Leveraging technology to make work ‘more human’

There’s a phrase that’s been used a number of times in recent years in the technology and business space: Making work more human. The general idea is to use emerging technology for repetitive tasks, allowing humans to focus on work that requires more thought or advanced skill.

Does this mean emerging technologies are going to outsource the jobs of humans? Allison Fine and Beth Kanter, authors of the book “The Smart Nonprofit,” posit that’s not necessarily the case.

Fine and Kanter wrote an article for Harvard Business Review and noted that smart technology and humans are not competing with one another. Instead, when used well, they complement each other’s work.

“There will be parts of jobs that are suitable for automation, but few, if any, that can (or should!) be completely replaced by smart tech,” they write. “What automation can change for the better is the experience of work. Rather than doing the same work faster and with fewer people, smart tech creates an opportunity to redesign jobs and reengineer workflows to enable people to focus on the parts of work that humans are particularly well-suited for, such as relationship building, intuitive decision making, empathy, and problem solving.”

Hence, making work more human.

In this issue of B Magazine, we take a look at how technology is affecting life in Southeast Missouri.

There’s high-level technology, such as the educational technology company launched by St. Louis Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol and his wife Amber. The couple uses video-based instruction from professional athletes with artificial intelligence, allowing users to ask questions to their favorite athlete.

Speaking of AI, software and branding expert Sho Rust talks about the future of artificial intelligence in marketing. There’s even an article that’s written by AI included in this edition.

You’ll also see how technology is being used in a totally different way. Lucian and Molly Zielinski run a tool and die making business in Cape Girardeau that plays an important role for several of the area’s largest manufactures.

Meanwhile, there is a big effort underway through the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center and Ranken in Perryville to train skilled workers. So while technology is important, there’s a huge need for individuals with industrial training.

Technology certainly plays an increasingly important role in our economy. How we leverage it to “make work more human” and make humans lives easier will be interesting. Still, the need for workers with the right skills does not stop. That’s clearly a need in our local — and national — economy.

Lucas Presson is the publisher of B Magazine and assistant publisher of the Southeast Missourian.