Gartner’s recent Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2021 report highlighted ‘workplace AI’ as a key trend for the upcoming year. Here we’re taking a closer look at exactly what workplace AI means for business, and how it will play out as part of the unfolding digital transformation.
The age of AI
Already entwined within the workplace, AI will accelerate in application and velocity to dominate the 2021 digital transformation.
During the pandemic, limitations around social contact meant many customer-centric companies pivoted to self-service access using AI in place of employees. While AI has crept into many factions of business, decision support and chat bots have remained its bread-and-butter use cases – services that essentially exist to assist human intelligence. This will evolve in 2021 as hyperautomation blossoms, creating a need for intelligent decision making within a digital workflow.
Supplementing codeless software
2020 also saw huge growth in low code and no code platforms. These application development softwares remove the need for programming knowledge from the development process, meaning that (technically) anyone can create business apps. In 2021, advanced application building platforms such as Intelastel will be supplemented by powerful AI algorithms. Intelastel removes the need for code during the build process, and then continues to support users throughout its operation by intelligently identifying and interpreting the data within it. In practice, this means it can offer smart suggestions to users, perform set tasks (for example induction processes for HR or credit checks for Finance), and even observe its own workflow and recommend efficiencies.
For many businesses, the move to codeless represents a massive time to value saving, allowing companies to get up and go in days with new platforms that would have previously taken months to implement. With this comes a far more flexible and easily scalable platform, in which changes and add-ons become possible on the fly.
With software developer knowledge no longer required to create business applications, 2021 will see the rise of ‘citizen’ developers, with their ability to bring their intimate knowledge of their own sector to the design and implementation of their own workflow process. To take an example, law firms are notorious for long-winded paperwork and legal documentation. While traditional developers would have struggled to understand the various complexities of a sector they’re unschooled in, ‘citizen legal developers’ will be perfectly placed to create such workflows within AI augmented application development platforms. This bridged gap will enable better automations for daily tasks without the need for expensive software development resources.
As it is such a broad field it’s no wonder AI will become an integral part of so many technologies. And with advancements made daily, its influence will continue to rapidly grow.
Get the full report
This blog is an excerpt from the illumo digital report: 2021 Tech Trends Driving the Digital Transformation, our guide to the technological advances propelling the digital landscape. Get ahead of the curve and discover how to futureproof your business; read the full report for free here.
