Chatbots Can Be Job Creators, Not Destroyers
Whenever a new technology comes along, there are those that say it will destroy jobs and industries. The same was said of cars, mechanized factories, computers and robots, yet employment rates remain at record highs. Chatbots will fit into our lives the same way, creating jobs and making workers more productive rather than consigning them to the scrap heap.
The assumption that when a new technology turns up, it will create waves of unemployment has been proven false over many generations of technology, and mechanical devices. New technologies arrive all the time, they take a while to settle in and as businesses find their true utility, there are efficiencies, sales boosts and other benefits that bring in more workers and business expansion to replace any initial redundancies that can happen.
Growing Businesses Hire, They Don’t Fire
So, when you see a headline like “Consumer spend via chatbot to reach $142B by 2024” it is easy to see where that money could go toward investment in more products, requiring more people to build, supply, stock and deliver them, creating more jobs in the wider retail economy.
The article, based on Juniper Research suggests that “Chatbot technology saved companies an estimated $164 million in 2019. Money that can be invested in the retailer’s business. Within the industry, “48% of users access chatbots via messaging platforms and 43% through websites, but only 9% of them access the technology via discrete applications. However, 80% of global consumer spend by 2024 via chatbot is expected to take place via discrete chatbots — meaning tech embedded directly into a retailer’s mobile app rather than accessed through a browser or messenger.”
Those apps and the background IT will need developers, managers and cloud providers. Also, supply chain specialists will be needed to manage the change in buying patterns, along with more delivery bandwidth to bring all those parcels to customers’ doors.
Growth Will Be Local as Well as Global
While all that money will be spread around the world, there are examples where local changes can bring jobs into A local economy. Take this piece “Growth of ‘chatbots’ could create 10,000 North West jobs.” Sure, it comes from a vendor trying to sell chatbots to local firms, but his reasoning is sound, “And, just as the fear that automation would be a ‘job killer’ in manufacturing has proven to be a myth, so it will be with chatbots, predicts Bain. A 10% boost in productivity might not sound much, but in people-intensive or value-intensive service industries such as call centres or accountancy practices, that’s a huge gain in output that will allow the firm to direct people to do more higher-value work.”
Bots Will Impact Management Too
Chatbots won’t just shake up jobs at the lower echelons of business, a bot that can make management or board-level suggestions based on deep data and up-to-date information can support a business and help it make key decisions faster.
Another article “AI, new-age tech to replace 69% routine office work by 2024” highlights research that predicts that bot and AI technologies will replace almost 69% of A manager’s routine work.
“Bots and AI will be more for managers in operational and supervisory roles. But, managerial jobs, which require critical thinking, intuitive decision-making or innovation and creativity will not be at risk. While technology can help in coming to decision, these domain areas will remain with people in the foreseeable future.”
“The role of manager will see a complete overhaul over the next four years,” Currently, managers often need to spend time filling in forms, updating information and approving workflows. By using AI to automate these tasks, they can spend less time managing transactions and can invest more time for learning, performance management and goal-setting.”
AI and emerging technologies will change the role of the manager and will allow employees to extend their degree of responsibility and influence, without taking on management tasks, says the report. Add in the bots that can help hire the right people for the right roles and it is fundamentally wrong to accuse them of killing careers.
Wherever you sit in your business or your market, the rise of AI and bot technology is here and accelerating. The COVID crisis will create a major shake-up in many companies once the virus subsides, and there will be plenty of places and processes where bots can help companies recover. From shortening sales cycles to boosting engagement and reaching a wider audience, bots will help in many ways.
Finding opportunity beyond the crisis will see many companies look to economize, but also seek to hire to get the extra work done. Chatbots like SnatchBot use natural language processing (NLP) and other AI technologies to learn the best answers, to find more useful information. As these AIs grow, they will get smarter too, helping provide more information and working with other parts of the business. All of which will improve the business and keep demand for products or services, and jobs to keep them running going.
