Find out what Automation looks like in 2020: Top 5 Emerging Technologies

BottomUp - Skills for Innovators

014 - Automation

[00:00:00] Mike: [00:00:09] Hello and welcome to the BottomUp podcast. I'm your host, Mike Parsons. And as usual, I am here to share with you some essential skills for innovation, design creation, building good stuff. And today we're reviewing the topic of automation. In fact, I call it boundless automation, ubiquitous automation, and if you're [00:00:34] thinking, ah, well listen, I'm a creative type, this doesn't apply to me.

[00:00:38] It does. Because whether you're a consumer or an entrepreneur. Automation is becoming ubiquitous. It's essential to understand. It's the third part of our five-part annual top five emerging technologies. I really love doing this. This is the fourth year of my top five emerging technology picks. I'm really grateful to all the feedback I've had over the years.

[00:01:01] On all my different picks. If you'd like to know more about some of the retrospective picks, some of the winners and the losers [00:01:08] pop over to bottomup.io because you'll find all sorts of goodies there. Not only a full master class and keynote on this entire top five emerging technologies for 2020 but you can get access to a whole bunch of courses on design thinking, lean, agile, and innovation overall.

[00:01:25] So that's bottom up.io. Okay. Let's get into this boundless automation universe. Firstly, what is it? Well, it's really super simple. It's all about using technology to automate, especially these complex [00:01:42] business processes. Sometimes today we might find that those processes have a lot of manual work.

[00:01:48] They can be slow and inconsistent, and frankly, computers and robots can just do them better. So, what we're talking about is using automation to improve, you know, payroll, order processing, even a lot of marketing processes that have a lot of data, perfect thing to automate. So, when we talk about boundless innovation and boundless automation, it could be that classic kind of factory robot, you know, [00:02:16] Amazon or Ocado kind of vision that you have of just a few people and millions of robots.

[00:02:21] But it can also be software too. And that's what's so exciting about it. It's sort of a hardware-software play. So why is this so hyped up? What's going on here with boundless automation? What's behind the story? Well, the real truth here is there one company has pioneered this perhaps better than any others, and that's Amazon because they have the hardware automation happening in their factories and distribution centers. And then they have the software automation happening in their [00:02:50] retail and online environments. It's the Amazon effect. They are just more efficient than any other retailer on the planet. And that's why with their championing of this cause everybody's talking about automation.

[00:03:06] They are the poster child of automation. They are absolutely killing it. We haven't even seen the end result yet. I can assure you that there are some super macro, long-term economic cycles for us to go through. We will see the true power of automation. Number two, why is [00:03:24] this so, so important? Well, it is hugely efficient, particularly in 2020 as we go post virus, we're going to see a huge push on efficiency.

[00:03:34] Automation will deliver. And the reason that automation is just so powerful is that it can take error-prone, slow human processes, and just do them better. And you know, the truth here is that the power of hardware and software automation can get so much done and deliver so much cost savings to the bottom line [00:03:58] of an organization in 2020 I'm sure that is going to be the number one driver.

[00:04:03] The third thing that's got us all talking about this and why we've picked it as a top-five emerging technology for 2020 is the whole conversation about job displacement and the job fears that people have about automation. Now in the master class that we've got on bottom up.io, you will see that yes, we did find the data that actually proves that there will be job displacement.

[00:04:32] [00:04:31] Without a doubt, there will just be some jobs that go away. We've been seeing that in manufacturing for years. But here's the thing. The world economic forum found that 75 million jobs will be displaced, but by 2022 automation will create a net new 133 million jobs. So, come on guys. We don't have to be so freaked out.

[00:04:53] There is an upside to automation, and that's why we're talking about it. So, the Amazon effect, it's hugely efficient and it's not really about job displacement. It's about job [00:05:06] growth. That's why it really matters. Now, as usual, I've got one number that matters and this one's going to blow your socks off.

[00:05:13] Deloitte found that by 2023 the adoption of robotic process automation, RPA, will be nearly ubiquitous in industry. 89% will have adopted this because it's so damn efficient. So just think about that. This technology is on track for ubiquity within the next three years. Boundless [00:05:40] automation, whether it's in hardware or software, you can bet your bottom dollar, particularly with the tough economic climate of 2020 this is going to be huge.

[00:05:50] So let's look at the pros and cons and sort of frame the boundless automation conversation. Without a doubt, the big benefit is this thing saves money for business. I think we've made a good case for that, but here's the con: automating a non-digital business is actually quite hard to do.

[00:06:09] And that's the big catch because often these processes have not been mapped. [00:06:14] There are no journeys. Nobody actually has a workflow. So, we have to capture the workflow as it is today. But then there's another job we have to ask ourselves rather than just how do we copy-paste what's offline and put it online, we actually have to ask ourselves, how can we make it better as a process, as a workflow with technology, and this is not easy to do. It's both left and right brain. It's creative, it's hardcore engineering. This is why automation, great proposition, great [00:06:48] benefits, but actually as you'd expect, it's going to take a bit of hard work to get the job done.

[00:06:53] So there you go. That's pick number three of our top five emerging technologies. It's boundless automation. It's this opportunity for us all to have a little bit of Jeff Bezos magic in our business, in our product, in our service. I hope you've enjoyed this. If you want to download all the goodies you can at bottomup.io, my name is Mike Parsons.

[00:07:16] I'm your host here at the BottomUp podcast. It's been a pleasure. I can't wait to have you on the fourth [00:07:22] installment of our top five emerging technologies.