EDITORIAL BOARD
Carole Ankers
Kevin Johnson
is Chief Technology Officer at poweredbypie
is Director at Index PI
People are priceless
People power vs rise of the robots We use tech in our everyday lives to take some of the pain away from chores such as shopping, so it makes sense to transfer some of this over to our working lives to give us the same time saving benefits. But what is the cost to the human workforce?
Without a core team of qualified and effective employees it is impossible for a business to build a brand and develop a unique customer experience, and this is true whatever the business happens to be. Employees are one of the most important factors in any company; whether the business is a large multinational organisation or a small start-up, the people employed are absolutely vital to its success.
Last year the Office of National Statistics released a study claiming that over 1.5m jobs in the UK were at risk from automation, the process of replacing manual tasks with technology, with lower skilled jobs being most impacted.
Fundamentally though, no employee exists in a vacuum and it is vital that the organisation has a well formed set of core values that it lives by, and which resonates across the full spectrum of its workforce. Core values support the vision, shape the culture and reflect what a company stands for; they are the essence of the company identity. Too many companies focus mostly on technical competencies and forget that establishing strong core values provide both internal and external corporate advantage.
The legal industry and the conveyancing process in particular are prime examples of how automating tasks can speed up processes. Forms can now be filled, shared and submitted digitally, cloud-based storage is used to keep data safe and provide audit trails and the vast majority of our searches, insurance policies and due diligence products are now ordered online. Modern legal practices have been embracing this kind of technology for many years and as new developments come to the forefront, it’s clear that there’s a real opportunity to further streamline business processes using software.
When you consider values such as accountability, commitment, diversity, integrity and ownership it becomes immediately apparent that not only are the right employees key to keeping clients happy and establishing a lasting reputation, they are also central to a company’s internal business culture.
So, what about the people? In its whitepaper ‘From Brawn to Brains – the impact of technology on jobs on the UK’, Deloitte argues that there is strong evidence to suggest that technology “has helped create nearly 3.5million higher skilled jobs”.
Recruiting and retaining people that create the desired internal culture can help any business to continue hiring “right minded” employees for years to come. This, in turn, will have a positive effect on the quality of service that the business delivers. Companies and employees globally are noticing a shift in the workplace due to rapid changes in technology, culture and economies, and both are realising that they must adapt. Advances in technology and global competition for talent are impacting the way people work; there is increased workplace flexibility, ease of communication and a growing need to constantly learn new skills. And there is a growing focus on doing work that is personally meaningful and fulfils a sense of purpose.
The question here is not will people be replaced by technology, but rather what can people do to secure employment in a technology driven world? For example, at poweredbypie we firmly believe that our technology empowers people to direct their expertise into other areas of the business, such as providing excellent service, rather than getting bogged down with admin tasks that could be automated. It’s not about replacing people, it’s about making the most of their skills, and in some cases upskilling, allowing them to flourish.
In an increasingly globalised digital world, organisations are finding that there is more to the equation of recruiting than initially meets the eye. Diversity is a top concern for businesses of all types and sizes, but the best employees are those who are hired in order to be a good cultural fit. This might mean, in evaluating any prospective future colleague, that selection is based upon an alignment with values and goals rather than purely on technical competencies. Contentment in the workplace and valued work will hugely impact the ability and desire of employees and colleagues to give 100% to the job. We shouldn’t hesitate to hire people who have the right attitude and make for a great fit but must then back this up with a thorough and professional on-boarding process and continued investment in training.
Take ‘chatbots’. These automated online chat forms are a useful addition to your website, a means of first contact using pre-scripted data to answer customer enquiries. This is all well and good for simple queries such as ‘where can I find your contact details?’ but for more complicated and case specific questions, technology will struggle to keep up. Great customer service at its heart is all about people talking to people to find a solution to a problem. Whilst it’s true that technology is fast becoming a staple in modern day law firms, helping to streamline repetitive manual processes, it’s also important to remember where technology comes from. It’s the people behind the technology that make the difference.
If they weren’t priceless at the outset then creating the right working environment, an alignment of values, respect and encouragement for the individual, together with progressive training and development will surely make our people priceless for the future.
“The question here is not will people be replaced by technology, but rather what can people do to secure employment in a technology driven world?”
“Recruiting and retaining people that create the desired internal culture can help any business to continue hiring “right minded” employees for years to come” 27