176 | nº 29, pp. 169-196 | doxa.comunicación
July-December of 2019
Intelligent automation in communication management
ISSN: 1696-019X / e-ISSN: 2386-3978
The relationship between man-machine is a tradition that has been spun for decades. The first confrontation according to Idoia Salazar (2018, p. 331) was made when human force was replaced by steam engines. From that moment until nowadays, the relationship won’t be lost.
The inevitable is, that future societies will use information technologies to achieve their objectives, spread their values, and expand the opportunities of citizens, communities and organizations (Barber et al., 2004, p. 11). And now, with the technological growth, this digital transformation, to which companies are called to join, has already begun to live.
According to a research carried out by experts in the field of technologies, the next technological package for companies are composed of four letters, DARQ, and by its acronym in English (Technology Vision & Accenture Research, 2019, pp. 10–11):
Distributed Logging Technologies (DLT), which refers to the expansion of networks without the use of a trusted third.
Artificial intelligence (AI), which will lead to process optimization and strategic decision-making attached to automation.
Extended Reality (XR), through immersive technology where new experiences will come to people and actively engage
Quantum computing, which is mainly linked to providing solutions through novel methods to solve complex computational problems.
Considered the basis of digital transformation for companies, where each one brings with it a great opportunity to offer differentiated products or services in the market.
The technology industry is moving very fast and in this sense Mark Patrick, states that in the “intelligent factory model of Industry 4.0” two key elements are combined: human experience and automation (Mark, 2019). Mark himself, makes a projection of 5G technology that is growing rapidly and that will change “the production, shipping and service of goods and products throughout its life cycle… causing new and better levels of quality and quality. consumer choice ”(Mark, 2019). This fully aligns with the automation processes where companies are in the process of development.
The least strong impact of automation, or where it is expected that it will not grow on a large scale, will be in sectors of the population that have lower educational levels (Hualde, 2015, p. 9). According to a report by McKinsey Global Institute (2017, p. 4), it is estimated that automation will allow global productivity to grow from 0.8 to 1.4 percent annually and for this to happen, human beings will continue to be necessary in the workforce and this will be achieved only if joint work between machines and humans is achieved.
For David Autor (2015, pp. 3-5) the last two centuries of automation and technological progress have not made human labour obsolete, he considers that the employment-population relationship increased during the 20th century. He agrees that automation replaces labour, but also complements labour and increases production. There are journalists and commentators who tend to exaggerate the degree of substitution of machinery for human work and ignore the strong complementarities between automation and work that increase productivity, increase income and increase the demand for work, says Author.
The McKinsey Global Institute report (2017, pp. 8-9) states that within organizations, many collaborators will continue and others will need to start interacting to work and double with machines to develop their daily activities, especially