Automation – Bring Your Own?

With AI has the challenge of BYOD become BYOS to work?

Everybody has a personal phone and its use in the office is usually separate from any work activity. Does AI change that position?

What software do staff use?

What is in your Bag?

The BYOD (Bring your Own Device) arose with personal tablets and personal laptops that get used by individuals to perform work activities. In many trades this is like a personal tool box and is often expected from Freelance staff / contractors.

HR polices and IT processes are general well established in this area. Such policies will have been tested as the Working From Home (WFH) dynamics have been implemented.

What changes with AI?

The potential offered by Generative AI has led to a lot of experimenting with the tools to deliver business value. Many staff will view the use of such tools as an aid to performing their work tasks.

The term Citizen Developer has been common in the Automation sector for a while but I believe most of the automations which have been created are business specific rather than generic.

Of course, it is not just AI tools and automations but many other Apps as well as software tools that are available on a SaaS basis.

Bring Your Own Software

The potential for staff to “Bring Your Own Software” (BYOS) raises many challenges.

Physical security checks will not work, you will not find software in the bag.

If an individual pays for a software subscription and accesses the functionality provided from a business device to perform their work, what are the issues?

??Shows the individual as resourceful, willing to invest to improve themselves.

??Might be harder for another member of the team to do the tasks unless they also used the software subscription.

??Company data might be copied outside of the company’s IT infrastructure with corresponding GDPR, copy right and intellectual property risks.

??Does the use get detected by Business monitoring software?

?When staff are WFH, would a business even know if an employee is using any such software subscriptions?

Out of sight of any supervisor and would the activity tracking software pick up its use?

In many respects, the issues are similar to the BOYD challenge.

Doing the work

One challenging scenario is where a Software Robot is used by an individual to perform the work they would otherwise manual undertake on the business applications. The work is actually being done in exactly the same way, it is just the employee is not typing and clicking, etc.

With the software robot working away, the employee could be cooking, golfing or sleeping while being paid by the company.

Another challenging scenario is emerging with Generative AI, concerning “Prompts”. The technology is changing but it is becoming clear by the number of “Cheat Sheets” being provided in social media posts that the formulation of “Prompt Scripts” can be a major differentiator on the quality of information created from an AI dialogue. How much of this “Scripting” becomes “Personal” knowledge and how much of it is a “Company Asset” might be a question for the courts.

When Generative AI has been used the outcome might be just what the employee requires for the task or it might be 80%-90% OK, so that with a little extra work the required deliverable is created. Does a business need to Care / Worry about how the deliverable was produced if the result is the appropriate quality?

If the employee was looking something up in a book and then para phrasing it to create the deliverable. Would that be OK?

Broader Issues

As prompts are “English Language”, it will be hard to claim intellectual property or copyright, as many individuals could easily independently write similar scripts. The potential for staff to take scripts or recreate scripts when they move employment is likely to become common place.

Is the management of staff about how the “Work Time” is spent or the “Deliverables” produced during the “Work Time”?

Embracing the opportunities

Every business can benefit from curious people, who will look for innovation from the available technologies. The ideas and opportunities discovered by these “Explorer” minded staff will need to be filtered to meet the usual business balances of risk, resilience, costs, etc.

The rapid evolution of AI tools in the marketplace, suggests that many will fail from a commercial perspective and much of the technology will get absorbed into the existing large technology providers. This will probably mean that although experimenting can be rewarding for individuals, most of the benefits from AI technology for business, will be delivered through the existing suppliers.

The saying that “Success is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” is likely to remain true although of course it could be AI and Robot Automation rather than human effort which deliver the success.

#businessbeyondautomation