Technology has brought about unprecedented modifications to the way people work and interact. Individuals can now collaborate online, work from virtually any location and perform occupations that were once desk-bound. With the advancement of technology, a new wave of innovation has taken place in the workplace with the introduction of bots. Bots are here to stay, but will they kill human skills? Discover what the future holds with the invasion of bots in the workforce and how you can prepare for it.
Skill Kill or Skill Management Opportunities?
Whether you refer to them as software robots, chat bots or just bots, they are programs designed to assist with workforce automation. Some workers fear bots will take over their jobs, and with good cause. Bots have been introduced to the business processing outsource, or BPO, industry as a more efficient and affordable way to operate tasks, such as printing paper at a copying machine or entering data. In fact, bots are expected to be able to handle up to 60 percent of the repetitive tasks that human workers can perform. Bots have been designed to even take over common HR tasks, such as reminding employees about their holiday time or automatically sending a job acceptance letter to a candidate.
However, the "invasion of the bots" is not as much as a threat to jobs in India or abroad as they are a benefit. Rather than kill human skills, bots give human workers from HR to customer service departments the opportunity to expand into other careers. You can prepare for this eventual shift in your workplace by embracing skill management and updating your skills.
How to Redefine Your Skills for Employment and Prepare for Change
Staying competitive in the work environment will call for modification to your skill set. Rather than redundantly entering code or data into a computer system, you will need to develop skills that take advantage of creativity and strategy. For example, HR personnel can focus on conducting onboarding presentations rather than sending out the learning development material. Furthermore, you can develop managerial skills to prepare for the change and learn about managing the bots that will be used for workforce automation.
Final Thoughts
While bots may be seem invasive, it is intended to assist with the automation of tasks. Rather than view these programs as threats to your job, consider being a constant learner. Take the opportunity to develop your skills so that they offer higher-level capabilities that can be better utilized in creative or strategic roles or can manage the redundant tasks that the bots automate.