Aussie businesses turn to automation to help workers

Around 41% of Australian businesses are turning to automation to support employees and help adapt to the current challenging economic climate, according to data released by SS&C Blue Prism.

A survey of business leaders in five markets found that 68% of Australian business leaders are likely to make changes to their organisation’s business model to adapt to the economic climate.

Businesses are under pressure to adapt to rising costs, inflation and low unemployment.

Meanwhile, 46% of Australian respondents say their primary driver for introducing automation is to remove repetitive tasks so that workers can focus on more fulfilling and valuable work.

Automation is increasingly seen as an alternative to cutting jobs, with only 10% of Australian respondents reporting planning to reduce the size of their workforce as a response to the current economic climate, the lowest among all countries covered by the research.

SS&C Blue Prism APAC CTO Dan Ternes said the findings challenge the narrative about AI being a threat to employees.

“Despite the negative headlines about generative AI taking people’s jobs, the data in this report shows that employers don’t intend to use automation as a vehicle to replace their human workforce,” he said.

“In fact, employers are turning to automation to ease workers’ lives, so they can focus on more interesting and rewarding tasks. Creating a seamless link between your digital and human workers facilitates their collaboration, which is a key ingredient for success with transformation.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Ross Tomei