India, Get Ready for the Next Wave of Automation According to the survey, workplace automation, including the use of AI and robotics, is expected to double in India in the coming three years.

The "automation' term is the talk of the town for all the wrong reasons. Many big names like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Richard Branson have expressed growing concerns about the job losses from AI adoption or automation. With technology getting bigger, millions of job will be at risk in the coming decades.

A recent survey named "Global Future of Work' by Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ: WLTW), a leading global advisory, broking and solutions company is echoing the same fear. According to the survey, workplace automation, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, is expected to double in India in the coming three years.

Entrepreneur India takes a look at the key findings of the report:

Eliminate Human Jobs:

The India findings of the survey reveal that the extent of workplace automation in India in the next three years is expected to be more than the Global and APAC average.

The companies expect the use of automation in the workplace to increase from a current 14 per cent to 27per cent in 3 years, higher than the global and APAC (Asia-Pacific) average. Whereas, companies in the Asia Pacific expect automation to account for on average 23 per cent of work being done in the next three years as compared to 13 per cent today.

Are You Ready to Embrace Automation?

The study highlighted that 61per cent of companies believe they will require fewer full-time employees in the next three years. Also, only 12 per cent companies believe that their HR functions are fully prepared for the changing requirements of automation. This clearly states that very few companies and HR functions are fully prepared to address the organizational change requirements related to automation, nor the opportunities offered by a larger contingent talent pool.

The Rise of Part-Time Employment:

However, contrary to the traditional outlook where automation was believed to replace humans to minimize costs, the study found that more than half the companies in India believe that automation will augment human performance and create new work, not replace it. Automation is expected to shape a new combination of work, talent, skills requirements and work relationships. While organizations in India expect the percentage of full-time employees to reduce from 85 per cent to 78 per cent in 3 years' time, they also anticipate using more contingent and part-time workers.

The study found that 33 per cent companies in India today believe that automation enables a flexible deployment of work to other locations, compared to the APAC average of 39 per cent. However, in 3 years' time, a massive 70 per cent companies anticipate this automation driven work flexibility as compared to 65 per cent in the APAC region.

Services and Manufacturing Industries to Experience the Greatest Impact

As per the survey, the most impact of this shift will be seen in the services industry in India, as outsourcing jobs for specific skills, the use of non-employee talent and robotics becomes the norm. A majority of 55 per cent companies in the services industry in India expect to have fewer full-time employees in three year's time due to automation, as compared to 14per cent currently.

But Is It Really Something To be Concerned Of?

Not really, before the implementation of every innovation in the history of humankind, people have said the same. People were concerned about the unemployment of people doing it manually. But all these concerns came to an end when innovations like a train and motor car generated more employment than the previous model of transports. Same happened with the printing press and cloth industry.

These machines have made life easy and improved the standard of living by generating employment and same will be the advantage of AI and automation.