Not a fad diet or magic pill, automation is a lifestyle change. Let’s talk change management.
Imagine this email exchange with a claims executive:
Pre-COVID: ‘We’re a people-driven firm, Tom, and our people don’t want Big Brother. What our people want, our people get, as we need to keep them, not drive them away. Humans are cheaper and easier to manage than bots. And bots don’t buy auto and home policies.’
Last week: ‘Hey, Tom, with remote work seemingly a permanent thing, skyrocketing wages and turnover, plummeting service levels and the Great Retirement looming on the horizon, I think we need 10 Big Brothers ASAP.’
Our working world is fundamentally changed from three years ago. Skilled workforce is aging and retiring earlier, younger workers are opting out of mundane jobs in search of meaningful work, wages are indeed skyrocketing, machines are getting more proactive, customers are more digitally demanding (and impatient) and then there’s general inflation, an annualized 8.3% as I type this.
And people like working remotely; they like it a lot.