The questions over whether artificial intelligence will destroy more jobs than it creates, or at least fundamentally lead to redesign of many job roles, represents a hot area for sociological and economic discussion. Certainly, as artificial intelligence grows, many questions need to be answered about how artificial intelligence should be best implemented in business, and the long-term impact it will have.
One example of how artificial intelligence can streamline business in a more efficient way is with technology like Tonkean. Tonkean is a dashboard that uses artificial intelligence to remove the menial aspects of management, like nagging for status updates or checking on project progress is all handled by a chatbot.
To discover more Digital Journal spoke with Sagi Eliyahu, CEO of Tonkean.
Digital Journal: Thanks for the interview. How is A.I. disrupting businesses?
Sagi Eliyahu: A.I. has the potential to completely transform the way businesses operate, both internally and externally. Transferring recurring and repetitive tasks and data gathering activities to A.I. applications will enable humans, which are typically a company’s highest cost center, to focus on doing actual work. This supports achieving greater efficiency goals in addition to allocating resources in the most effective way.
DJ: Does this affect all businesses in the same way?
Eliyahu: The short answer is yes and no. All businesses have functions that can leverage the smart automation that A.I. promises, however, all industries have specific needs that determine how that automation affects them. The most obvious and clear examples are customer-focused organizations and marketing/advertising companies. Both are increasingly using A.I. but in different ways. One to streamline customer service and the other to optimize decision-making.
Where A.I. sees real transformation is in higher functioning analysis that impacts humans’ ability to act quickly and decisively. It will enable people to make hard decisions quickly and in a smarter way. Doctors will use it to more rapidly and accurately diagnose patients, for example, which will lead to better health outcomes. City Planners will leverage A.I. to evaluate and test complex infrastructure projects to improve the day-to-day lives of their communities. Of course, there are the military applications of A.I. that prepare officers to more intelligently and accurately make life and death decisions, and even handle the operation of weaponry.
In each of these examples, A.I. will affect those industries in discrete ways specific to their needs and goals. What they share, however, is that A.I will bring a new, better type of automation that wasn’t available before. Industries with high-end professionals will see the most impact as they will for the first time be free to focus more on applying their skills than gathering and interpreting data.
DJ: What advantages does AI offer to businesses?
Eliyahu: With A.I., more routine functions can be automated, taking them off of employees’ shoulders so they can be more action-oriented and creative in their work. From specific job-related tasks, such as following up on project statuses or scheduling meetings to the very core of running a company like aligning teams, strategic planning and managing finances, A.I. promises to bring smarter automation that will allow the transformation of tasks in ways we couldn’t imagine, and redefine the very nature of how we work. Eliminating as much mundane activity as possible will drive greater productivity while creating cost-efficiencies at the same time.
DJ: Will AI lead to significant job losses? Will new roles be created?
Eliyahu: This concern is overblown and likely very premature. A.I. will certainly eliminate some roles, but, new ones will be created in their place. This is no different than the introduction of all new technologies. Rather than eliminating human involvement, A.I. promises to further streamline processes which will support human activity and, more importantly, facilitate greater advancements in productivity.
DJ: What will the overall impact on employment be?
Eliyahu: The elimination of rote and repetitive tasks will enable employees to focus on problem-solving and taking action. A.I. will also empower managers to automate repetitive tasks and workflow processes, and facilitate certain aspects of internal communication. By freeing up managers from these manual tasks, they will be able to focus more on strategy and leadership than on middle management administrative functions.
DJ: What services does Tonkean provide?
Eliyahu: Tonkean is a Management Automation Platform that smartly automates the delivery of critical business data and team context, eliminating the need for micromanagement. Our A.I.-powered Bot proactively seeks and acquires input from teams when important data changes, empowering managers to take immediate action. Instead of the traditional and manual “uber-spreadsheets”, our powerful all-in-one dashboard gives managers and their teams the most relevant information they need and automates the process around it.
In the end, our mission is to help managers become better leaders and to completely transform management and what that role means. As we say: The world doesn’t need more managers. The world needs more leaders.
DJ: Which clients do you work with?
Eliyahu: Tonkean works with a broad spectrum of companies across industries, sizes and functional areas; large and small technology, services, e-commerce, retail, public sector, health, and manufacturing companies and agencies. Salesforce, Take-Two Interactive, JUUL Labs and the Tampa International Airport are few examples of companies already leveraging Tonkean platform to automate management manual work.
DJ: What is your vision of the world of work in five years time?
Eliyahu: With progress in technological advancement across data processing, smart automation and virtual assistants, the lines around skill sets will become increasingly clearer. Those who bring innovation, creativity, vision and personal skills will thrive. Growth in distributed teams and global offices will continue to require better communication and workflows, and therefore will further push the adoption of smart automation. With the next generation of the digitally savvy joining the workforce, and the big leaps ahead in A.I., V.R. and A.R., work places will look very different over the next five-to-ten years… for the better.
