Artificial intelligence (AI) and automation stand out as transformative forces in our rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Much like the impact of the printing press, lightbulb, and the internet, AI and automation redefine how we work.
According to the 2023 Slack State of Work Report, productive workers are 242% more likely to use AI than their less productive counterparts.
Globally, automation is saving workers an average of 3.6 hours weekly. But is this potential being fully harnessed? Let’s discover.
Non-productive vs Productive workers
According to Slack State of Work, people who report being "less productive" commonly experience an overload of unnecessary meetings and emails, feel disconnected from their colleagues, lack access to effective tools and technology and struggle with information silos and switching between disconnected apps.
People who report being "more productive" today save time through automation, utilize tools that foster transparency and allow access to historical knowledge, and prefer platforms that bring all their tools and technologies into one unified space.
Harnessing AI & Automation for the competitive edge
Companies that ignore the integration of AI and automation into their work processes risk falling behind. Jungkyu Choi, multimodal AI group leader at LG AI Research in Seoul, emphasizes that generative AI technologies will significantly improve knowledge workers' efficiency.
Also, compared with their less productive counterparts, those most productive workers are 242% more likely to use AI and automation tools, allowing them to focus on innovation and creativity rather than repetitive tasks.
Current state of automation in industries and roles
In various industries, tech professionals are leading the charge in implementing automations, particularly in the realms of file sharing and storage.
Teams in engineering(71%), IT(68%), and design(57%) are among the most frequent users of automation. Meanwhile, sales(36%), service(43%), and marketing(47%) teams stand as the areas with the most untapped potential to benefit from the adoption of the latest tools and technologies.
While a striking 77% of respondents believe that automating routine tasks would significantly enhance productivity, only 45% report that their teams have actually implemented such automation.
This lag in adopting automation seems to have wider repercussions. For instance, despite Slack being a robust platform for communication and collaboration, the "meeting challenge" endures. Which is supported with the fact that nearly 43% of meetings could be eliminated.
By incorporating integrations and automated workflows into Slack, knowledge workers can gain immediate access to vital information without leaving the interface. You can put information right at your employees' fingertips, and eliminate the need for meetings.
Use cases for AI:
58% of AI users leverage it for editing and writing text, streamlining the content creation process. Close behind, 49% utilize AI for voice-to-text transcripts in customer support, making service more efficient and accessible.
Additionally, AI is playing a significant role in creative domains, with 44% of users employing it for video and image creation. Not to be overlooked, 42% of users are harnessing AI to assist with code writing, which can significantly expedite software development tasks.
The benefits of automation:
State of work highlights the significant advantages that automation can bring to the workplace. A substantial 62% of respondents reported that automation allows them to achieve more with less time and fewer resources, highlighting its capacity for boosting efficiency.
Moreover, 44% believe that automation helps drive more impactful business outcomes, while 36% of respondents feel it contributes to a better work-life balance by reducing the burden of routine tasks.
In this evolving landscape, enhancing team collaboration through AI and automation is becoming a priority for forward-thinking leaders. They are increasingly urged to adopt platforms that support focus, a choice of tools, flexibility, and automated workflows.
This consolidation approach enables employees to work effectively within a unified environment, avoiding the confusion and inefficiency that comes with managing multiple, disconnected platforms. It's about creating a workspace where tools complement, rather than complicate, the work at hand.
Empowering innovation
As AI and automation tools proliferate, integrating these technologies could streamline business processes, saving time and money, improving work quality, and increasing employee satisfaction and retention.
For example:
- Sales teams can automate approving deals and updating customer records
- IT teams can use AI to monitor and respond to incidents automatically
- Marketers can automate elements of their social media production and use AI models like GPT for content creation
Check out our guide 40+ Slack App Ecosystem Statistics for 2023 if you want to learn more about Slack apps and integrations 🤩
The urgent need for AI-first
Despite these benefits, the report indicates a significant gap in adopting these tools, with 60% of respondents stating that their companies have not yet incorporated AI.
And a surprisingly low 23% of executives have recently enhanced their company's technology stack to boost productivity.
Adopting an AI-first strategy isn’t about following the latest trend; it’s about revolutionizing the way you work. It means designing your workflows and processes with AI as the central player. Think of it as your right-hand, helping you write, edit, transcribe, analyze, and so much more.
Whether you are in marketing, engineering, or any field in between, an AI-first approach is your secret weapon for unparalleled productivity.
The question is:
Are you ready to join the movement?
Now, it seems that AI and automation hold the potential to turbocharge efficiency, yet many leaders are missing significant opportunities to harness these tools to their fullest extent. Are you among those leaders, or are you at the forefront, establishing an AI-first culture within your organization?
If you belong to the second group, you’re at the right place.
Actioner: Your gateway to productivity powered by AI and automation
Actioner allows organizations, teams, executives, or any individual to embrace and use AI at every point of their business processes.
Using Actioner, you can build and automate workflows for a variety of work processes such as; managing customer & employee inquiries, responding to incidents, managing lead lifecycle & deal pipeline, and tracking tasks and projects. You can either use the visual designer or while you’re in Slack, instruct Actioner how you want your workflow to function and let AI handle the rest.
You can also supercharge your workflows with a library of Actioner integrations including OpenAI, HubSpot, Jira, PagerDuty, and Zendesk.
And the best part is, you can pick your Slack app from the Actioner app directory with built-in workflows and integrations, and start using your favorite tools right in Slack immediately.
No more time to waste
Do not forget to join our Slack community to connect with the Actioner community, share insights, and explore the latest in AI-powered productivity solutions.
Get started with Actioner today and revolutionize the way your team works!
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