getting AI on board is more than just installing software. Successful integration will require a complete overhaul of who is hired and how we are related to each other in a company.
Who should be hired?
To start with AI will need a differently skilled taskforce that is adaptable and embraces change. This means that hiring by seniority and experience will give way to hiring by cultural fit and skills.
The question of who should I hire will likely change to what should I hire? A human , AI or a AI powered employee? In such a case ease of working with AI and complementing your skill with technology will be the desired quality.
How should the structure be?
The hierarchical structure of the company itself has to change to make the most of AI empowered tools. AI thrives on cross functional data which call for teams coming together to solve problems.
Also since AI has application on all functions all departments must work collaboratively with IT, data analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
You can also expect to see new roles in an organization as AI makes some redundant. For there is no need of an HR admin as AI takes care of all the mundane tasks and query handling. Instead you can expect to see roles like employee experience manager or AI skills trainer.
AI vs HR
AI will impact the employers before it impacts the employees. HR may be weary of the change and wonder if they are competing with AI for their jobs.
As stated above, implementation of AI will give birth to more job roles better suited for human. Change is inevitable and anyone unwilling to learn new skill sets should be worried. Therefore it is not really AI vs. HR but – AI with HR.
AI will also take on the mundane parts of a job that we hate doing anyway. Juergen Mueller, SAP’s chief innovation officer says “Recruiters spend 60% of their time reading CVs. Why should a person read 300 resumes if a machine can propose the top ten?”
Human qualities of empathy, creativity and inter-disciplinary skills will be much valued and irreplaceable by any bot.
Artificial Intelligence in Marketing
Application of AI on marketing and sales seems most exciting as it has a direct relation to the company’s bottom line. AI promises to bring back what was lost in mass marketing- an intimate relation with the customer.
AI can help in all stages of conversion funnel that is awareness, lead generation and conversion. You can imagine AI tools qualifying leads based on demographics, browsing history and financial data of lead. This will free your sales agents from calling each lead and rather give them high quality leads.
Jaywing uses AI and data analytics to come up with innovative marketing campaigns for their clients such as Pepsi and Sky. For example, they used digital tracking system for Swinton Insurance to track online and offline customer interactions on multiple channels.
Using AI they can separate each customer journey from the rest, enabling brands to measure marketing ROI per person.
AI in E-commerce is another exciting area currently being explored by the likes of Amazon, Flowers.com and North Face. The Guardian reports that 59% of U.K. fashion retailers use some form of facial recognition.
Check out Domino’s Robotic Unit that delivers Pizza overcoming many obstacles just like a human.
AI technology also allows a one on one website personalization possible today. With data on each visitor a tailor-made website can be shown to each visitor. This one on one marketing strategy is not yet widespread though. According to the Trends in Personalization survey, algorithmic personalization and machine learning are used by just 20% of organizations surveyed.
Artificial Intelligence and Customer Support
Business leaders know that it is the customer experience that will set market leaders apart from the rest in future. Fortunately there is a lot that AI can do in this space where customers are largely dissatisfied. According to Kampyle, 87% of customers say brands need to put more effort into providing seamless experience across all channels.
Customers have multiple channel of communication available today. They may send a mail, contact on app or have chat on your website. AI technologies that can identify customers across all these channels are much in demand. This will reduce customer frustration and resolution time.
It makes sense to invest in existing customers considering the fact that new customer acquisition costs five times more than existing customer retention. Technology that provides seamless experience and assists support agents with meaningful data can make or break customer experience.
Data analytics has already changed customer’s expectation from support agents.
Customers want immediate resolution. NO matter the time of night or time zone of the customer, today’s customer is impatient and want quick solutions. AI can help by handling low complexity issues.
Human Touch for high stake issues- Customers prefer self-help for low impact issues but want a knowledgeable human agent for high stake issues. This means highly skilled staff with knowledge of customer background is the standard expected. There are already suites of AI powered software available that assist agents in real time to give a smooth customer experience.
Low tolerance on errors- Customers have plenty of options to shift to if they are not satisfied. AI can monitor post resolution behaviour and highlight customers at risk of abandoning businesses.
There are already AI solutions that address the all the above issues and are transforming customer experience successfully. IBM’s Watson is offering customer personality insights, tone analyzer and real time assistance to client support agents.
AI and Project Management
AI project management is a system that can run or administer a project without need for human input. This means processes like scheduling, work allocation, budgeting, performance tracking, etc., can be taken care by artificially intelligent systems.
Current generation of project management systems is already doing parts of project with the help of data inputs in project management tools. For example, Stratejos, an assistant for project teams, works on estimates, budgets and sprint management.
As AI technology advances systems will be able to provide wider project assistance. They will keep a track of tasks in a way which is not humanly possible. This data can be used for performance evaluation and workload distribution that is fair and even.
These are some of the functions where AI has already made its way in the workplace. There is no function which will remain untouched by AI. Many tasks in finance, sales, manufacturing, training and more can benefit from assistance by AI powered tools.
So where are we on the AI Journey today?
The idea of machines with human capabilities is not new. Ideas about machines with ability to think can be found in ancient Greek mythological beings such as Talos and Galatea. Aristotle is said to have described a formal and mechanical way to thinking back in 320 BC.
The invention of computers turned philosophy into reality in the nineteenth century. In 1950 Alan Turing devised the Turing Test – a test for machines to convince humans that they are humans. He predicted that artificial intelligence will be able to pass the test in 2000.
Fast forward 68 years and we are nowhere close to a machine that can convince us it is human. To understand this it is important to distinguish between two broad categories of AI:
1) Narrow AI– this is AI that focuses on narrow set of activities. It can surpass human abilities on specific tasks but cannot do any tasks outside it. An example could be Alexa shopping for you on Amazon but not able to play chess with you.
2) General AI – This is AI that can juggle between tasks like humans and understand different contexts. AI is far behind in this category and a human like intelligence essentially means that AI has to catch up here.
The trouble with achieving human like AI is that it is difficult to define ‘human intelligence’. We need to be able to understand how humans think, retrieve memory, weigh options and make decisions for this. And we are not even touching the multi-layered human mind and nature of consciousness here.
As for now it looks like AI is good for specialized tasks only and it will be many years before it can pass the Turing Test.
Future of AI
Ever increasing amount of Big Data and Machine Learning means that machines will progress fast in narrow AI. There expanding facets of life where AI will enter including our workplace.
But it is difficult to forecast when AI will progress in General AI and reach human like abilities. Once they can do this there is no turning back, as they can teach themselves to evolve into super-intelligent beings pretty quickly.
However, this could be 50 years or more years from now. We cannot know because we do not still understand what it means to be a ‘conscious human’ in the first place. Furthermore, there are many possible events like breakthrough in cognitive neuro-science, societal collapse, quantum computing, etc.,that could accelerate or decelerate this journey.
Challenges in AI Journey
It would be realistic to expect challenges in adopting AI at workplace. Here are some concerns that employees are voicing in anticipation.
Privacy
Many of the HR & Recruitment AI solutions discussed above promise to keep an eye on every employee on behalf of the HR. Although the intention is to increase productivity, not everyone is comfortable with AI taking screenshots of their desktops every hour.
These software track employee location, browsing patterns and sift through all their mails and messages to measure productivity and emotional states. This is very private information and people fear misuse and manipulation as a result of this.
Data theft incidents are common news today and companies like Uber and MyFitnessPal have been prey to hackers. This is not helping in soothing fears on privacy.
Data Misuse
Facebook’s misuse of 50 million data in Cambridge Analytica case has fueled the data misuse issue. Many have gone to extent of deleting their account fearing misuse of their whole story life which is available on Facebook. Usually companies keep a detailed account of their employees from work history to financial information.
Misuse by third parties, attacks by malicious persons or intentional/ unintentional breach by the company itself are all real possibilities. Companies must address these potential hazards before they bring AI onboard. A written AI and Data Policy must be in place to secure employees.
Lack of Human Touch
Is my boss going to be an Artificially Intelligent software? This is obviously an unsettling question. The idea of taking orders from a software may not go well with all. And this is a real possibility with AI powered solution for project management that distribute work for maximum efficiency.
Making friends and building lasting relationships is a big part of employee engagement and workplace satisfaction. Without sufficient human interaction the workplace will turn to a solitary confinement devoid of human touch.
Loss of Job
This is the biggest fear that is being hyped everywhere. It is true that AI will take over many jobs. However, people forget that it is also going to create more jobs. Employees must be educated on the change that is going to come since most of the fear is due to lack of knowledge.
It must be made clear which tasks are going to be performed by AI and which ones by humans. New job responsibilities and expectations must be shared with employees to avoid confusion. In any case taking over of tasks by AI is a big change and successful change management will be required for it to succeed.
Apart from employees companies also have to address many other points.
Integration
How will the new technology integrate with your current software? This is a question that must be addressed at the time of vendor selection.
Changing the whole CMS system to integrate AI support system is a big problem. This will involve data migration, additional cost and changing workflow for sales and marketing.
ROI
Since it is still early in AI solutions market it is not clear which solutions are actually worth the cost and which are not. Does HR need AI to capture location of the employee in IT industry?
And what is the benefit of it? As more AI companies enter the market, companies may be overwhelmed with AI features with no data on profitability to fall back on. Measuring Return on Investment for AI technology is going to be a challenge at least for the initial few years.
Ethics
AI is going to make leaders take tough decisions. With more power comes more responsibility and AI will give tremendous power in business leader’s hands. By allowing micro – monitoring and measuring parameters that were earlier not measurable it will give lot of actionable data to leaders. Some of the questions they may be faced with are:
Should keep and re-purpose a redundant workforce or let them go?
Should I collect personal information to better workplace productivity?
Should I trust my team’s experience and intuition or take action on AI’s suggested strategy?
Should I reveal the full extent of AI data monitoring to my employees?
These are tough questions to answer for someone who is accountable for company’s profitability. Only companies with strong ethical culture will be able to maintain transparency and employee trust.
Tying It All Together
From a philosophical thought to mainstream commercial use, AI has come a long way. However, the technology is still primitive compared to what it can become. Misconceptions and fears are many for AI technology which is not understood fully by the common man.
Business leaders know that embracing AI is their only option if they have to survive in the future. The challenge is to address employee apprehension and build a team of AI and humans that works with each other.
To do this leaders must address fears regarding job loss, AI as bosses, reducing decision making power, data privacy and business ethics.
Once employees understand that AI is here not to take their job but to enhance it, the possibilities in workplace productivity are endless. AI powered solutions are already on the offering for HR, Marketing, Operations, Customer Support and Project Management.
The market for these solutions is new and exciting with big players and boutique start-ups offering cutting -edge solutions for businesses in all industries.
It’s still early for AI in workplace though and the challenges for its adoption are many. Early adopter of AI technology must risk ROI and take a firm stand on ethics while they manage change in their company. However the competitive advantages of adopting AI early on are worth the risk and the cost.
We do not know when AI will surpass human intelligence as a whole but as far as performing in narrow tasks is concerned; AI is already ahead of us. The future of AI with humans in workplace will bring in a new era that we can only wait for with fascination and excitement.
With different developments in technology over the last few years, human resource as a process has experienced significant changes. Artificial Intelligence (AI), a technological area that simplifies the way we do things has also reshaped the HR function.
While the technology cannot completely replace human element, it has successfully altered the way companies hire, manage, and engage with their manpower.
AI machines are gaining the intelligence needed to find the right resource or watch out for the next step and assist HR professionals in making intelligent decisions. Let us take a look at some of the benefits of AI in HR management practices:
1. Screening Candidates
Recruiters have a large candidate profile database and usually tend to screen each one manually. This involves face to face discussions and a lot of other time-consuming processes.
An AI-based software,on the other hand,analyzes the various aspects of a candidate and distinguishes them on the basis of their skills, past experience, and cultural fit for the organization. The software identifies a suitable match for the job profile, thereby saving the recruiter’s time.
2. Interviewing Candidates
Generally, recruiters spend about 30% of their time in fixing and conducting interviews. According to reports, 50% of the candidates do not receive a timely response to their application through the traditional corporate structure.
However, AI-enabled software identifies the right fit and ensures that communication flows smoothly between the candidate and the HR management. It efficiently sends custom-made messages to potential candidates making it easier for the HR personnel to focus on closing job positions.
3. Onboarding Candidates
Deciding the joining date of the candidate post offer acceptance is a tedious task. There is always uncertainty on the same. AI helps to engage and follow up with the potential candidate and ensures that chances of last-minute rejection are low.
4. Reduce Human Partiality
AI is dependent on data instead of the human mind. This reduces the chances of bias based on the intuitions and perceptions of the various individuals working in an organization. The work culture is free from discrimination with a more cohesive, communicative workplace and a faster decision-making process.
5. Establish Better Relationships with Employees
AI can be used to identify the various characteristics of individual employees through engagement surveys and other personality tools. This helps to match the right employee with the right role.
HR queries can also be taken care of with the help of an AI-based Chatbot. Meetings between employees and the HR management can be easily fixed while immediate managers have more information to take the right decision about temperaments, departments, and co-workers.
6. Improve Predictive Data Decision-Making
AI algorithms make analysis and interpretation of data easy, resulting in sets and models that provide insights for decision-making. Based on their reliable and predictive properties, decisions for today and tomorrow can be made keeping in mind data from the past.
For instance, insights derived from large volumes of data can help to predict probable issues even before they arise. This means that you will be ready to take on attrition and retention precautions at the right time.
Predictive analytics help to track employee activity and behaviour which has a direct impact on an organization’s efficiency and productivity.
7. Talent Development
Every employee has different learning styles. This is dependent on their experience, behaviours, interests, qualifications, skill sets, and more.
AI can develop customized learning programs based on the abilities and capacities of various employees. It can also offer personalized training paths which the employer may only be able to provide in a longer period of time.
HR functions are a critical aspect of business growth.
This means untimely acceptance of digital HR can hamper the overall success of a business. Therefore, HR personnel must train themselves and be ready to adapt AI technology and machines in the future. These technologies together with human intellect will help to advance HR solutions.
