Here to Stay: Cognitive Automation
What is the green light for companies to advance on a technology investment opportunity they’ve been flirting with? We’ve seen them all: those who prematurely jump on the “next best thing” and miss their mark, and those who wait so long that they’ve practically decided never to invest and only wasted time playing footsie with the idea. There must be some sign of certainty that a technological advance has arrived and is here to stay.
The 1973 oil embargo and 1979 energy crisis caused a reorganization of energy policies around the world and brought renewed attention to developing solar technologies. Solar power aligned with other renewable energy resources to bring hope on the horizon. Yet despite the advancements of photovoltaic cell technology, and despite numerous government subsidies in nations across the developed world, this technology hasn’t really “caught on”. It’s doesn’t bring the bang for its buck in the long run.
Let’s look at another power that people want to harness. Humans have long sought ways to expand the capabilities of the human brain. At least by imitating it. By bringing together a variety of artificial intelligence, robotics process automation, and emerging capabilities, one technological development is taking strides and revolutionising the way business is being done. Cognitive automation enables organizations to emulate and enhance the strength of the human mind.
Cognitive automation is giving signs of being here to stay. It is a technology that has for nearly a decade made headway into the service industry. Most commonly known are the job search companies that cater individually to their clients’ vocational needs. They use complex software to recognise in an applicant where their niche lies and feed the applicant with specialised leads.
But try googling the term “cognitive automation”. You’ll be surprised to see how many government agencies appear among the first results. Governments like the UK and the US have begun implementing this emerging technology in a variety of ways: from intelligence agencies to environmental policy agencies to DVLA and DMVs. A study done by Deloitte shows that simply automating tasks that computers already routinely do could free up 96.7 million federal government working hours annually, potentially saving $3.3 billion. At the high end, we estimate that AI technology could free up as many as 1.2 billion working hours every year, saving $41.1 billion. AI-based applications can reduce backlogs, cut costs, overcome resource constraints, free workers from mundane tasks, improve the accuracy of projections, inject intelligence into scores of processes and systems, and handle many other tasks humans can’t easily do on our own, such as sifting through millions of documents in real time for the most relevant content.
This is the green light that investors are waiting for. When big government agencies have invested in it, then it’s time you do too. These agencies are run on strict budgets and generally only invest where they see real future. Cognitive automation is here to stay. It will continue to transform the way governments work, the way society functions, and the way you will simplify your life.