Streamline Or Preserve Your Talent? You Can Have Both

In November, SSON hosted the AP Automation Digital Summit, providing shared service (SSO) leaders with insights on how to optimize their accounts payable (AP) processes. During one of the sessions, SSON was joined by Asad Malik, the Strategic Customer Success team leader at AppZen. In his session, “Streamline Or Preserve Your Talent? You Can Have Both”, Asad discussed balancing talent with technological developments in automation and AI.  

The session began with a poll that asked attendees to identify their primary concerns regarding the use of AI in their daily work. The poll revealed the primary concerns among SSO leaders, with 59% of respondents expressing concerns about potential challenges for IT departments in adopting AI. 47% of respondents cited their main concern as AI errors leading to increased workloads, while 29% were troubled by organizational security regulations restricting AI usage. An additional 29% expressed worry about the potential threat of job displacement due to AI. 

These results provided a strong foundation for Asad, as he provided valuable insights on how AI and automation will interact with the future of work. Asad noted that the poll results reflect the feelings of the market as “AI is largely in its fledgling stage.” 
 

AI and Talent in Shared Services 

“Is AI the job killer or the job creator?” 

Asad contests that innovative technology has created more jobs. For example, the economist David Autor from MIT reported that 60% of modern workers are in occupations that did not exist in 1940.  

Asad presents a model illustrating how generative AI will inform the future of work, which has an AI-enabled knowledge worker at its center providing insights into safety, ethics, and compliance. Although AI provides an array of generative insights, the worker still needs to perform strategic and tactical work to realize the potential of these insights.  

This presents the potential of AI to generate new job opportunities. As the AI and automation industries grow, more jobs will be created. Moreover, the efficiency of AI will allow small businesses to grow, making the market more competitive. Wider horizons for AI-related jobs include managing AI ethics and governance, and AI-driven innovation.  

Asad continues by discussing the benefits of using AI to streamline processes. To hear Asad’s thoughts, the entire session is available above.  

Upskilling and Reskilling 

The session continues with an emphasis on the value of upskilling. Asad details that upskilling employees can combat brain drain. A brain drain is defined as “the emigration of highly trained or qualified people…” Although this term is usually applied to the emigration of people across countries, brain drain within a business can cause numerous obstacles. Any organization would want to avoid losing accounting professionals who have in-depth knowledge of finance, audit, and compliance. This is more costly when you consider how these individuals would have a firm understanding of your company’s policies, structure, and nuances. More significant, however, is the fact that if the SSO industry wants AI to adapt, the human element remains crucial as someone must teach the AI to adapt. 

“AI tools need humans.” 

Instead, Asad urges attendees to view their talent pool as “fantastic levers.” Instead of replacing workers with AI, “those who lean into upskilling will create more value in their human capital.” It is not a battle of AI versus human talent, instead, both can support each other. Asad drives this point home by revealing the session’s presentation was enabled by ChatGPT, yet he is “…still here, today, in the flesh.”  

To learn more about integrating talent with AI, you can access this on-demand session above. Alternatively, to receive more insights into how to streamline your business functions, SSON is hosting the CX & Service Management in Shared Services Summit this December, secure your place today!