In the world driven by economic efficiency, automation is a competitor you don’t want to face.

 

According to McKinsey, in the near future companies in every industry will leverage intelligent process automation (IPA) and cognitive agents to build a robotic workforce that is capable of executing tasks, communicating, learning from data sets, and even making decisions based on “emotion detection.” IPA will not only mimic activities carried out by humans but over time, learn to do them faster, better, and at a lower cost.

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McKinsey estimates that about 60 percent of all occupations could have 30 percent, or more, of their activities automated. A separate study suggests that each additional industrial robot in the United States will result in 5.6 American workers losing their jobs.

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Equally troubling, robotic automation will not only replace workers but also lower the wages of those lucky enough to retain their jobs.

 

And, as technology continues its rapid fire advance, this effect will only get worse.