Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 53 | Page 38

TALKING business ‘‘ //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// spend the most time on every day. Although today, there are hundreds of software robots (bots) that can now perform many of these manual office tasks. There’s a bot for that Today, more than 700 bots are available in the Automation Anywhere Bot Store that address many of the survey’s most hated tasks and reduce the amount of time organisations spend on them. With an eight-hour workday being the global norm, according to the survey the average employee loses 60 hours per month to easily automatable tasks. By deploying a digital workforce and automating these repetitive tasks employees could be given back a quarter of their annual work time (4.5 months) to focus on more meaningful work, boosting productivity and overall business value. The new research also focuses on the impact on employee happiness that extends beyond the office. Nearly half (49%) of those surveyed say that simple digital administrative tasks often prevent them from leaving the office on time, indicating it’s impacting their personal lives. This is a bigger problem for male workers, as 54% of men struggle to leave work on time, compared to 43% of female workers. Today’s workers are embracing automation to eliminate manual processes Almost all of those surveyed said they believe that automation could easily eliminate manual, repetitive digital office tasks that aren’t core to their job (85%) and anticipate they’d be happier with the change (88%). With the freed-up time, workers say they’d be able to perform their “ ENTERPRISES ARE WILLING TO EMBRACE AUTOMATION TO DRIVE EMPLOYEE PRODUCTIVITY, RETAIN VALUABLE TALENT AND BOOST REVENUES. primary job better, improve productivity within their department and seek opportunities to learn new skills. Employees directly see the shift to automation as the responsibility of their employer The overwhelming majority (87%) of office workers who expressed an opinion would like their employers to automate more manual repetitive business processes. More than half (55%) said they would consider leaving a job if this manual administrative load became too high, while 85% would be attracted to work at a company that invested in automation to reduce repetitive digital administration tasks. “Most of the participants believe that repetitive admin work is an obstacle for them to do their main job, said Milan Sheth, Executive Vice President India, Middle East and Africa, Automation Anywhere. “Workers can focus on higher value tasks if the mundane repetitive work can be automated. Middle East is one of our fastest growing geographies across the IMEA region, the sentiment on adopting a digital bot-assisted workforce is quite positive. Enterprises are willing to embrace automation to drive employee productivity, retain valuable talent and boost revenues.” • 38 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com