Technology will enable leaders to do their jobs better in the 2020s
Technology has been one of the defining buzzwords of the past decade – for good reason. It has totally transformed the ways in which we live and work, enabling more and more of us to work from home, shop from our armchairs and connect cheaply and easily with people all over the world.
It feels like we’ve come along way over the next 10 years, so what will happen next? Here, five experts share their thoughts on which trends in business technology are likely to prevail in the 2020s and how they are likely to benefit leaders.
1. Your voice assistant will be on standby
“Voice assistants like Google Home and Amazon Alexa have already become one of the most popular Christmas presents in 2019,” says Professor Steven Van Belleghem, an expert in customer experience in the digital world, and author of Customers The Day After Tomorrow. “But the moment sophisticated versions enter professional organizations, they will have a huge impact on the way we work. These intelligent assistants will allow us to work faster, and more efficiently, and focus much more on the genuine human interaction with customers when it really counts.
Belleghem believes we’re entering an era when instead of interacting with humans, machines will mostly interact with other machines. They might be scheduling appointments, for instance, or even ordering office supplies because sensors will have told them that the coffee beans have run out.
These assistants will also gather a lot more contextual data, according to Belleghem. They may also be connected to emotion-reading wearables, which will allow leaders to better understand their employees so that they can take their wellbeing into account. Belleghem says: “This data will allow us to make better decisions in the workplace, by measuring what worked and what did not. The possibilities are frankly endless.”
2. You will have more time – thanks to artificial intelligence
Predictions that artificial intelligence (AI) will be the game-changing technology for the next decade are spot-on, according to Dave Coplin, a technology expert, speaker and author. It will free up leaders’ time and give them opportunities to use that time differently.
“AI is going to enable a new era of automation, but it won’t be on the factory floor automating the manual processes of work,” Coplin says. “It will land squarely in the cubicle farms and open-plan offices of most corporates, automating a good portion of the cognitive processes of work. Any activity that follows an established pattern (such as a call center script, an accounting audit or even many forms of legal work) could be a great target for a technology that will do the same work that humans do, but many times faster and with far greater accuracy.”
Coplin believes that the defining issue for 2020 and beyond will not be how far automation goes, but what humans will choose to do with the new capacity that is created as a result. “I call it the opportunity cost of automation,” he says. “The winners will be those that reinvest the savings from automation to enable people to work in closer harmony with machines. For example, they might invest in new skills for employees and in creating value for customers in areas where machines do not yet dominate. Those that bank the saving, or choose to fight against machines, will be gone before the decade ends.”
3. Technology will broaden the scope of your HR function
Leaders often rely heavily on the support of their HR functions, which are already changing their processes in response to technological advances. Going forward, they will be able to draw on an HR function that will use sophisticated technological tools to generate penetrating insights about the workforce.
“I’d like to think that HR professionals have been early adopters of innovation and change throughout history,” says Julie Provino, an international HR leader, founder of VeryHR and the author of How to Get What You Want in 7 Weeks. “HR has already progressed from being an admin function to one using data to build feedback loops, understand behavior and enable organizations to make better decisions in relation to people.”
Provino argues that the next big challenge for HR functions will be managing the fear and uncertainty associated with the deployment of technologies such as AI and chatbots. “Change is constant and using technology to our advantage is the way forward,” she says. “So our role is to embrace this change and enable an upskilling of the workforce in the areas that make us human. The challenge for HR will be around retaining a space for humanity, wellness and culture, amid a more accelerated era of digital working.”
4. You will pay more attention to your organizational culture
The idea that digital transformation is primarily about technology is a myth. It’s primarily about people – and improving their experiences, as both employees and customers. For that reason, technological advances offer leaders a good excuse to reassess their organizational cultures.
“Every time we opt to introduce a new piece of technology, we are invariably changing the organizational culture and influencing the structure of our organizations,” says Sunnie J. Groeneveld, a futurist and contributor to Fast Forward Files: Change of Perspective, which will be published in February.
“If the potential cultural implications are not fully considered, and planned for by the leadership team before the technology is put in place, the risk is staff disengagement and a drop in productivity – the very opposite of what the digital transformation was intended to achieve. It is important that the executive committee, alongside the board as a whole, begins to take responsibility for the strategic development of the organizational culture in the context of a digital transformation. Too often, it will be left just to the CTO, if the organization has one, or even just the IT department – which cannot strategically develop the organizational culture of an entire business from its position.”
5. Your work will revolve around experiences
The 2020s are set to be the decade of experiences. It’s not enough for your organization to simply sell a product or service. You need to make the process of buying that product or service something the customer remembers – in a very positive way. Think of experience as a byword for engagement – new technologies that deliver experiences will enable leaders to interact with their customers in more engaging ways. What’s more, not all of these experiences will happen online.
“Differentiated customer experiences will be the trend that shapes industries such as retail over the forthcoming decade,” says Mustafa Khanwala, the founder and CEO of mobile self-checkout company MishiPay. “Successful brands will offer unique, personalized experiences to their customers to build customer loyalty. Retailers with bricks-and-mortar stores have the perfect playground to bring these experiences to life and offer shoppers something that they can't access online.”
2019-12-20 09:54:51Z
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypercy/2019/12/20/how-will-technology-make-you-a-better-leader-in-the-2020s/
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