A certain type of story seems to dominate headlines about business technologies. It looks something like this: “McDonald’s Says Goodbye Cashiers, Hello Kiosks.”
That same story could’ve had a dozen less inflammatory (but no less accurate) headlines: “McDonald’s Embraces Kiosk Technology,” “McDonald’s Turns to Kiosks to Reduce Rising Labor Costs,” or even “McDonald’s Seeks Point-of-Sale Savings With Kiosks.” But because fear gets clicks, stories about technological implementation tend to be framed in oppositional, zero-sum terms: Working Davids locked in a struggle against Goliath technologies.
The truth, though, is the opposite: The World Economic Forum predicts that technology will create 58 million more jobs than it displaces by 2022. Even workers themselves are optimistic. According to a Gallup and Northeastern University study released earlier this year, 77 percent of U.S. adults say AI technologies will have a “positive” or “very positive” impact on the way they live and work.
Driving Value for Skilled Professionals
Why, contrary to the headlines, do so many Americans think technology will enhance their jobs? Perhaps it’s because they see their employers using it that way. Across the economy, technology is making work easier, safer, and less mundane.
Take healthcare, a sector where technology spending is increasing by nearly 10 percent year-over-year. The field that employs more people than any other in the U.S. economy is becoming more well-known for its willingness to embrace new tools in order to enhance quality of care.
Startups like Myia, a San Francisco-based health monitoring company, know doctors can only learn so much from time-point assessments of their patients. That’s why Myia’s platform provides longitudinal biometric data on a patient’s status that’s enhanced by artificial intelligence. Called intelligence augmentation, doctors use the platform to monitor the condition of patients with chronic conditions like heart failure.
Myia’s goal is to enhance the extraordinary value doctors provide, not replace them. CEO Simon MacGibbon knows biometric data can’t build relationships, biopsy tissues, or prescribe medications. “Doctors know so much more about patients, medical and family histories, complications, and similar cases,” MacGibbon acknowledges. “By providing them with contextually valuable data, we can improve care and contribute to better patient outcomes.”
This sentiment echoes the opinion of the Journal of the American Heart Association, which stated in a 2016 review that the promise of new sensors and AI can only be realized when integrated in workflows between doctors and patients. Again, tech serves to enhance the role of doctors.
All Skill Levels Benefit
A skeptic might point out that doctors and medical professionals are highly trained professionals; for those lower on the skill ladder, however, the benefits still hold.
Perhaps more than any other field, marketing has been rebuilt in recent years by technology. Two in three marketing organizations plan to increase their technology spend next year, with a similar 63 percent reporting that martech has evolved rapidly or “at light speed” in the past year.
If technology took jobs rather than enhanced them, the field’s employment outlook would be dim. Yet jobs for marketing specialists are expected to grow by a whopping 23.2 percent between 2016 and 2026 — more than almost any other role in the U.S. economy.
In reality, most of that technology spend is on the tools marketers use. Marketers now have nearly 7,000 software tools to choose from, making it easier for them to do everything from managing social media to attributing inbound leads. Those tools can’t (and probably never will) ideate campaigns, put on brand events, or manage a media mix — the more creative, personal tasks most marketers like doing, anyway.
Tech at the Entry Level
But what about less skilled professions — cashiering, driving, machine operating, and more — where skills are easily learned by machines? Is tech taking these workers’ livelihoods, or is it enhancing their roles? These are big questions that plague entrepreneurs and those running small family-owned businesses.
Janitorial and custodial jobs are often seen as ripe for automation. But according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the field’s job outlook is rosier than average: Between 2016 and 2026, janitorial roles are expected to grow by 10 percent.
Walmart and Amazon may be testing technology for floor-cleaning robots, but commercial custodians do far more than scrub floors. In healthcare, they tackle complex tasks like sterilizing equipment; at amusement parks and entertainment arenas, they keep facilities safe and attractive. In office complexes, they often stock supplies and double as night security.
In reality, technology is tackling the things most janitors don’t like to do. Software platform Swept, for example, gives janitors an easy way to track time, coordinate cleaning schedules, and keep tabs on supply levels. “Swept is empowering our frontline. Our cleaners. Designed from the bottom up, with the cleaner in mind,” one user wrote.
Making, Not Taking
Believe it or not, most businesses aren’t looking to shed workers. They’re asking themselves where technology can increase their workers’ output, improve the experience they deliver to customers, and help them focus on their core competencies. Sometimes, that means adding kiosks; other times, it means implementing scheduling software or creating new data streams.
It’s true that some of those transitions will be difficult for workers. But the fact that workers themselves are optimistic about technology’s growing role in the workplace says something: Employees have seen the way tech enhances their work, and they’re eager to embrace it.
