How AI and Industry Automation Are Transforming Small-Medium Businesses – Part 3

About the Author: Ashley Thomson
Ashley Thomson

This briefing is part 3 and the final in our series on how AI and industry automation are transforming the way businesses operate.

Based on the volume of feedback from Tenfold clients to parts 1 and 2, it’s clear that you value this as an important topic.

As a refresher, my intention for this series is to make sure AI is part of your awareness and your strategic thinking. In part 1 I discussed the short-term implications of AI and how we can use the AI tools that are currently available. The key areas I explored were keeping up with the advances in tools like ChatGPT, autonomous machines and job roles that have been replaced or changed already.

You can revisit the briefing here: Tenfold Client Briefing – Artificial Intelligence and the Automation of Industries – Part 1

In part 2, I looked at the impact of AI on Small-Medium Business in the next 3 to 5 years. I explored how AI will change roles; some will be replaced while others will be augmented. Predictions included how AI might augment high skill manual roles, and high skill professional roles.

You can revisit the second briefing here: Artificial Intelligence and the Automation of Industries – Part 2

Part Three: How AI will Transform Businesses in the Longer Term – 2030 and beyond

In this briefing, we’re taking a longer range view of predictions for how AI will change the way roles are performed in business and how goods are produced. As humans we often view the future through the lens of the world as we know it today. We think about how a new technology can improve the tasks we currently do, but we can find it difficult to envisage completely new uses for the new technology. The development of the jet engine led to commercial aeroplane flights, as opposed to creating faster ships carrying people over the oceans.

Long term we’re going to see new technologies develop off the back of artificial intelligence – new technologies that we can’t even envisage today.

In this briefing I’ll explain some of the long-term predictions that I have researched that I feel have a reasonable probability of coming to fruition:

1. Lowering of the Entry Requirements for High Skill Roles
2. Development of New Job Roles and Career Options
3. Reinforcement of Personal Connection Services
4. Move from Mass Production to Build on Demand and Personalised Design
5. Bonus tip for Using AI tools

As we go through each of these, I’ll explain what they mean to your business. I encourage you to mentally “try on” these ideas; by thinking about them now you’ll be among a small cohort of advanced businesses that are leading rather than lagging.

1. AI Will Lower the Entry Requirements for High Skill Roles

To lawfully carry out plumbing works such as installing guttering you need to have completed a 4-year plumbing apprenticeship, which includes around 6,500 hours of on-the-job and classroom training. To be able to practice as a GP doctor, you must complete a minimum of 9 years study and hospital rotations.

While there are some plumbing roles that certainly require 4 years of knowledge gain and we want doctors with the required training, there are many simpler tasks that high skill job roles do where a less experienced person could complete with the support of an AI tool. Like the electrical switchboard example in the previous briefing, an AI-enabled tool can direct, recommend and help diagnose issues with the support of an AI engine that has been trained based on the best practitioners in that field.

Over time, I predict legislation will change to allow more people from low skill job roles to transition to take on parts of high skill job roles with AI support. This will be driven by a lack of high skilled people due to an aging population and the need to make these high skill services more readily available to more people. Think of people transitioning from mundane traffic management roles into AI supported trade roles.

We’ve already seen the start of this trend in the US and it will likely continue and develop further with the adoption of AI. In the US there is a category of health practitioner that sits between nurses and doctors. A ‘Nurse Practitioner’ can perform many of the basic tasks that we expect doctors to perform in Australia, but registered nurses only need to study for an additional 2 years to become a Nurse Practitioner.

What this means for your business: For those of you who employ high skill people, it will have a two-fold effect. As the entry requirements for high skill roles are lowered, you’ll find it easier to recruit staff and this will likely see you paying lower wages for these roles.

However, it will also open the door for more competition between companies. Many of you employ high skill people and part of your competitive advantage is being able to utilise these resources on the projects you win. As this competitive advantage diminishes, you’ll have to find other ways to protect against competitors in your niche market.

2. AI and the Development of New Job Roles and Career Options

As I explained in the first briefing of this series, it is important that you stay up-to-date with the technology. Some of the early roles that we’ll see develop are around advancement of the AI software.

Many large and medium sized organisations will recruit Machine Learning Engineers. These roles will be a mix of software coding and mathematics, they will build inhouse AI models that can be trained on the data gathered by the company to improve operations.

We will also see the advent of Prompt Engineers. These will be specialists who know how to get the best out of inhouse and large-scale AI engines, developing series of prompts for AI engines to get accurate and insightful information.

This might not sound like much when you’re looking for help from ChatGPT in writing an email, but when you’re working with an AI engine to find the most efficient way to complete a large construction project, the skill will be invaluable.

3. How the Rise of AI will Reinforce Personal Connection Services

You know how frustrating it is calling a call centre and having to try to explain to the voice recognition software what you are trying to achieve. After going through multiple sets of menus and verifications, you know how comforting it is when (if!) you finally speak to a competent Australian-based person who listens to the reason for your call. This person is displaying empathy and building trust in a semi-intimate setting (a one-on-one phone call). Trust, human empathy and intimacy are not feelings that can easily be generated by AI. For this reason, these personal connection services will remain in demand.

One of the predictions I came across was that in a future world where AI and machinery can produce your perfect coffee, there will still be a role for some baristas. Even though their coffee making skills may be inferior or less consistent than a bot, some of us will pay more for a coffee to be made by a great barista with a human touch. A barista who chats with you in the morning, hears your story and builds a human connection with you, will be worth a premium over a daily coffee.

Personal connection occupations such as counsellors, nurses, therapists, teachers, doctors, coaches and even great baristas and hairdressers will still be valued based upon their ability to provide empathy, create trust and show intimacy.

What this means for your business: Every business delivers a product or service, but most small businesses also deliver a human touch. Large businesses like Amazon will be able to deliver products faster and cheaper than any small business can hope to. But in a world where everything is automated, customers will value quality human connections and pay a premium for them. Small businesses that deliver these connections will thrive.

4. AI will Move Manufacturing from Mass Production to Build on Demand and Personalised Design

I found out recently when I was buying a new dishwasher that the model I was purchasing had components from Thailand, China, Malaysia and was assembled in Mexico. No doubt there were other items sourced from many other countries.

Globalisation has seen products mass produced in various locations around the world and then shipped long distances to arrive in our houses. By mass producing items on standardised production lines utilising low-cost labour, manufacturers have been able to lower production costs. However, when labour is removed from the cost equation by automating the manufacturing of an item, it makes sense to produce it as close to the end user as possible.

With the intersection of AI technology and 3D printing technology, I believe we’ll see much more localised production next decade (2030). We’ll be able to go to a local store and customise the type of toaster we want to purchase selecting personalised items and specifications and then have the device manufactured onsite for us to instantly take home. Some of the components will still come from other locations, but the final product will be produced on-site to our exact size, colour and specification requirements.

5. Bonus tip for Using AI tools – say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’

Lastly, there has been research into how prompts are worded, and the evidence shows that being polite in your prompts to ChatGPT and other generative AI models generates a better overall response. AI is a tool, and like any other tool you’ll get the best results if you know how to use it well. So remember your manners, please. (To learn more about the research, read the paper on the Influence of Prompt Politeness on LLM Performance).

In wrapping up this series, I encourage you all to keep stretching your thinking about AI and how you can use the changes AI is bringing the next few years. It’s one of the themes in my regular meetings with the coaches as we work on strategies to protect your businesses and advance your big picture plans.

Our business coaches in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane work with local businesses to compete in a changing world. Speak to us about long term planning for your business.