Member Article

A third of Brits would welcome intelligent personal mobile assistants to do their admin

One in three UK professionals (35%) would welcome having an intelligent digital personal assistant on their smartphones or other devices to help them with everyday tasks, according to a survey by mobile workforce management company ClickSoftware (NasdaqGS: CKSW).

Over half (58%) of people surveyed believe intelligent predictive services will be able to handle at least 10% of their current workload in the future. With the average UK professional working 7.8 hours a day[i], implementing time-saving predictive assistants could help workers shave off nearly an hour a day by automating administrative jobs.

Millennials are twice as likely as 55 year olds and above to welcome such technology into their everyday lives, taking on tasks such as planning routes to meetings, automatically putting phones on mute during meetings, or automating admin tasks.

These kinds of functions are a long way from the likes of Kitt from Knightrider, Hal from 2001, or Holly from Red Dwarf, but with Siri already available, and Microsoft launching the Cortana service, consumers are expecting more sophisticated predictive personal assistant apps to help with their professional lives.

Of the major UK regions, Londoners are the most expectant of such technology, 10% more than any other part of the country with workers in Northern Ireland most resistant.

“Consumers are already using simple versions of intelligent personal assistants. Very soon, we will be seeing more advanced professional applications offering advice on different aspects of our working lives - from route planning, to appointment booking, even suggesting places to eat based on current locations or our past habits,” said Steve Mason, Vice President of Mobility, EMEA, at ClickSoftware. “While there is still, naturally, a hesitancy towards the concept of smart assistants or AI, these applications are simply a way of helping staff rather than replacing them. None of us like doing admin, and often waste time putting it off, so businesses now have the opportunity to take away one of the least productive parts of our working day so employees can focus on more meaningful tasks.”

[i] Office for National Statistics

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by ClickSoftware .