Artificial Intelligence ran Cloud Computing is here, busy changing how humans do the jobs they still got to do. The jobs they still got to do because in the long run AI, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, Big Data, and these future technologies will finally take away all the jobs humans can do.
But before that future we still have some good news. At the Human Resource Forum organised by SAGE on Wednesday September 11th 2019, it was said that in the next 5 to 10 years AI will still give humans some 130 million new jobs, but how will humans do these jobs in the era of cloud computing and AI itself?
As AI and Cloud Computing grow, there are three things that are happening and happening fast:
- New jobs are created daily even as old jobs become extinct
- Jobs get done differently
- Finally AI will get rid of all jobs
New jobs are created daily
In 2018, World Economic Forum predicted that Artificial Intelligence will create 318,000 news net jobs on a daily basis, such that by 2022, 58 million news jobs shall have been created. When looked at in terms of gross figures, between 2018 and 2022 Artificial Intelligence is expected to have created a total of 133 million new jobs, but at the expense of rendering 75 million jobs redundant.
The question therefore is the type of new jobs AI is creating vis a vis the types of jobs it is rendering redundant, and what this means for Human Resource.
The types of jobs AI is rendering redundant is easy to figure out. On top of the list are factory jobs that require repetitive tasks that can easily be automated. Assembly lines in many factories around the world have been taken over by automated systems, even simple automated systems that do not require the brain of an AI system. As factories move towards Industry 4.0, almost every tasks in a factory including tasks that require minimal human decision making capabilities are being taken over by AI.
In offices, receptionists, clerks, cleaners, and low level management jobs are already at risk of being taken over by AI. Even middle level and top level management jobs aren’t that safe, as AI is being trained to be CEOs, amongst other possibilities.
Jobs that AI continue to create are in the fields such as data science, where data analysts, software developers and social media specialists are expected to be on demand. ” Plus jobs that require âhuman skillsâ like sales and marketing, innovation and customer service are also expected to increase in demand”, wrote Amit Chowdhry on Forbes.
What this means for human resource management is that companies must adopt AI systems in order to remain competitive in the ever evolving job market, and as such either higher employees that will remain useful in the foreseeable future, or put in training programmes for current workers to continually upgrade their skills to match the future job market.
Cloud Computing means jobs are done differently
There are a few people who work today the same way they used to work 10 years ago. In 2009 just as smartphones were picking up, very few people had heard of working from home. Almost all offices still ran their application on on premise servicers and client computers. Companies hired tons and tons of IT experts not only to maintain and manage their systems (hardware experts for hardware repairs and software experts for things like system administration), but also to perform simple tasks as data entry clerks on behalf of accountants, administrators, operation managers and other middle level managers who didn’t know fully how to use computer packages.
10 years later we have people working from home. Others working on the go. Mobile phones have become important devices for data input and output. Files are no longer stored on external storage but on the cloud. Employees no longer have to carry work laptops from the office in order to continue with the work later at home or during the weekend, as they have been enabled to access the same data from any device that has access to the Internet.
In today’s world, a task doesn’t have to be left undone simply because someone was unable to be in the office for whatever reason. Managers can still approve purchase orders, invoices, leave requests, plan for meetings, hold meetings, and do virtually most of the office tasks from wherever location they find themselves at.
The current work dynamics means that human resource must be managed away from the brick and mortar mentality.Today employees do not have to report to the office to have their work done. An employee performance no longer has to be measured by the number of hours spent at work, but by the predetermined output on given tasks.
If for example an employee is a marketer, then performance indicators like winning over at least 5 new clients per month should be the objective, instead of requiring the employee to be present physically at the workplace.
What this means is that human resource must not only be dynamic to allow for employees to plan how they have to executive their tasks by themselves, but also for the companies to provide them with the tools and means to work from anywhere, at any time. The advantage of this approach is that employees will be given the latitude to work at times that are best suitable for them, instead of tying them to specific hours of let’s say 8 AM to 5 PM.
Human resource management itself must also be different. In the brick and mortar mentality, you’ll have companies having time stamps at the gate to monitor the number of hours an employee spent within the work premises, maintaining manual or on premise server based payrolls, and maintaining other employee data in the old fashioned way.
Cloud computing however demands for companies to be able to monitor employees remotely, whether or not the employees work from the office. An employee should today be able to update crucial work information from anywhere, and that’s why systems such as Sage Human Resource Management System comes in handy for companies that want to thrive in the future.
Finally AI will get rid of all jobs
This is the future I long for, for this future will truly be heaven on earth. When AI will be left to manage all earth resources for the benefit of all mankind, when no human will suffer due to lack of jobs (as no one will need to be employed), when ownership of the earth will be truly communal, when humans will have no need for Governments, then humans will be free to only engage in religious/philosophical discourse, and express themselves through the work of Art and Creativity. At that time, even science shall be done for the Art and Philosophy that it is, but not for technological advancements as AI shall take care of that. Some speculate this future to be as near as 2050.
See also: Top 5 reasons why an organization should migrate their payroll to SAGE Cloud Payroll Solution
