Robots are coming for your job
Peter Sondergaard, Gartner global head of research, says that the displacement of skill areas caused by digitalisation and the industrialisation of technology makes for a “frightening debate”.
Gartner predicts that, by 2020, one in three knowledge workers will be replaced by the enterprise-owned smart machines they trained.
Sondergaard, who was speaking at the Gartner Symposium in Cape Town on Monday (16 September), said that while 2.5 billion “things” were connected in 2009 – that figure could be to up to 30 billion by 2020, stressing that those would be machines with unique IP addresses.
The research lead forecasts that by 2015, IT and telecoms will generate $4 trillion, representing as much as 5% of the global GDP.
Gartner forecasts that by 2024, at least 10% of activities potentially injurious to human life will use a mandated “smart system”.
Moreover, the group said that, through the digitalisation of the industrial economy, the labour reduction effects will cause social unrest in mature economies as a soon as 2020.
With the effect of technology on farming jobs, and robotics having eliminated manufacturing jobs in the past, Sondergaard said that with robotics and 3D printing, it becomes cheaper to manufacture in a low cost region.
This, he believes, is going to change the whole industrial map of the world.
The research lead noted, though, that this may lead to an opportunity for South Africa – to play in the delivery and sub-manufacturing environment, particularly as a feeder to the African markets. “It makes sense to optimise the traveling cost,” he said.
Over the long term, Sondergaard said that the rapid rise of smarter machines and robotics is going to challenge service jobs – the western world is getting older – giving rise to robotic function to certain roles people do, namely lifting using robotic technology.
Gareth Vorster was hosted by Gartner in Cape Town
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