Embracing automation: How to drive value for your business in 2018
The benefits of automation go far beyond cost savings. From elevated insights to industry disruption, here’s how to truly benefit from this emerging technology.
Alongside flying cars, home-helper robots have long been predicted as a staple of how we’ll live in the future. And with the likes of Amazon Echo and Google Home taking over day-to-day tasks, we’re well on the way to having mechanised butlers. Outside the home, similar technologies are becoming more common in the workplace, generating new opportunities, facilitating cost savings and generally transforming business practices.
Unfortunately, not everyone recognises these opportunities for what they are. A common misconception is that digital automation means robots will replace people and no one will have a job to go to. Similar fears were voiced when computers first became part of our professional lives. But while computers have rendered some roles unnecessary, they have created far more jobs than they ever replaced. The same is predicted of automation.
According to a study by Adobe, only the most mundane tasks will be automated. This will free up human capital to be used on more creative, fulfilling and ultimately strategic duties. Another misconception is that automation is solely about cutting costs, when there are many other benefits to reap.
Industry disruption
“Automation is not about taking out cost – it’s about becoming more competitive,” says Sean Smith, Isentia’s CEO Media Intelligence. “Done right, it can uncover new business models and revenue streams, and improve outcomes with more efficient processes and better-quality products and services.”
For example, Daimler used sensors as part of the Internet of Things (IoT) in its car2go on-demand service. Thanks to these sensors, it could monitor the performance of individual vehicles and analyse data to maximise efficiency. It could also manipulate this user-specific data to offer drivers customized insurance policies, rather than traditional policies based on data from all users. This meant better value for the drivers, and more revenue for Daimler.
This is just one example of how automation can disrupt traditional models to provide a competitive edge in the market. And if your competitors are doing it and you aren’t, you’ll likely be left eating their dust.
“Automation creates opportunities for deeper insights and analysis,” says Smith. However, to really reap rewards, you need to consider the bigger picture. Daimler wouldn’t have thought of adding personalised insurance if it was solely focused on getting car2go up and running. Instead, it looked further ahead, saw the potential for creative collaboration with adjacent industries, and found some easy wins using the same system. As Smith says: “It’s an investment that requires vision beyond year one.”
How to get the most from automation
So how do you embrace this brave new world? The first step is to fully audit your business and find the low-hanging fruit where automation can drive the biggest impact. Cincom, a provider of enterprise software, audited its content as part of its behavior-based content marketing campaign. It also tracked its users, gained a clearer picture of them using progressive profiling (asking them their company name and size, and requesting more information with each subsequent website visit) and tagged its content to see who was reading what. Once Cincom had built a detailed picture of its audience, it was able to market to them more effectively.
The result? An average of 18 new sales leads every week. Most importantly, it achieved this without overhauling how its business functioned. It didn’t change what it did; it was just able to execute it better.
Upskilling and educating staff
The final piece of the puzzle is your most valuable asset: the people who work for you. It’s imperative you assuage any fears of robots “stealing” their jobs, and steer the conversation towards a more positive outlook. Emphasise what automation can do for the company, and for their careers. Explain how it will mean fewer mundane tasks for them, and more creative, strategic work instead. Consult with them to identify where their skills would be best utilised and focus on making the most of them – for their benefit as well as the organisation’s.
Automation is just one emerging technology with the power to transform your business and the working lives of both you and your colleagues.
Loren is an experienced marketing professional who translates data and insights using Isentia solutions into trends and research, bringing clients closer to the benefits of audience intelligence. Loren thrives on introducing the groundbreaking ways in which data and insights can help a brand or organisation, enabling them to exceed their strategic objectives and goals.
The immediate challenge is not killer robots, its job replacement. If individuals are automated out of jobs, the future for society is bleak.
Computers can already take orders, fold clothes and even drive cars, but where to from here?
The robots are coming. Although often spoken of in future tense, the truth is machine learning is well and truly here. Without realising, consumers interact with ‘smart’ technology at almost every touch point; from robotic vacuums to facial recognition technology, artificial intelligence (AI) is helping to complete tasks faster, cheaper and – sometimes - more effectively than ever before.
In an economy that’s driven by speed and efficiency, it should come as no surprise that a computer’s ability to communicate at a trillion bits per second is favoured above the human capability of about 10 bits.
McKinsey recently reported that 40 per cent of work tasks can be automated using existing technology, prompting everyone from factory workers to lawyers and accountants to consider the threat of being replaced by robots as not just inevitable, but imminent.
For technologists, we are witnessing first-hand how this emerging field is transforming the companies we work for.
In my work at Isentia, we use machine learning to process seven million news items each day. Not long ago this was a task relegated performed solely by humans with the mind-numbing task of flipping through newspapers in search of stories that might relate to a client.
We have a duty to empower those around us to learn everything they can about what their job may evolve into in order to become the very best man-machine partner possible.
Today, machines trawl video, audio and digital content across over 5,500 new sites at a rate of 234 stories per second and present meaningful summaries to clients in real-time.
Whether a story breaks on Twitter and then spills across news platforms and onto television and radio, machine learning can track and analyse how a story evolves with 99 per cent accuracy.
While AI is revolutionising the way that we work, the impact is far greater for those in the tech industry.
In our mission to develop software that can learn complex problems without needing to be taught how, the success of the AI industry ultimately comes down to technology professionals: our ability to automate, and the pace at which we expand the field of machine learning.
With an annual growth rate of 19.7 per cent percent (predicted to be worth $15.3 billion by 2019), it’s safe to say our foot is well and truly on the pedal. While this relies greatly on our technical capabilities, it is something that challenges many of us ethically: what set of values should AI be aligned with?
Two of the greatest technologists of our times, Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking, have spoken about both the potential benefit and the harm that an AI arms race could deliver. An eradication of disease is not unfathomable, but nor is a threat to humanity. They hold grave concerns as to whether or not robots can be controlled against misuse or malfunction.
While thought provoking, the immediate challenge is not killer robots, it’s job replacement. Employment may not seem like an ethical problem, but if individuals are automated out of jobs, the future for society is bleak.
While the phrase ‘Thank God it’s Friday’ has forged its way into the 9-to-5 vernacular, for most people, jobs create a huge sense of personal and professional satisfaction… not to mention a means to pay bills.
An apocalypse might be somewhat melodramatic, however I do agree that it is important to consider just how closely we should merge biological and digital intelligence.
Computers can already take orders, fold clothes and even drive cars, but where to from here? It’s both exciting and terrifying. The last time we experienced a revolution like this was in the early 1900s when cars, telephones and the airplane all emerged at once.
Contrary to the hype, there lies an enormous opportunity for humans to work with artificial intelligence, not be replaced by it.
Make no mistake: at some level every job can be carried out by a robot. But there are certain jobs, particularly in technology, that require decision making, planning or coding software.
While computers do a brilliant job of executing well-defined activities - such as telling us the fastest route to get from home to work - it is safe to say that humans are an essential component of goal setting, interpreting results, humour, sarcasm and implementing common sense checks.
The most difficult jobs to automate are those that involve managing and developing people. While in this industry most of our jobs are safe (for now), we should heed the advice of Musk and Hawkings and protect those outside our field by proceeding with caution. How then to facilitate human and robots working together harmoniously without the workforce morphing into cyborgs? The secret is to not sail out farther we can row back.
As technologists, we also have a duty to empower those around us to learn everything they can about what their job may evolve into in order to become the very best man-machine partner possible. It's the best, and most ethical, way to prepare for the inevitable advent of AI.
First publish in CIO New Zealand
Andrea Walsh, CIO
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Blog
It’s time to slow down the AI arms race
Computers can already take orders, fold clothes and even drive cars, but where to from here?
Audiences have quietly moved from giving leaders — CEOs and operational leaders — the benefit of the doubt to actively scrutinising them. Smarter communication leaders have realised that content with proof and evidence, over anything performative, is much more valued by audiences.
Our latest report analyses how top communications leaders are discussed by audiences online and reveals what actually earns trust and reputation in an age of scrutiny.
In the report, we unpack how:
Comms leaders' online presence is affected because of increased audience scrutiny
Operational leaders out-communicate CEOs and audiences read them as more authentic
Proof, people, and place are prioritised in comms leaders' posts — that in turn deepens trust the most
Isentia’s AI-built suite of tools can help uncover the right story for the comms leader of today
To access the full report, fill in the form below:
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How can leaders communicate in an age of scrutiny?
This report analyses how comms leaders are constantly adapting their content online as a result of increased audience scrutiny – in order to earn trust and maintain reputation.
There is a new frontier where public perception is shaped: Large Language Models. Right now, LLMs are answering critical questions about your organisation. What are they saying? And more importantly, which sources are shaping those answers?
To navigate this landscape, public relations professionals don't need generic tools, but rather technology that speaks their language, and addresses the realities of a changed media and informational landscape.
That is why we're unveiling Lumina AI View, the latest addition to our intelligent suite of AI tools from Isentia. Trained specifically on the workflows and challenges of modern PR & communications, Lumina AI View helps you understand exactly what AI knows about you, and how it learned it.
A new standard for AI visibility
AI View tracks your citation strength and source quality alongside those of your competitors, giving you a clear view of where you hold authority and where you have gaps.
Lumina AI View maps your AI reputation from the ground up, allowing you to:
See which sources matter: When tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini discuss your organisation, which outlets do they cite? Track your source footprint over time and view the impact of key target media on how you’re discussed. We measure your citation strength and source quality alongside those of competitors, giving you a clear view of where you have authority and where you have gaps.
Gain industry-specific insight: Your competitors get cited from Financial Times and Bloomberg. You get cited on Reddit. Each brings opportunity – and risk. Discover how you measure up against industry standards, and target the sources that actually influence how AI represents you.
Catch narrative shifts early: AI responses change when new sources appear, sentiment shifts, or old controversies resurface. Get alerts when citation patterns change suddenly, before they impact the way you’re perceived by stakeholders.
Measure your progress: From media monitoring to full media intelligence
Lumina AI View is built on the principle that insights get stronger with repeated measurement. To help you maintain a clear view of your reputation, our proprietary scoring system provides regular updates that show you:
Evolving trends in how sources cite your organisation
Competitive standing and benchmark metrics
Where models differ in information presented, and sources cited
Whether you run it weekly, on-demand, or whenever you need a check-in, patterns will emerge, trends will become clear, and you will build a baseline that makes any sudden narrative changes both comprehensible and the prerequisite to action.
Lumina AI View is part of Lumina AI, a comprehensive suite of AI tools built specifically for communicators. Our Lumina suite evolves traditional media monitoring into narrative intelligence, enabling you to truly understand how perceptions form, evolve, and impact your reputation.
Get in touch to register your interest and see what Lumina AI View can do for you.
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Blog
Introducing Lumina AI View: AI Visibility Built for PR & Comms
Lumina AI View, the latest in Isentia’s AI suite, is trained on PR & comms workflows to help you understand what AI knows about you — and how it learned it.