Human or Robot: which occupations are threatened by the advance of technology

The global pandemic has forced businesses around the world to accelerate the adoption of digital solutions. Automation and robotization are poised to increase the risk of mass unemployment. At the “Open Innovations” forum, a panel of digital transformation experts discusses how vulnerable people are to the advance of progress, which occupations may be wiped out soon, and how to strike a balance between robots and human resources.

Laurent-Pierre Baculard, Bain & Company, partner, head of Digital Transformations — EMEA:

The world has encountered a large-scale crisis that has undermined, among other things, the foundation of employment. Many businesses have frozen their activity, leaving people out of work. The governments’ job here is to ensure process continuity and avoid disruption of activity, including the travel and aviation industries.

Automation is one way to ensure such continuity. Where earlier, businesses would employ it to curb expenditure, now it helps mitigate the pandemic-related risks and provides a chance to continue work in the current situation.

50% of businesses are considering automation, but only 10% are prepared for it and intend to re-train their workforce. Governments must work to bring these two numbers closer together. People need to be prepared for the advent of robotization and automation. At the moment, our education systems are out of step with the times.

The main jobs ripe for automation are operations, inventory management, supply chain management, and analytics.

Gary Bolles, Chair for the Future of Work for Singularity University:

Technologies are becoming smarter than us. At repetitive tasks, robots do better than us. But they will never replace people in problem-solving.

Working on automation and robotization, you can not forget about people. You need to help them learn new skills, not leave them on the sidelines of history.

There is a set of roles that can be automated. I’m talking about routine, repetitive tasks, like inventory management, production line work, certain financial services. People employed in these spheres will have to adapt, for their jobs may disappear soon.

The current situation shows that we lack human contact. The world will never abandon that, despite robotization.

Startups will always be in demand as sources of new ideas. They will carry on in collaboration with large enterprises. The new reality promises startups a bright future.