Artificial intelligence tools have been entering the workplace with increasing regularity in recent years. As more companies discover AI’s benefits, it’s likely that AI-based tools will become fixtures everywhere from warehouses and factory floors to regular offices.
Many wonder what the impact of such tools is likely to be, particularly relative to job security. The rumors of robots replacing humans have not yet slowed down, and in some ways, the concerns that underlie such rumors are valid. But the overall impact of AI in the workplace is more likely to facilitate the creation of jobs and improve the workplace experience.
So, how can these tools impact your workplace for the better? Do AI tools constitute a threat? Will they replace jobs? Here’s more information about how AI tools could transform the workplace.
AI and Repetitive Tasks
The vast majority of workplaces have their fair share of repetitive tasks that must be done to ensure success. Many workers spend an inordinate amount of time completing such tasks that add little value to their contributions. For example, a lot of time can be consumed in countless back-and-forth emails whose objective is to establish a meeting time that satisfies all of the would-be participants’ schedule requirements. As an employee, your time could be better spent on any number of other tasks. Recording and transcribing meeting notes constitutes another example. While meeting notes can be valuable for recollecting important details, taking them can be distracting and compromise the notetaker’s participation in a meeting. By handling such repetitive tasks, new AI-based tools permit employees to perform more beneficial ones.
AI in Customer Service and Marketing
Sales and marketing, along with customer service, are critical to a company’s success. Customers drive sales and attract more customers through testimonials and/or word of mouth, so it is vital that a company be able to reach and maintain its existing customer base and bring in new customers. With the development of new and better chatbot tools, customers can get the support they need in a fraction of the time it would take an employee to answer their questions. Although it can get complicated if a customer requires a detailed intervention, chatbots are incredibly useful for basic questions like, “Where is my order?” or “How can I cancel?” These are common questions that an employee can spend a significant amount of time answering. Chatbots, by contrast, can learn from interactions, becoming “smarter” and better over time, and retrieve information from an extensive database in seconds.
AI and the Hiring Process
As it becomes more challenging than ever for employers to source top talent, the hiring process is changing in fundamental ways. As employees have more options and are more interested in looking to a company for which they want to work, companies must respond in kind. It is essential to market to potential employees, finding the talent you need before another company snatches them up. AI tools in the hiring process can streamline the search for appropriate candidates, allowing hiring managers to spend more time with the candidates that are the best fit and less time sorting through resumes.
Solutions like those offered by Censia provide a database of candidates from around the world, allowing companies to create a profile for the ideal candidate based on actual successful candidates who are already employed. Doing this allows hiring managers to eliminate bias from the hiring process and use their time more effectively. Without the need to browse hundreds of resumes, the human side of hiring comes to the forefront.
Excellent potential employees are overlooked daily because their resumes often go unseen. Hiring tools help address such problems by finding excellent matches early in the process. Hiring managers no longer need to spend time interviewing candidates that aren’t the right fit and can instead spend longer with those that might be ideal for their team.
AI and the Future
The real impact of AI tools in the workplace is that the human aspect of work is becoming increasingly important. With AI tools to assume the burden of mundane tasks, employees are free to focus on the human aspect of their jobs. This allows for a deeper connection with job candidates, with customers, and between workers. Eliminating wasted time on menial tasks can facilitate productivity and increase profits at companies in a variety of specialized areas. Employees at every type of workplace, from corporate offices to warehouses, can benefit from AI tools.