Addressing global disruption, challenges

In this day and age, technological disruption — primarily developments in generative artificial intelligence (AI) has overtaken all other issues, including climate change, influencing business.

This finding is contained in a report by professional services company Accenture which ranked various change factors influencing the conduct of business here and overseas.

Referencing the report, “Accenture’s Pulse of Change: 2024 Index,” Jack Azagury, group chief executive of Accenture’s strategy and consulting division said over the last few years, “The level of change has increased dramatically over the last few years and structural change is required in how businesses should operate.”

To thrive in a hugely competitive world, he said, “incremental changes in ways of working and performance are no longer sufficient.”

Stressed Azagury, “The most significant source of change and disruption, technology is also the key to this structural change. Companies that will succeed in the next decade or so are those that embrace a strategy of continuously reinventing all aspects of their business.”

However, more than half of the total number of companies interviewed for the report by Accenture expressed unpreparedness in fully responding to challenges posed by modern sophisticated technological disruptors.

Challenges brought about by the rapid progress of such disruptors as AI primarily include personal data protection, privacy, ethical use of such technology, transparency and such socio-economic impacts as jobs displacement.

Addressing these challenges would require finding and maintaining a balance between advancement in technology and moral issues. Challenges also include the interoperability of data, that is, compatibility in standards, protocols, technologies, and mechanisms that allow data to flow between diverse systems with very little human intervention.

AI integration can play an important, life-changing even, role in effecting transformative change and delivering a competitive edge across various industries and sectors. However trust in AI systems is a crucial condition for their widespread use and acceptance by humans. The foundation for trust is transparency, reliability and accountability.

Businesses and organizations must guarantee transparency by making clear how AI systems work and by showing the consistent delivery of quality work output as a result of their use; accountability means taking responsibility for outcomes resulting from AI use, as well as fixing errors when they occur.

Discrimination in an AI system can be regarded as one such error, particularly when the system behaves in a biased or unfair manner towards individuals or groups based on race, gender, or other factors.

AI systems can unknowingly perpetuate or aggravate social biases and addressing discrimination requires countering bias in data collection and algorithmic choices. There is fairness-aware machine learning focused on promoting equity by identifying and addressing biases while the AI system model is being developed.

Another downside of AI is the high expectations that accompany its capabilities which often lead to unrealistic expectations, followed by disappointment. While AI, indeed, offers vast potential in effective applicability and solutions, its limitations and complexities often overshadow exaggerated expectations.

Meanwhile, deep learning techniques have enabled machines to perform tasks that are comparable to, or even surpass human abilities. The Internet of Things (IoT) has made technology more widespread, allowing for easy access to personalized data. These advances in technology expose BPO firms to the risks of computerization, and consequently, displacement from the workspace.

Human creativity, social skills cannot be automated

Tasks that entail human creativity and social skills cannot be automated by technologies in the near term. To stay relevant in the face of ubiquitous automation and reduce the threats posed by AI, there must be immediate and urgent efforts to address the skills gap for more specialized aspects of BPO, such as IT services, healthcare, and the like.

A more sober attitude towards automation is that while it may be viewed as a threat because of its negative impact on employment, i.e., jobs displacement, it does offer opportunities for new jobs arising from automation and could considerably improve productivity.

A De La Salle University policy brief on AI and its potential adverse impacts on the economy points out, for instance, that outside of Metro Manila, where there are only so many skilled professionals, AI may be a welcome development in addressing the shortage of skilled labor.

“A town with only three accounting firms cannot handle the tax returns of all the firms therein,” wrote the brief’s authors. “But with the use of AI, these three accounting firms may be able to address the needs of all the small businesses in the town by automating some of their processes for encoding data to produce the necessary forms required for renewing licenses and permits as well as to generate financial statements.”

There are assertions that BPO firms need not have a physical presence in some locations. But still, training and monitoring of the proper use of technology by businesses should be undertaken regularly to ensure the integrity of the data-encoded AI.

It can be argued that AI may be more correctly defined as “Augmented Intelligence,” as the human input to making it work is not eliminated. It complements human input as the latter’s contributions to such fields as healthcare, social services, education, financial services, transportation, public safety infrastructure and the environment have been well-identified.

Ultimately, both public and private sectors need to work and collaborate towards the attainment of a common goal of exploiting the benefits of AI even as regulations are crafted to curb whatever negative effects it may have on people’s welfare and society as a whole. If there’s anything that the Philippines has much of, it is its large human capital base and those at the helm in both public and private sectors should aim at taking advantage of AI and make it work through and for the workforce.

The Philippines has lagged behind most of its neighbors in the ASEAN region, and the possibility of increasing productivity through AI gives the country a chance to catch up and restore the prospect of achieving competitiveness as efforts toward ASEAN regional integration continue.