In one of my rare, unscientific opinions, I have stated that most American companies need to reduce their staffs 30-50% thru automation in order to compete and survive in the new normal global economy.
The new sign of a prosperous, prestigious company is how FEW employees they have, not how many. I love to hear our competitors boast how many offices or employees they have - it just means we're killing them on overhead expense.
The real metric today is productivity - either revenue/employee or fully allocated cost per product. And the best way you can boost those numbers is thru automation. Not just on the factory floor, but in the office. And automation means IT. Is your organization increasing it's automation efforts with more IT budget or trying to hang on to employees?
In the 80's and 90's General Motors, Chrysler, et al tried out robots - they deemed them too unreliable and stayed with employees. Look where that strategy got them. Even the infamous "Clunkers" stimulus gave highly automated Toyota the abundance of sales. Why? Automation gave them higher quality and reliability.
But automation software is not just for the factory floor - it's even more important for the office! Today many companies make most of their money from services. And guess what, many services can be automated.
I've heard it said that software can't make decisions the same as old Joe - that's right - it can make BETTER decisions. By having a good knowledge data base, you can be pulling in the advice of numerous experts, not just one. And 24x7. And no H1N1 staffing headaches! This can be another "quick win" for your department.
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