In this week’s news roundup for IT leaders, we bring you articles on how technology advancement is changing how businesses work and recruit talent.
Human + Machine
Writing for Entrepreneur, Brian Hughes reflects on the many ways technology has changed our lives just since the 1990s. He goes on to outline three ways technology is now transforming the world of business – from the rampant spread of misinformation impacting the news industry to cloud-based subscription models leveling the playing field between small businesses and large. He also highlights automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, citing a study from Oxford University in the U.K., which stated, “roughly 47 percent of the jobs in the United States could potentially be replaced by automation over the next 20 years.”
That may not be such a bad thing. An article in Fast Company from design and usability expert Don Norman points out that humans are not great at paying close attention to tedious, repetitive tasks, leading to human error and accidents. Machines, on the other hand, can do these tasks well with no mistakes, creating a “natural partnership” between human and machine.
Norman writes, “People and machines are natural partners in part because they are so different: These differences form complements that, in the best of circumstances, merge to make the combination of people plus technology more powerful and effective than either alone.” He argues we should move toward a people-first vision of technology in which machines are designed to “empower us, allow us to use our creative abilities, and relieve us of the stuff we are not good at.”
Finding talent for the future of work
As automation and technology change the world of business, they will also change talent needs and the future of work. In a Forbes article by Paul Armstrong, which recapped the results of Adecco's Global Talent Competitiveness Index, underscored that recognizing, recruiting, and retaining talent with the skills needed for the future – most of which are unknown – will be one of the biggest challenges for businesses going forward.
Armstrong posed the questions, “Considering (per Adecco) around 30 percent of all workers in Europe and the United States are ‘to a greater or lesser degree’ freelancers or their own bosses – how do companies attract the right talent when the recruits are technologically more advanced than your company is?” He offers three tips for making potential employees interested your business.
More news for CIOs
Cybersecurity in the age of digital transformation [MIT Technology Review]
Three reasons why CEOs need to be more vested in digital transformation [Forbes]
State of the CIO 2017 [CIO]
