Gen AI

Ever wondered what our jobs would look like if they came with a ‘self-driving’ mode? A few years back, McKinsey threw a figure into the ring: 30% of tasks in 60% of jobs¹ could be automated. Fast forward to the era of Gen AI, and it’s not just the routine tasks in the list anymore. We can automate a lot more – in fact, there is more ‘auto’ in automation than ever before.

We have seen automation inch into our work lives, mostly in the form of bots that handle repetitive tasks. The old McKinsey data, insightful as it was, didn’t account for the Gen AI revolution. Back then, the thought of machines performing jobs requiring a high level of creativity or cognitive skills was more science fiction than impending reality.

Ours is now a world where automation is no longer just an assembly line but an AI-powered assistant that can think, design, and innovate. So, where does this take us?

Take contact centers, for example. In the not-so-distant past, each customer call was individually tended to by a person who would consult ledgers, navigate systems, and weave in solutions—a meticulous but slow art form.

The advent of RPA automated the basic patterns of customer service—account checks, billing inquiries, and routine data entries. The bots were fast, tireless, and error-free, handling tasks with a mechanical grace that lacked only a human’s intuitive touch.

Today, Gen AI is revolutionizing the field, blurring the lines between the once distinct capabilities of AI and RPA. It’s an evolution of the process—a leap from mechanized assistance to creative and cognitive partnership.

This isn’t just automation as we’ve known it; it’s a reimagined collaboration. The spectrum of automation has broadened to include not just tasks but the very seeds of creativity and strategic thought. For every organization, this means a redefinition of possibilities. It’s taken us from a bot for every employee to an AI for every employee.

The true essence of Gen AI’s impact lies in its ability to transform productivity. Companies like JPMorgan, for instance, have harnessed the power of their customized version of ChatGPT, turning it into a tool for simplifying financial operations and customer interactions.

Many companies are using capabilities such as content summarization, content discovery, and content creation in many processes and tasks that earlier could not be automated through RPA and similar technologies. This means that a lot more tasks and activities could be augmented and help professionals from various functions save time, reduce errors, improve quality, and increase efficiency.

Industry-specific processes such as credit processing, claims processing, doctor’s review, procurement document preparation, and review are heavy with paperwork and manual verification. The AI evaluates the information available with precision, reducing processing time from days to mere seconds³. This isn’t a marginal upgrade; it’s a reinvention of the workflow, slashing operational costs and enhancing customer satisfaction.

In sectors like IT, for example, where once troubleshooting was a time-consuming puzzle, AI now offers instant solutions. The result? Teams are liberated from the drudgery of problem-solving to concentrate on innovation. It’s about the quantifiable leap⁴ in output and the qualitative enhancement of work.

Consider the procurement process. A task that used to consume countless hours of monotonous data entry into systems like ERP, Excel, or specific company websites now unfolds in minutes. Better yet, it often requires no human touch at all, running seamlessly from start to finish.

The explosion of productivity aside, what really grabs our attention here is the new definition of work. What used to be long, laborious hours of manual rekeying is now a task completed with a few clicks, leaving employees free to refocus on more strategic and creative endeavors.

For example, with Gen AI-powered Copilot, the role of the FPA analyst will undergo a significant transformation. They can now converse and conduct Q&A with data using natural language. Procurement specialists can also read through pages of PDF documents and summarize RFP responses while reviewing contract clauses. In essence, isn’t just a tool for cost-cutting or better productivity—it’s a catalyst for a fundamental shift in how work is done. It’s not about replacing humans. No. It’s about redefining their roles, enabling them to engage in more meaningful work while AI handles the rest. This is the crux of the productivity explosion: liberating human potential by offloading the mundane to machines at a scale that we have not seen before.

AI and, in fact, Gen AI is not very new⁵. What is new is that it is now readily available to the masses. Employees at every level are recognizing its potential, creating a groundswell of demand for its integration into daily operations. But it is not as straightforward as it might seem to legitimize it in an enterprise.

For companies looking to capitalize on Gen AI, the priority is clear: ensure the right access. This means securing B2B subscriptions that fit the business model and legal frameworks, thus legitimizing Gen AI’s use. With only a year since these tools became mainstream, every company is at a different stage in their Gen AI journey.

A cautionary tale comes from the tech sector, where Samsung developers⁶ found their proprietary code suggestions being shared by Gen AI platforms. This incident spotlights the importance of using public domain Gen AI tools responsibly and ensuring that they are trained appropriately to respect legal and IP boundaries. Caution is understandable, especially around data security and intellectual property rights.

One thing becomes abundantly clear: Not providing these advanced capabilities to employees is a missed opportunity and a strategic oversight with far-reaching implications.

In the near future, visionary companies might equip every employee with a Gen AI assistant tailored to their specific role. A finance professional could have an AI that manages and analyzes complex data sets and predicts market trends with precision. In marketing, an AI assistant might autonomously optimize digital campaigns in real-time, learning and adjusting from each interaction. These are the companies that will attract top talent who seek to work in a culture that’s both progressive and productive.

These are now available at the fingertips of every employee through Microsoft Copilot and other similar applications.

In this future, a company that lags risks stagnation or, worse, regression. It’s like clinging to outdated fax machines in a world dominated by instant messaging. So the critical question we need to ask ourselves is this – Are we inching, if not leaping, towards this future enterprise, or are we risking our future by standing still in a rapidly advancing technological landscape?

Disclaimer Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the respective institutions or funding agencies

1. https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/overview/in-the-news/how-many-of-your-daily-tasks-could-be-automated
2. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-organization-of-the-future-enabled-by-gen-ai-driven-by-people
3. https://aimagazine.com/articles/lemonade-sets-world-record-with-2-second-ai-insurance-claim
4. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier#work-and-productivity
5. https://bernardmarr.com/a-simple-guide-to-the-history-of-generative-ai/
6. https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/05/02/samsung-bans-chatgpt-and-other-chatbots-for-employees-after-sensitive-code-leak/?sh=3ab62c2b6078