4 approaches to automate work using cognitive technologies

approaches
to automating work
using
cognitive technologies

2 Deloitte University Press | 4 approaches to automating work using cognitive technologies | @DU_Press #DeloitteReview Copyright © 2015 Deloitte Development LLC. All rights reserved.
Over the next three to five years
cognitive technologies (the technologies
underlying artificial intelligence) are
likely to have a profound impact on
work, workers, and organizations

Some predict massive unemployment as
cognitive technologies begin to
automate tasks and take on work
formerly done by people

Others believe that this move towards
automation may increase productivity,
drive economic growth, and create
demand for workers with new skills

Leaders will face choices
about how to apply
cognitive technologies

A cost strategy uses technology to
reduce costs, especially by reducing
labor headcount
A value strategy aims to increase value
by complementing labor with
technology or reassigning labor to
higher-value work
To properly evaluate their options,
organizations need to choose between a
cost strategy and a value strategy

We propose using a
framework of four
automation choices
to help business
leaders understand
the business and
talent implications of
adopting cognitive
technologies
Replace
Atomize/
Automate
RelieveEmpower

Replace
AUTOMATION APPROACH:
Technology is used to
perform jobs previously
done by a person
1

Organizations may
produce greater value
by reassigning workers
to new roles, or by
expanding their
existing roles
With the cost strategy,
organizations may
choose to replace
workers with cognitive
computing systems that
perform the same work
Replace

Atomize/Automate
Break up a job into
pieces; automate as
much as possible
2

A value strategy might
use this approach to
create new lower-cost
offerings that serve
the needs of a new
market segment
Atomizing and
automating work can
reduce labor costs, but
it can also alienate
creative people, the
highly skilled, or artisans
Atomize/Automate

Relieve
Technology takes on
tasks that are dull, dirty
or dangerous
3

expand or shift the
focus of newly relieved
workers to higher-value
tasks
A cost strategy might
use technologies to
alleviate routine tasks
by reducing headcount
Relieve

Empower
Technology makes
workers more effective
by complementing skills
4

employ a system to
train those lower-skilled
workers and build their
skills, or even enhance
the performance of
highly skilled workers
A cognitive system may
empower lower-skilled
workers to perform
tasks that were formerly
performed by higher-
skilled workers, thereby
reducing labor costs
Empower

When weighing these four automation
choices, leaders should consider:
Will workers be marginalized or empowered?
Is this choice creating value or merely cutting costs?

As leaders prepare to
bring cognitive
technologies into their
organizations they
should consider which
set of automation
choices will fit best with
both their talent and
competitive strategies

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DAVID SCHATSKY
Meet the authors
senior manager, Deloitte LLP. David tracks and analyzes emerging
technology and business trends, including the growing impact of
cognitive technologies, for Deloitte’s leaders and its clients. David is
the author of Signals for Strategists: Sensing Emerging Trends in
Business and Technology (RosettaBooks, 2015).
JEFF SCHWARTZ
principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and global Human Capital Leader for
talent strategies and marketing, eminence, and brand. Jeff is the co-
author of Global Human Capital Trends 2015: Leading in a New World
of Work (Deloitte University Press, 2015).

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