35% of businesses in Singapore will use automation to support staff amidst challenging economic conditions, according to data released today by SS&C Blue Prism on 94 decision-makers in Singapore.
“In the current economic climate, it seems that all businesses must adapt if they expect to prosper. How they approach this transformation will be the key to their success. Creating a culture where teams are consulted and engaged throughout the process is the recipe for success, rather than delivering a mandate from on high," says Dan Ternes, APAC chief technology officer, SS&C Blue Prism.
Most (77%) Singaporean businesses are likely to make changes to their business model to respond to the current economic climate. 43% are looking to reduce their operating costs, while 49% seek to diversify their product offerings. Instead of cutting jobs, businesses consider automation to support their workforce and better serve their customers. Only 18% said they are likely to reduce the size of their workforce.
Automation as support
Source: SS&C Blue Prism, 2023
Automation is employed to help workers focus on more valuable work instead of doing repetitive tasks, says 44% of businesses (APAC average 39%). Moreover, 44% use automation to support customer-facing services (29% in APAC), 32% say they use automation to simplify complex operations (24% in APAC) and 29% use automation for data processing (31% in APAC).
“Despite the negative headlines about Generative AI taking people’s jobs, the data in this report shows that employers don’t intend to use automation as a vehicle to replace their human workforce. In fact, employers are turning to automation to ease workers’ lives, so they can focus on more interesting and rewarding tasks. Creating a seamless link between your digital and human workers facilitates their collaboration which is a key ingredient for success with transformation,” Ternes said.
The data was part of a broader study in APAC including 244 leaders from Australia, Hong Kong, India, and Thailand.
