Back
When we were evaluating the job of a financial advisor for a bank, we realized that many of them do not have modern digital skills to go fully online. In such scenarios, you have two options:
- Launch a series of training and development programs around digital skills
- Establish a support Centre of Excellence (CoE) for digital tasks and let the advisor continue in the same manner
For example, when a Financial Advisor talks to a prospect, the notes from that meeting will be documented in Salesforce through this CoE. The advisor does not need to complete it by own. This type of dynamics exists in every job and provides interesting opportunities around this. In this manner, we should evaluate all the jobs to see how it can be Reimagined and Reengineered.
With Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominating a large portion of the existing job roles, organizations are often prioritizing the adaptation to this new trend. They are embracing processes like RPA, Hyperautomation, etc. The major gap in understanding this technological revolution is in the assumption that AI and Digitization can replace human resources optimally, with absolute effectiveness. The requirement of human expertise, supervision, and guidance to enable machines to function effectively has been ignored at an alarming rate.
A multitude of organizations is looking at replacing a large part of their workforce by adapting to the digital era. However, very few sustainable organizations are soon to realize that the need for top-notch human curation is required now, more than ever before, in order to align this digital processing to their organizational goals. Redesigning the job roles and reengineering the businesses are the only two ways that can drive this transformation in the business world as effectively as they have all others before.
Well over 45% of the existing job roles are predicted to become obsolete in less than a couple of decades. An average of 73% of production activities, business operations, and logistics are expected to be automated in the near future.
But, as previously established by SMEs across industries, AI capabilities can only mock human working styles and learn from the pattern of human decision-making. It is only possible when provided with a wealth of information and interactive corporate learning opportunities. However, automated systems continue to lack the key components of the trade, such as experience, empathy, emotional connect, and sensible discretion.
While closely analysing a few roles in the finance industry, Draup’s analysts noted a key factor, that majority of financial advisors lacked the modern digital skills to adapt to the digital era. The most common way forward under such circumstances would be to let go of senior advisors. Further, hire talents with digital skills for the role but compromise on the experience component.
Few organizations with the intent of retaining the experienced workforce, would opt to launch a series of training around digital skills and reskill the advisors. However, the job performance and efficiency take a blow here, since adapting to new working styles might result in compromised productivity.
Reimagining a job role at times like this, on the other hand, opens the doors to a new and different option, with increased productivity and assured efficiency. The reimagining of the job role in the instance of a financial advisor could be to establish a support CoE for digital task assistance.
With a digital task force to assist in documenting the meeting proceedings and dispatching the reports, and MoUs, the advisor would be left with ample time and opportunities. This can be utilized to address more prospects than ever before ensuring a smooth functioning and delivery of client requirements.
Reengineering the business processes from scratch, as well as reimagining the job roles to retain the expertise and experience the senior employees bring to the table, thus becomes imperative. Organizations can benefit from the speed and reduced costs offered by automation. Additionally, it can have the guidance and expertise in business operations by the SMEs in this new found model, by bringing the best of both worlds together.
