Forrester’s recent report states that automation technology is expected to fulfill 24.7 million US jobs by 2027. For employers, this suggests robots will be performing more job duties; for employees, it means they’ll be working alongside intelligent machines. This is expected to change business operations as companies adjust to a more flexible workforce. Here are some key benefits of automation for the telecommunication industry.
Benefits of automated workforce for Telecom industry
Many relate workforce automation to job displacement; this conclusion is misleading.
McKinsey and Company suggests that future work automation will likely be people working alongside robots; much like how today’s bank tellers will guide clients to an ATM machine if all they need is a withdrawal. The report also stated roughly 45% of common job activities can be automated. These include some of the most tedious tasks – troubleshooting IT issues, data entry, and time tracking. Researchers cited real life examples like Narrative Science’s intelligence narrative system, which can analyze data and write reports using natural language in seconds; Amazon’s Kiva robots that fulfill warehouse orders four times faster than its precedent system.
Research analysts say that with task automation, companies can move away from routine tasks to sales and customer service. Many employers have reported that they can save 3 hours per day. Employees, too, believe that partial job automation can free up 2 hours each day and make their job more efficient by reducing manual errors, speeding up work completion, and producing quality work. For telecom businesses, this extra time can be used for more important goals, like delivering better customer experience.
One example is a telecom provider based in Europe that uses automation tools to handle large volumes of repetitive, rule-based operations and better manage its daily workflow. This company was able to increase customer service offerings by automating part of its communication services and reducing average response time.
Coordinating an automated workforce
Keith Fenner, Vice President of Sage Enterprise Africa and Middle East, predicts the future workforce in most companies will comprise of full-time employees, freelancers and contractors, and AI machines. The telecommunications sector has been making this work for some time, part of the reason being telecom companies’ need to keep up with changing technologies. Thanks to rapid advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI, telecommunication teams are increasingly consulting outside experts for planning, troubleshooting, and business insights and developments.
Fenner and others say it’s important to efficiently manage such a diverse workforce. Leveraging a third-party specialist has been proven to help companies save time and money in engaging the right people on-demand; for instance, skilled telecom engineers for an independent, gig economy project.
A successful example of this is a global telecommunications manufacturer. It uses automated gig economy-style employment to engage thousands of freelance workers around the world. The company’s automation technologies allow it to better manage its workforce and implement regional deployment strategies to save time and resource.
The future of automation
The key takeaway from many research analysts on automation is this: it can help increase company productivity, reduce manual and repetitive labors, and prevent employees from burning out. To make this work, however, individual telecom companies also need to retrain its workforce to focus on creativity, emotion-driven designs, and entrepreneurship–jobs where people outperform intelligent machines. As well, leveraging competent third-party companies for their freelancing needs can help businesses save more time and resource to improve their services.
As the benefits of automation of workforce are being communicated more, many have developed a positive outlook on automation technologies. A recent survey shows that nearly half of Britain’s office workers support using AI technologies to complete their department’s daily tasks. In Japan as well, more companies look forward to using automation technologies to aid innovation and product development.
Kazuo Okamoto, chief executive of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Europe, emphasizes that automation technologies should be developed for the benefit of society. It must be done responsibly, he says, “to make sure the benefits of automation are felt by the whole workforce.”
Field Engineer is a leading workforce automation platform that provides prompt freelance hiring service to engage the right technicians for the right telecommunication project. By automating telecom companies’ freelance hiring process, fieldengineer.com can save businesses time and resource from the HR need to focus on other important services. Field Engineer’s platform helps to create a direct engagement among engineers and businesses. Check out their services today.
Author info
Ramya Sri Alluri is a staff author at Fieldengineer.com which is an On-Demand Marketplace for Telecom Freelance Engineers.
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