Technology is essential for scaling up your business – but are there any downsides to it?
Technology has transformed the way we do business. As technology continues to advance in modern times, what are the emerging technologies businesses need to be aware of? And will Artificial Intelligence (AI) inevitably replace human jobs? Jenni Young, Chief Marketing Officer at Tappit, Chris Southworth, Secretary-General of the ICC, Devika Wood, Founder of Vida and Deri Llewellyn-Davis, founder of BGI Group spoke about how digitisation is transforming the market on the first day of the Elite Business Live event on March 9. They discussed the rise in AI and why businesses must look towards maximising technology to fuel their growth.
Deri debunked the common speculation that AI will make jobs redundant. He explained how we need people to translate the data across industries, and that AI will simply help revolutionise the way we process this data. “It’s intelligence, not data,” Deri explained. “It’s about joining the dots in the company. From the number of boards I’ve advised now and the data that we’ve sourced, people are still incredibly side loading the worth of data. You also need to have great data in marketing, in sales and operations, in cash and talent. The next revolution for me is joining that intelligence up, so the CEO and founder can truly get dashboarding in the right way. It’s not AI yet. It needs a person to translate the intelligence. But actually, the AI, is you. You need to be able to translate the intelligence. And that job is never going to be taken from you, and never should it be.”
Reiterating Deri’s point, Devika explained how AI could never replace human beings. AI relies on humans keying in information to process the data, she said, and that we cannot rely solely on computers to run vital tasks across all industries such as in healthcare.
“It’s not about replacing humans, but about augmenting processes and operations with technology, especially when it comes to health and social care. People try to come up with tech solutions and get rid of humans because they think it’s going to make things so much better and make money, but actually it’s humans that are the core of health and social care that create the true value that we need.”
Businesses must be aware about the rise in technology, Chris added, insisting companies should start maximising on tech to help fuel their growth, as the UK already has a huge competitive advantage with a rising e-commerce market.
“In all the environments I’m in, that’s the inter-governmental space, G20, WTO, UN…” Chris said. “There’s absolutely no question whatsoever whether this is happening or not. Digitisation is happening at a real pace and there’s lots of work going on… If you’re not already getting ready, you need to start getting ready. You’ve got a huge advantage in the UK, the number 3 e-commerce market… There are loads of places around the world that aren’t even doing a fraction of what was described earlier on, you’ve got a huge competitive advantage so if you’re not already thinking about it, you should be thinking about how to capitalise your advantages elsewhere around the world. Particularly in the Commonwealth.”
Speaking about her top tip on how a company can successfully scale-up their technology, Jenni said: “It’s about making sure you’re bearing in mind the balance. You look at the data, you look at the tech, and you look at the people. You need all those three things in balance to make things succeed. And I think it’s incredibly important to make sure you got this right.
