AI in the workplace can be a sore subject for many as it conjures up the image of people losing jobs, robots taking over and machines doing jobs that people are currently doing.
Things aren’t all doom and gloom though as AI in the workplace can have some positive benefits for employees and in fact is paving the way for increased productivity and more job satisfaction.
So with Skynet not looking to take over, let’s look at what benefits AI offers employees:
Automation
It takes a lot of time and human resources to complete repetitive processes that AI can actually automate. For example in retail, packaging and restocking can be completed by AI systems. Over time this process can also be made more efficient as software can start to identify patterns, creating an algorithm that makes routine tasks much faster.
On the face of it this sounds like AI is taking over human
jobs completely, however the huge benefit here is that it frees up your
workforce to do jobs that are much more social, cogntiive and emotionally
intelligent – the areas that AI is yet to replicate.
It also means your workforce can focus on the bigger picture stuff like sales
strategy and really drill down into customer satisfaction – no longer focusing
on the repetitive tasks from before.
Chat bots
Chatbots have already been around for years and are essentially a service that’s generally powered by pre-programmed rules. With the rise of AI these are becoming incredibly useful in the workplace as they allow for instant communication which in turn leads to much faster decision-making.
Over time chatbots can become much smarter and become better at answering frequently asked questions (thanks AI).
Not only can chatbots be an effective way for the organisation to communicate with customers and clients in an efficient way, they can also bridge the gap between employees and management, making internal information easily accessible, freeing up more time to focus on strategy rather than troubleshooting.
Employee survey chatbots are also a great way to gather employee data in order to make better-informed decisions and find out if there are any operational defciencies in the organsation. This can save weeks of work with systems that now update in real-time rather than the old analog process.
Safety
We’ve talked about increasing productivity and overall workforce efficiency but arguably one of the biggest benefits of AI in the workplace is that it can lead to a much safer work environment.
In labour-intensive industries like construction, AI can be used to complete any dangerous function, this leads to much fewer work-related injuries. The other benefit is that AI can be used to detect any health and safety violations over time, so not only does it have instant, real-time benefit to the workplace it also means that it is constantly improving, monitoring any health and safety violations with visual recognition software.
Quality
Any job is subject to human error which can result in lower quality products or services. AI is less likely to malfunction in this way and in fact can lead to a deeper personalisation over what customers want over time which leads to better quality products and services.
Now that we can look at the bigger picture, AI is not something to be feared in the workplace, it is in fact paving the way for a more empowered and satisfied workforce, eliminating tedious or dangerous tasks to allow employees to focus on innovation and the bigger picture.
If you would like to know more about what AI can do for your business, give VitrX a call 0800 849 0849.
