On white collar automation

Will office workers be the first to be automated?

Hello members,

Later today, we have our first member’s briefing with Phil Fersht, a world-expert on how enterprises are automating white collar work. Phil will explain what he sees in enterprise automation and how that will evolve companies? What will its impact on jobs be? It is today, Friday, February 1, 5pm GMT / 12pm EST / 9am PST. Sign-up here.

It is an apposite topic.

In today’s Wall Street Journal, economist Richard Baldwin argues that “white-collar robots are coming for jobs.” (This is behind the WSJ paywall, but you should be able to access a few articles, including this one, for free.)

White collar workers, argue Baldwin, are being hit by two themes: globalisation and automation. The first, via platforms like Upwork, “allow employers to source talent from across the globe, often at a much lower cost.”

The second, and the topic of our briefing later today, is from automation by software robot. One example of these bots in use is servicing customer phone calls: the “average call d…