E-Business
Digital Culture Shock: HR’s New Role in The Age of Automation
Automation in HR is more prevalent than ever before with companies all over the world embracing the rise of new technology trends to better the workplace environment, writes Keith Fenner, Vice President: Sage Enterprise Africa & Middle East.
We’re on the cusp of a brave new world as technologies such as 3D printing, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things reshape the workplace.
Smart algorithms and machines are taking on more and more of the tasks that humans used to do on factory floors, in financial call centres and even in hospitality and retail.
In manufacturing, we see the advent of Industry 4.0 – a fourth industrial revolution driven by connected devices and sensors, cloud computing, advanced robotics, intelligent software, and a range of other technologies. Companies like Teslaproduce complex products in a smooth, automated process using specialist robots with very little human input.
Autonomous driving vehicles that use computer vision are prowling the streets in pilot projects in many of the world’s largest cities.
Within a few years, driverless vehicles will be commonplace in the transport and logistics centres. And natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning are already enabling wealth management companies to build chatbots that offer basic financial advice to their clients.
Against this backdrop, where many traditional job roles will change or disappear, human resources (HR) departments need to become digital champions for their organisations. Their role is to help people manage a digital culture shock as they adjust to a rapid change in their roles and in the way their organisations operate.
Here are four imperatives most HR departments will face in the years to come.
Coordinating A Blended Workforce
The workforce of the future in most companies will comprise of a pool of full-time employees, a growing contingent of freelances, contractors and on-demand labour services, and machines and AI. Using collaboration tools like Slack and videoconferencing, people from around the world will work together on projects.
This model already exists in many multinational technology companies, but it will become familiar in other sectors, too.
Rather than having a job for life, workers will often be brought together into teams to complete a specific project, before moving onto the next one when it’s complete. Business teams may use on-demand crowdsourcing and labour platforms like Kaggle and Upwork to access skills as and when needed.
HR’s role: synthesising such a workforce where the old hierarchies and job descriptions no longer exist. The focus will be on harnessing the combined power and skills of a diverse workforce, rather than on executing processes.
Managing Change And Reskilling Employees
Technology change is accelerating, leaving many employees and their skills behind. Process workers, especially, need to be reskilled for a world where they’ll need to be entrepreneurial and creative rather than simply able to follow instructions. Human qualities such as emotional intelligence will become more important than technical skills.
HR’s role: to help build a workforce equipped with the digital skills we’ll need tomorrow—user interface design, customer service, strategy and innovation are some areas where people still outperform machines. HR will also need to help existing employees transition to new skills, new technologies and new corporate structures.
Some of the questions that might arise in the next few years will be profound. Should we downsize people to a three-day working week because of productivity advances we have reaped from automation?
How do we strike a balance between privacy and control when we can monitor employees 24/7 through wearable computers? Will people happily take guidance from an AI “boss”? It will be up to HR to guide the workforce through these changes.
Analytics-Powered Decision-Making
With access to a growing pool of data about employees and organisational performance, HR is following the example of marketing and becoming an analytics-driven discipline. HR professionals are using data to get better insight into every HR process, from recruiting to training and retention.
HR’s role: leveraging data about workforce behaviour to drive better performance across the business.
Today, in addition to historic reporting, HR professionals are using data for predictive analytics. It’s not just about tracking historic performance indicators, but looking to the needs and trends of the future. What skills will the business need to support its growth? Where did it recruit its best-performing people? How many people will we need in our service department to support our forecasted revenue growth of 10% for the next financial year?
Higher Levels Of Process Automation
Many organisations have already automated many of their HR processes. A solution such as Sage X3 People, for example, allows them to achieve more efficiency and more control over the cost of their workforce.
It lets organisations store full records of their employees, manage their contracts, forecast and efficiently track working hours, absenteeism and bonuses. These solutions offer powerful reporting and can be accessed anywhere through the cloud. They also offer employee self-service features
HR’s role: implementing technology platforms and processes that give employees a great experience and also empower managers to maximise employee satisfaction and performance.
We’re already seeing the first intelligent HR bots coming to market. They can support colleagues with answers to routine questions such as: “When will we close for the Christmas break this year?” and assist with processes such as on-boarding. This gives HR more time to focus on human interactions that add value than on routine tasks.
Closing Words
The impact of automation on the workforce is passionately debated, with many fearing that technology will put millions out of work.
I am optimistic that technology will create new work as it changes our world and destroys old jobs. Indeed, Deloitte estimated in 2016 that 800,000 jobs were lost to technology in 15 years, but that it seems that it also created 3.5 million new, higher skilled, jobs.
That doesn’t mean that HR departments and employees are not operating in a challenging (albeit exciting) time. It is up to every HR department to seize the opportunities the next wave of digital disruption offer to serve the workforce and the business, and to help the business use the newest tools to maximise the potential of its people.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has commenced a forensic investigation into the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lotus Bank and Hackerbella Ltd over alleged violations of data protection laws involving students’ personal information.
The investigation follows public complaints alleging that students’ personal data were used to open bank accounts without a lawful basis.
Dr Vincent Olatunji, national commissioner and chief executive officer of the NDPC, directed the investigation team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the circumstances surrounding the collection, processing, use and disclosure of the affected students’ personal data.
The investigation will also determine the respective roles and responsibilities of UNILAG, Lotus Bank and Hackerbella in the alleged processing of the data.
According to the Commission, the investigation will assess the data protection compliance obligations of the parties under the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023 (NDP Act), as well as potential risks posed to the rights and freedoms of the affected data subjects.
The NDPC said the probe would cover several areas, including Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), the lawfulness and transparency of credit scoring or profiling activities, and the use of automated decision-making systems.
It will also examine the adequacy of privacy notices, data-sharing arrangements, lawful bases for processing, data minimisation and purpose limitation.
Other areas include data retention policies and the adequacy of technical and organisational measures put in place to safeguard the rights and personal data of affected students.
The Commission reiterated that institutions entrusted with the personal data of students, staff and other members of their communities have a heightened responsibility to ensure that such information is processed lawfully, fairly, transparently and securely.
The NDPC therefore warned educational institutions that are yet to comply with its existing data protection compliance directives to take immediate steps to achieve compliance.
The Commission said it would continue to exercise its regulatory mandate to protect the privacy rights of Nigerians and ensure that organisations processing personal data comply with the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023.
Microsoft is planning to unveil its new Maia 300 AI chip this fall, potentially as soon as next month, The Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the plans.
The company introduced its Maia AI chip in November 2023 but has lagged rivals such as Alphabet and Amazon in scaling up its in-house chip efforts as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Nvidia’s costly processors.
Google began recognizing revenue from direct sales of its custom AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units, in the quarter ended June, while Amazon has also seen growing adoption of its processors, including its Trainium chips.
Microsoft has been in talks with chipmaker TSMC to secure manufacturing capacity for more than 300,000 units of the chip for delivery in 2027, according to the report. It is also looking to significantly ramp up production and persuade major cloud customers such as Anthropic to adopt the chip.
Microsoft ultimately aims to secure capacity for more than 1 million Maia 300 chips, though component supplies and ongoing capacity negotiations with TSMC could constrain its plans, according to the report.
It unveiled its second-generation Maia 200 in January, built by TSMC using 3-nanometer technology.
Microsoft packed the chip with a significant amount of SRAM, a type of memory that can provide speed advantages for AI systems handling large numbers of user requests.
X has announced plans to discontinue its Revenue Sharing programme and introduce a new Original Content Rewards programme to reward creators for producing original content on the platform.
The social media company announced the changes at the weekend in a post on its X Creators handle, saying the new programme would reward creators who contribute original content.
“Today, we’re introducing the Original Content Rewards Program, a new way to reward creators who bring original ideas, expertise, reporting, creativity, and commentary to X,” the company said.
X said it would stop accepting new enrolments into the Revenue Sharing programme from Friday, while existing participants would continue earning until September 7, 2026.
“Starting today, we’re no longer accepting new enrollments into Revenue Sharing,” it said.
According to the company, existing Revenue Sharing participants will receive three final payouts, with two scheduled for August 14 and August 28, while the final payment for earnings accrued through September 7 is expected around September 11.
X said existing Revenue Sharing participants would begin getting access to apply for the new programme from September 8, subject to meeting its eligibility requirements.
The first payout under the Original Content Rewards programme will be made on August 28, 2026, while existing Revenue Sharing creators who enrol in the new programme from September 8 will receive their first payment on September 25.
Under the new programme, eligible creators will earn from qualified impressions generated by their original content, with payments made every two weeks.
X defined qualified impressions as unique impressions from Premium users on the Home Timeline feed, where at least 50 per cent of a post is visible.
On the other hand, “The following are excluded from qualified impressions: impressions from the same account counted more than once per post; paid, promoted, or artificially generated impressions; and fraudulent impressions,” it said.
To qualify, creators must be at least 18 years old, live in a country where the programme is available, maintain an account in good standing and have either a personal or vusiness account.
They must also subscribe to X Premium, Premium+ or Premium Business, have at least 500 verified followers and record at least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users within the previous 90 days.
X said creators must also regularly post original content to remain eligible.
“We want to recognize creators who break news, share expertise, tell stories, create entertainment, and contribute meaningful perspectives to the conversation,” the company said.
The platform said original content could include threads, videos, memes, graphics, illustrations, reporting, analysis, commentary and reactions that add meaningful value to existing conversations.
It said creators who use content produced by others would need to add meaningful commentary, context, analysis, humour or creative transformation for such posts to qualify.
“Building on existing conversations is a core part of X, but simply reposting someone else’s content is not enough,” it said.
X said minor edits such as cropping, filters, borders, watermarks, speed adjustments or simple text overlays would generally not qualify as meaningful transformation on their own.
It also warned that content copied or substantially reproduced from another creator, content downloaded and re-uploaded from X or another platform without being the original author’s, automated content, disinformation and misleading content would be ineligible.
The company said accounts that violate the programme’s requirements could be temporarily or permanently removed from it, depending on the severity of the violation.
It added that creators would be responsible for ensuring they had the necessary rights, permissions or licences to use content created by others.
“Original content is content you personally create that reflects your own voice, perspective, expertise, or creativity,” X said.
The company said the new programme was intended to reward creators who make the platform more valuable by bringing original ideas and perspectives to its conversations.
“The Original Content Rewards Program is designed to reward the creators who start them, shape them, and move them forward,” it said.
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