By Amarjeet Dangi, Founder & CEO, Clavrit Digital Solutions
The future of work: How AI and automation will reshape industries?
The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation is transforming industries and redefining the nature of work. From manufacturing and healthcare to logistics and finance, technological advancements are creating efficiencies, improving accuracy, and unlocking new possibilities for businesses and workers alike.
According to the IMF, 40% of jobs are projected to change by 2027 either through augmenting or displacement. These shifts are driven by AI-powered systems’ abilities to handle complex tasks efficiently while simultaneously decreasing human errors and improving decision-making processes; industries like healthcare, manufacturing and retail all rely on automation technology for real-time operations to reduce bottlenecks that used to limit productivity.
Automation tools like robotic process automation (RPA) have already proven adept at handling repetitive administrative tasks like invoice processing and data entry. Meanwhile, AI is helping businesses take swifter actions on insights and trends through predictive analytics – giving businesses real-time opportunities to capitalise on insights in real-time.
Case study: Transforming healthcare with AI-optimised oxygen plants
A compelling example of AI and automation driving change lies in the healthcare industry, where an innovative oxygen plant operator leveraged solar energy to generate oxygen for remote hospitals. In collaboration with a digital transformation partner, this business implemented AI dashboards that enabled seamless tracking, maintenance, and sustainability management.
Challenge:
The oxygen plant, powered by solar energy, was serving hospitals and home-care agencies in regions with inconsistent healthcare delivery due to limited access to medical oxygen. Maintaining an uninterrupted supply was crucial, given the critical dependence on oxygen across neonatal, emergency, and general wards.
Solution:
The solution included AI-powered dashboards designed for real-time inventory tracking, preventive maintenance forecasting, and sustainability reporting. These dashboards provided hospitals with user-friendly software that allowed them to track oxygen levels, schedule deliveries, and coordinate logistics seamlessly. This level of automation mitigated errors, reduced delays, and optimised the flow of oxygen to patients when needed most.
Impact:
Inventory Tracking: AI-enabled real-time tracking optimised oxygen production based on patient demand and usage patterns. This visualised patient cases alongside diagnosis summaries, ensuring proactive planning.
Preventive maintenance: Predictive models provided maintenance forecasts, avoiding unexpected breakdowns and minimising operational costs. Equipment usage statistics were visualised to identify potential failure scenarios.
Sustainability analytics: A sustainability dashboard provided insights into energy generation and carbon offsets. The plant could demonstrate the impact of solar energy compared to traditional electricity sources, showcasing improved efficiency and better stakeholder experiences.
This real-world example demonstrates how AI not only improves operational efficiency but also aligns businesses with sustainable practices, offering competitive advantages in a rapidly evolving market.
Workforce transformation: Challenges and opportunities
As machines take over routine tasks, the skills required for future jobs will shift toward creativity, emotional intelligence, and technical expertise. According to McKinsey (2023), by 2030, soft skills such as communication, leadership, problem-solving and problem identification will grow by 30% while tasks requiring manual labour or data collection will decline significantly.
Additionally, the rise of AI may displace certain roles, leading to fears of job loss. However, AI’s impact is not purely negative. The same technologies will create new job categories that never existed before. Jobs in fields like AI ethics, data science, cybersecurity, and automation strategy are expected to flourish. Organisations that invest in upskilling and reskilling their employees will be better positioned to navigate this shift, ensuring that workers remain relevant in an AI-driven economy.
Automation as a sustainability enabler
AI’s reach extends far beyond operational efficiency; it’s becoming a critical enabler of sustainable practices as businesses face pressure to meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals. AI-powered solutions like those found in the oxygen plant case study demonstrate how sustainability dashboards can track carbon offsets and solar energy usage for organisations, enabling them to meet environmental goals more easily.
Artificial Intelligence can also assist industries with optimising energy consumption. Predictive analytics in manufacturing can reduce waste by more accurately forecasting material needs, while smart grids in energy sectors balance demand and supply in real-time to reduce environmental impacts.
At its core, AI and automation will shape the future of work as they continue to reshape industries, streamline operations, and open new opportunities. Though these technologies present challenges such as workforce displacement, they also present great potential for growth, innovation, sustainability, and company survival in the years ahead. Businesses that strategically embrace AI – by upskilling their workforces while adopting sustainable practices or encouraging collaboration between humans and machines – will thrive over time; for instance, healthcare AI-optimized oxygen plants show how businesses can utilise technology with a purpose to ensure both workers and industries are well prepared for what lies ahead in years to come.
In the end, as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes an ever-increasing part of business operations, organisations must prioritise developing resilient and adaptive strategies. Success lies with those who embrace technology not as an enemy but as an opportunity to redefine success in a new era of work.