INSIGHT Peter Olive - Vortex 6
“As employers, we must take our employees with us. Rather than replace the workforce with
machines, we need to assess their skills and deploy them where they can be utilised appropriately. ”
Peter Olive, CEO of Vortex 6
Humans and AI can
co-exist in Automation
There is much fear surrounding the impact that automation and artifi cial intelligence will have on the job market.
Self-driving trucks, automated warehousing, smart motorways and the self-checkouts at the supermarket are all
replacing the traditional worker with computers that are more effi cient and because they are automated remove
the likelihood of human error. But does that mean the human worker is no longer needed? According to Peter Olive,
CEO, Vortex 6, it doesn’t
In the 1970s major cities,
like London, su ered
massive job losses and a
decline in the resident
population. In London’s case,
over 1 million people moved
away to nd new work. e
decline of manufacturing and
the emergence of containerised
shipping was the main cause
and reason why many workers
were becoming obsolete. e
city was beset by strikes as
workers tried to hold back
progress for fear of the impact it
would have on their livelihoods.
For London businesses, it was a
huge challenge, but in hindsight
the reaction of the workers was
understandable. eir fears
came true and, as they left,
London went into decline.
Fortunately, this decline
throughout London’s industries
did not last forever. It
reinvented itself. Now, London
is the leading nancial and
services city in Europe, if not
globally. In 2015 London
generated 22% of the UK’s
GDP. e city contains many
businesses (both new and old)
and now employs more people
than ever before.
NO MAN LEFT BEHIND
In countries like Japan and the
UK, where workers often have a
poor balance between their work
and personal life, automation
could help to reduce the stress
of overwork. ere are people
in these countries who enjoy
their work and so don’t mind
putting in that little bit extra.
However, it is often not those
employees who face the fear
of being replaced by a robot.
Instead, it’s the workers with the
most repetitive and mundane
jobs where automation would be
most bene cial.
Yet despite this, many
companies still employ people
for these tasks, even though
they could easily be automated.
e reason often given to me
by employers not implementing
automation is that “we get
what we need, and we don’t
have any problems”. e issue
with this line of thought is that
it is incredibly ine cient. It
ignores the fact that employees
are doing tasks that take hours
where using automation they
could do the same tasks in
seconds. Look at those whose
job it is to gather data and
compile it into spreadsheets.
ese spreadsheets go out
of date the minute there is
a change and the process
restarts. is repeats itself
over and over again.
Automation is not new, it
dates back to the Industrial
Revolution and even a little
before. Today’s automation
solutions are coming to us at
a much faster pace. Nearly
every time humanity has
been faced with automation
in the workplace, we have had
trouble embracing it, although
we always do in the end. As in
the past, many employees see
automation as a threat to their
jobs. Employees are saying
“what will I do when this is
implemented?” rather than,
“thank goodness I don’t have
to do that anymore, now I can
start to do something more
interesting and add real value to
the organisation”.
TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
Many organisations will use
automation to reduce the size
of their workforce, but in most
cases, especially as we face a
skills shortage, they’ll only
Peter Olive, CEO of Vortex 6
replace the people that they
don’t believe can adapt and
continue to add value. However,
humanity naturally puts itself
down and most employees will
believe they are the dispensable
ones. As employers, we must
take our employees with
us. Rather than replace the
workforce with machines, we
need to assess their skills and
deploy them where they can
be utilised appropriately. After
all, who is going to develop the
software, implement it, build the
robots, maintain the systems,
build the motorways and do the
jobs that robots can’t?
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26 | Comms Business Magazine | January 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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