It’s safe to say that no human has ever lived through a time the global economy shut down. This is where we find ourselves today, and it’s time to aggressively pursue automation.
Peter Drucker is a famous business consultant and writer who frequently stated that most business change occurs incrementally. For example, annual automobile upgrades are made to the functionality, suspension, and steering. These are not dramatic, and you may not be able to see real differences from model to model. Then, periodically, significant changes happen. This can be seen in developing viable electric cars with companies like Tesla making a dramatic change in the industry. Still, as substantial a change this is, the adoption is relatively incremental.
A similar, but unrelated principle, is seen in Joseph Schumpeter’s Creative Destruction, where new innovations and technologies will replace less efficient practices. Companies that do not adopt the latest technologies will find themselves at a competitive disadvantage and subsequently go out of business.
When thinking Druckerian and Schumpetarian principles in tandem, we can see the impacts of massive forces ushering change at the fastest pace in history. These two colossal changes that are happening simultaneously are creating the perfect storm:
- The Work From Home Event
- The AI Revolution
The Work From Home Event is the most extensive work from home experiment ever conducted. The results are in: the ecosystem surrounding the old way of working is significantly diminished while new business models are emerging. Yes, many some businesses will come back on-line, and some people will return to offices. However, the impact has forced companies to reduce costs and change elements of their business models.
One of the most notable changes is through automation. While automation has been happening for decades, as Drucker noted, these changes have been incremental. Your company has probably embraced some opportunities for automation and explored others. The critical change should be the urgency which you, as an executive, should embrace.
Right now, there is an opportunity to remove costs by reducing human to human contacts that occur in sales and service. And, this doesn’t have to always be automation but can also be found in ways to eliminate or streamline customer interactions. With the right data, and appropriate level of root cause analysis, most companies have vast opportunities for cost reduction.
To learn how automation can help your company streamline the customer experience, request a consultation today.
