For Bravo, Santana, & Rodón (2014, p. 269) “the essence of the automated role is related to the extent to which technology performs activities replacing the human”. For Kaber and Draper (2004) cited in (Bravo et al., 2014, p. 269) they state that who makes the decision to automate the processes and to differentiate the activities that will be carried out by humans and machines is the responsibility of the organization. In this same sense, Davis (1986, p. 299) states that the general managers of organizations play an increasingly important role in decisions related to the computer support used within them, by their collaborators.

Automation draws public attention to the economic benefits it can provide, or at least those perceived (Parasuraman et al., 2000, p. 286). It has freed humans from many activities, especially those that require a lot of time and physical effort. It is now possible to make human work more productive, which increases the demand for work (Acemoglu & Restrepo, 2019).

David Autor (2015, p. 5) argues that the interaction between the machine and the comparative advantage of the human being allows computers to replace workers in performing routine and coding tasks while extending the comparative advantage of workers in the provision of problem-solving skills, adaptability, and creativity, which at no time can or at least until now have not been replaced by the human being. These cognitive functions such as decision making, planning, and creative thinking are those that automation has not been able to replace (Parasuraman and Riley, 1997, p. 231).

Maintaining a more critical stance, Tunal (2005, p. 100) believes that the impact of technological change on some contemporary productive organizations has been more harmful than beneficial for some social groups, and this because computers, and with it computer networks, have allowed the development of new types of relationships and capacities, not always applied with responsibility. In addition, he points out that the technological impact on the automation of work processes is inevitable; therefore, senior managers must have the ability to reconfigure their way of doing management.

Automation advances rapidly, and the challenges of replacing workers with machines in tasks that require flexibility, judgment, and common sense, remain many; considering that, in many cases, machines replace and complement human work.

For Bravo et al., (2014, p. 269) who make an analysis of the relationship between automation and the usefulness of information systems, state that a system can have two roles, the first is to produce information (computerize) and the second, to automate activities replacing people, and both cases apply to any area of the organization, although they add that due to the impact of technology, the one that has mostly grown is the first.

The digital transformation by the hand of automation is transforming the organizational systems of companies, making them more efficient and dynamic. One of the main reasons for automating processes in an organization is to reduce the possibility of human error, by reducing the high physical and mental workload that is demanded (Parasuraman & Riley, 1997, p. 235). Automation has allowed organizations to evolve according to their institutional background and to deploy a variety of ways complementing or linking each other (Tunal, 2005, p. 99).

The thought of Coriat (1992, 68) cited by Gerardo Tunal (2005, p. 99) is confrontational when states:

Do not forget that the factory of tomorrow is not a factory without men and that the future, in no way is the one of the integrated automation of tasks and functions, because total automation is impracticable, for both scientific and technical and financial reasons, and that applies to the entire horizon of the foreseeable future of any country.