The State of Work Report

According to the latest Slack State of Work Report, a staggering 32% of employees' time is spent on work that does not contribute to company and team goals, even though it may create an illusion of productivity.

Surprisingly, 60% of employees mention that their companies have not integrated AI tools to support their productivity, while 43% claim that their teams have not implemented automation to streamline their work processes.

These statistics indicate a significant gap between the potential benefits of automation and AI and their implementation.

Unlocking Productivity Potential

Implementing automation and AI technologies can unlock immense productivity potential within organizations.

‍The report highlights that employees who utilize AI tools are 90% more likely to report higher productivity levels.

Furthermore, those who embrace automation save approximately 3.6 hours per week, equivalent to 23 working days per year. This substantial time-saving demonstrates the power of automation in enhancing efficiency.

Steps Towards Success

To harness the benefits of automation and AI, experts and early adopters recommend several steps:

Identify inefficiencies and opportunities for automation:

Organizations need to assess their workflows and identify manual processes that can be automated to free up valuable time and resources.

Understand department-specific applications:

Each department may have unique requirements and processes. Understanding how different departments can leverage AI and automation allows tailored implementations for maximum impact.

Drive workforce engagement with AI and automation:

Engaging employees in the process and showcasing how AI and automation can improve their daily work experiences can drive better adoption and enthusiasm.

Leadership endorsement:

Leadership plays a crucial role in championing AI and automation as transformative technologies. When senior leaders embrace these technologies, employees recognize their significance and potential impact on both the business and their individual lives.

Practical Examples and Success Stories

NASA is an exemplary case of embracing automation to streamline processes and workflows, enabling staff to support more projects while reducing the time required to build data reports. Leveraging automation as a transformative force, NASA benefits from a unified customer view, driving efficiency and effectiveness.

The Power of Asking: "What's the dumbest thing you have to do every day?"

One Salesforce customer, a large financial services firm, sought opportunities for automation by asking employees a simple question: "What's the dumbest thing you have to do every day?" This approach sparked a groundswell of information as frustrated employees willingly shared their time-consuming manual tasks. By automating those "dumb" tasks, the company significantly increased productivity and employee satisfaction.

Department-Specific Applications

Automation and AI find practical applications across various departments:

Finance and accounting:

Automation can free up time for strategic analysis, collaboration, and tasks such as automated invoicing and approval routing.

Marketing:

Automated messaging across channels helps target customers, identify audiences, and trigger actions based on customer behaviour.

Service:

Next-generation service automation, powered by AI, augmented reality, and IoT, can predict and automatically resolve service events, enhancing customer experiences.

Human resources:

Automation aids in streamlining job application processing, interview scheduling, onboarding, offboarding, payroll management, and benefits administration.

Sales:

Automating sales tasks, including strategy, lead qualification, pricing, and order management, improves efficiency and empowers sales teams.

Conclusion

Automation and AI hold immense potential to transform our work, enhancing productivity and enabling organizations to focus on strategic initiatives. Businesses can unleash the power of automation and AI by identifying inefficiencies, understanding department-specific applications, promoting workforce engagement, and fostering leadership support. Embrace the future of work, boost productivity, and elevate your organization to new heights of success.

Are Repetitive Admin Tasks Eating Up Your Time? Book your free consultation with our experts to know more about automation and embrace technology!

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