Data Science – How Technology has affected the Workplace

Overview

There is no doubt that today’s workplace has evolved considerably over the last decade. Long gone are the endless piles of paperwork required to coordinate activities across the floor. The ever-increasing presence of technology in the office has forced a radical change in the dynamics of the workplace: from the way we communicate to the automation of certain processes.

In today’s Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), technology has fundamentally reshaped the skills required to succeed in certain areas of business. The main change will be tied to employees’ ability to successfully navigate an increasingly digitalized workplace. As a strong believer that business relies on process, policy, and passion, automation will play its biggest role behind-the-scenes, by speeding up processes and eliminating repetitive tasks. The human element or passion required to engage with customers and roll out strategic plans will, therefore, remain a priority.

It is clear that technology will keep interacting with businesses and employers alike, shaping the way workplaces are organized. Without a doubt, however, human intelligence will remain at the forefront of the office, heralding technology as the enabler of successful organizational management. Newer technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), are starting to reshape businesses by automating manual tasks in operations and processes which require rote learning and are generally susceptible to human error.

While many are concerned the role of AI in the workplace could be a threat to human talent, if we look into the detail a bit further there is a clear distinction. AI can automate time-consuming, repetitive tasks, such as mass data input or retrieval, helping to eliminate human error. With technology freeing up more time, employees can shift their focus towards strategic, customer-focused and high-ROI tasks, improving a company’s bottom line while delivering fundamental skills which machines do not yet possess.

Essentially, people analytics is the practice of employing “big data” to identify trends and patterns in employee effectiveness, productivity, and motivation or engagement. In order to understand people analytics and how it is used in the workplace, we first have to gain an understanding of “big data.” In our technological age, big data and people analytics go hand in hand. To use an agricultural metaphor, “big data” is the raw material harvested from the field.

People analytics is the process by which the raw material is manipulated and refined in order to be put to use. Employers collect data from a variety of sources, including social media, metadata, reviews, sales trends, marketing trends, or seasonal data, to name a few. This data can now be processed and displayed in a way that makes understanding and predictions easy to determine, virtually at-a-glance. This process used to be costly and time-consuming, but with more and more information being stored on the internet, analytics software has become an affordable and effective means of business market analysis, as well as analysis of internal concerns such as hiring and firing, retention, and training effectiveness.

The businesses which will thrive will be those that learn to couple the process and policy changes of digitization with the need for human passion, creativity, and innovation.