Action requested: Please review

In case you missed it: I am writing a new article on Robotics. My writing process consists of the following steps:
  1. Set the goal, audience and context
  2. Prepare structure, overall storyline and title
  3. Write the first draft
  4. Review
  5. Publish
After writing the draft (took me 30 minutes as I knew the storyline and title), I have now arrived in the phase in which I want my article to be reviewed. So here is the deal: I provide you with my draft article below and you will use the comments fields to provide me with feedback, encouragements, corrections and suggestions. Let’s go!

Title: Why Every Great Leader Should Love Robotics (draft)

I hate repetitive work. When I was a teenager, my two brothers and I had to do the dishes. On two out of every three days, I spent almost 30 minutes on something I hated instead of doing something more meaningful like reading a book, watching television or doing my homework. So how did I feel when my parents decided to buy a dishwasher? Was I afraid they would send me away now that they no longer needed me to do the dishes? No, of course not. I valued their decision to ease my life and spend my time wisely on something more valuable.

In his remarkable TED Talk, “Why Good Leaders Make You Feel Safe”, Simon Sinek states that being a great leader is like being a parent. Like good parents, great leaders are dedicated to providing their people with the opportunity to build self-confidence, education and discipline when necessary all so that they can achieve more. A great leader is also someone who makes their people feel secure and draws them into a circle of trust. So how does robotics fit into this picture? Isn’t it invented to replace people rather than offering them opportunities?

With Simon Sinek’s definition of a great leader in minder, there are three reasons why every great leader should love robotics:
  • Robotics motivates people and makes them achieve more
  • Robotics leads to a better customer experience
  • As a result of the above, robotics will lead to more business and higher revenues.

Motivating people

Robotics allow leaders to drastically reduce the amount of repetitive work in their organization and make room for more meaningful work.  I have met specialized HR Consultants that spent a significant amount of their time on employee boarding and filing employee data in case of a change. Automating the employee boarding and archiving processes relieved them of this repetitive work and allowed to focus more on talent development in their organization. And what about compliance consultants that spent most of their time detecting new rules and regulations instead of creating the controls to follow-up on them.

Reducing repetitive work and allowing people to focus on meaningful work, will lead to higher motivated people and better productivity.

Better customer experiences

Robotics allow leaders to offer error-free services to their customer, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. When implemented properly, robotics will also lead to shorter response and delivery times. By utilizing the full potential of intelligent automation, enterprises can handle every single request as a separate case, considering the unique context and expectations of that customer. Take for example the Customer Services process at telecom companies. The number one reason for customers to call Customer Services is when they have received a higher bill than usual. Even with the customer service explaining in detail where the costs are originated, the overall customer experience is poor. By pro-actively signaling their customers of higher costs and offering them a chatbot that guides them through the various components of their bill and advices them on potential actions, these companies now manage to not only reduce the amount of calls on this topic but also boost customer experience. In addition, the automated advices from the chatbot – that originate from an underlying rules repository – can lead to additional sales, leading customers to products or services that can help them in avoiding high incidental costs.

Better business

Great leaders create trust and safety according to Simon Sinek. This means they are taking on a huge responsibility, especially if the competition is focusing on cost-savings and competing on price. How can you – as a great leader – stay relevant to your customers while still offering your people a secure and motivating place to work? The answer is: by cutting down the costs of highly repetitive work and investing these hours in new business concepts, a better customer experience thus drawing customers into their circle of trust.

Robotics offers a great business accelerator, providing highly predictable process results and allowing enterprises to focus on their real differentiators. By choosing a People First approach on Robotics, great leaders enable and inspire their people to instantly make the most out of business opportunities and utilize technology to offer a highly personalized, context-driven experience to customers.

Wonder what your journey towards intelligent automation will look like? Or what the impact of it could be on your organization? Start your journey now and get in touch.

(end of the draft article)

So: did you like it?

Well the whole goal of a review is to improve the document based on comments. I am open to all suggestions, either in the comment field (preferred) or by sending me an email with your feedback to kees.van.mansom@accenture.com.

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