'KIN Bloggin'

Intelligent Automation for the new Augmented Workforce

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 26 Jun 2019 08:41:00 +0000

The Knowledge & Innovation Network’s (KIN) Summer Workshop took place on the 19^th June in the beautiful setting of the Elvetham Hotel in Hook, Hampshire. The workshop examined another facet of the ‘future of work’ theme, with a lense on the application of AI and Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to human augmentation.

Our keynote speaker, Dr Chris Brauer, provided some insight to his latest research and analysis of the ‘Augmented Human Enterprise’, a major academic study into the performance dynamics of people and automation technology in the workplace, which probes the question “can automation make work more human?”. His research revealed evidence that ‘augmented enterprises’ - those that get the most out of their people and their AI/RPA technology - outperform non-augmented competitors and are better at human factors in the workplace. He identified five key challenges to making work more human:

Dr Brauer also postulated that the business case for AI is not yet working (huge investment in time, cost and resources with little impact on output), whereas there is emerging evidence that RPA is delivering a return on investment (ROI).

The full research report is available at: https://www.automationanywhere.com/uk/makeworkhuman

Cleary Ahern, a workplace psychologist and collaborator on the above research talked about the impact on jobs, skills and training, and the changing workplace psychology that will accompany the introduction of augmentation technologies such as AI/RPA to the workplace. Her key message was that it was not about displacement of workers, but about up-skilling workers in order to effectively off-load routine tasks to augmentation technologies. The trends are clear; routine work done by humans is diminishing, AI-augmented non-routine work is increasing.

Our next speakers gave us an insight to the practical implementation and application of RPA, with case studies from National Grid (Gemma Lewis) and Severn Trent Water (Sam Thornton, Baringa Associates and David Sheldon, STW)

The RPA team at National Grid was entirely self-trained and self-resourced. Their approach to identifying suitable processes for automation was to identify the areas of the business that were struggling. Typical indicators were high staff turnover and staff sickness, potentially caused by a high proportion of routine and time-consuming tasks. They have built over 50 robots, freeing up staff from routine tasks and enabling them to focus on more interesting work. No staff have lost their jobs as a result of RPA/automation.

Severn Trent Water ran two parallel projects, automation of a simple process that could potentially realise one full time employee (1 x FTE) savings. The other, an all-encompassing robot to create 5 x FTE’s worth of capacity. The automation of the simple process was delivered on time and to specification. The larger project saw diminishing benefits as complexity was uncovered. Key point: when tackling RPA for the first time, pick something simple.

Both case studies promoted the concept of ‘humanising’ the robot, i.e. it’s not a robot, it a virtual team member.

Lucy Standing, Vice Chair Association for Business Psychology talked about the social aspects of robots and AI with tips for implementing a positive social wellbeing culture in the workplace. She spoke about the changing aspirations of people coming into the workplace, as follows:

Days past…

· 8am to 6pm working days

· Pension

· Salary

· Company Car

· Medical

Your future employees…

· More flexibility

· More focus on work life balance

· Help getting next job – time off for studying/courses/start ups

· Trust

· Increased paternity provision

Automation Anywhere gave the final session of the day, which included a ‘build a bot’ demonstration. Ross McGuire from AA demonstrated how an automated process (a bot) can be created without any programming skills, on their AA platform. Using a combination of ‘record and play’ and picking from a list of pre-coded routines, the bot extracted data from a website, loaded it into an Excel spreadsheet and applied various functions on the data.

It is predicted that:

· 20% of any white-collar workforce will be Digital Workers

· 50% of all office based Human Workers will have Digital Assistants

· New companies will have Digital Workers from day zero

· The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here – Humans and Machines working together

Conclusion

While the hyped potential of AI generates endless headlines – both positive and negative – technologies such as Robotic Process Automation (RPA) are quietly being rolled out in many of the most well-run organizations around the world. It’s early days yet, but there is ample evidence that humans and bots are already working alongside each other across the globe and in every sector. Where businesses are getting it right, the best of our human capabilities are being augmented by technology to create efficiencies and innovations never before imagined.

Steve Dale

KIN Facilitaor

Warwick Business School.

AI For The New Augmented Human Workforce

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 13 May 2019 14:35:00 +0000

I don’t like Monday’s by The Boomtown Rats, says it all. Released way back in 1979 before millennials had become, well millennials, the song epitomised how we all felt about the start of a new working week. The excesses and freedoms of the weekend replaced by the predictability of work. Millennials now represent more than 50% of the workforce in western economies, predicted to rise to 75% by 2030. They’ve reaped the benefit of all the workplace innovations introduced over the past 40 years by the generation x-ers and baby boomers who preceded them. Monday’s are so different now; the Boomtown Rats’ song must surely be an anachronism.

Or is it? How has the office environment changed in the past 40 years? What innovations have been introduced to the workplace? We’ve now got email, which makes it so much more efficient to send and receive memos and documents, often to and from people we’ve never met. No more having to write things out in long-hand. We’ve got spreadsheets to help us manage and track orders and inventories. We can pretty much replicate every piece of paper ever invented using our word processors, and we do, with reckless abandon. Life is so much better with all of this technology, all of it accessible from our desktop computers. Better still, we can take it home with us on our mobile ‘phones.

Ok, you’ve detected a hint of cynicism here. Has the office environment really changed that much over the past 40 years – or longer? Do people feel happier now about coming into work than they did back in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s? Are they more empowered? Do they feel more in control of their lives? Yes, there have been many technical innovations, but have these given knowledge workers more time, or have they merely increased the volume of what can be done (or expected to be done) during the working day?

The fact is, workplace technology has – until recently – been reliant on persistent, routine and predictable human activity to make it work. Processing invoices requires a human to go through a set of routine processes. There may now be a sophisticated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system in place, but the underlying processes involved have changed very little from the pre-computer age.

Humans are still required to read, interpret and extract data from unstructured content such as emails. That’s what the daily ‘inbox’ grind is really all about.

Over the past 40 years or more, we’ve created layer upon layer of non-optimised processes, which knowledge workers have accepted because there hasn’t been any other choice. The human provides the link between systems that don’t (or can’t) talk to each other, sometimes entering the same information to multiple machine interfaces.

The fact is, we’ve got used to office systems that have been designed to function and rely on human interaction, with very little care being given to separating routine, robotic processes from higher cognitive tasks, such as exception handling and decisions making. Until now.

Welcome to the era of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ and ‘Intelligent Automation’.

What’s the difference between Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Automation?

A main point of the difference between artificial intelligence and intelligent automation is that while artificial intelligence is about autonomous digital workers capable of mimicking human cognitive functions, intelligent automation is all about building better workers, both human and digital, by embracing and working alongside intelligent technologies.

AI is a brain-style construct that learns about why things behave a certain way, how to respond to questions, queries and comments, and how best to optimise the workflow. AI and particularly machine learning is geared towards righting the wrongs in a company, through fact checking, error checking, consistency of performance and so forth. AI technology is perceived as the equivalent of a competent employee who performs a task and thinks about the reasons why the task is being undertaken.

Intelligent automation has the potential to free up individuals from mundane tasks, scale up operations and reduce costs. But this is not just about cost reduction and efficiency. It is about the redeployment of those individuals to drive innovation through intelligent automation that will make the real difference.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) as opposed to AI – is technology used to automate routine tasks. The primary focus of RPA is to have software bots complete routine, monotonous tasks, freeing up humans to complete tasks that require emotional intelligence, reasoning, judgment, and a higher level of care and interaction with customers. It is not meant for continuous improvement and incremental optimisation, but is less costly to implement than AI.

RPA deployments will bring efficiency gains, but not transformation, unless the RPA initiative includes the optimisation of the process rather than just automating an existing process. Unlike AI, RPA doesn’t have the ability to understand past behaviour, but it is conducive to the implementation of AI technology in the future.

RPA and AI technology can work in unison if need be. However, for many businesses, RPA technology will suffice, and AI is not required. As the complexity of operations increases and real-life challenges are brought to bear, AI technology can certainly lighten the load for customer service departments, billing and invoicing, and associated systems.

AI implementation works best when a functional structure is already in place. RPA performs that function and can be infused with AI technology at a later stage. Some vendors are positioning AI as the cognitive component of RPA.

This fusion – known as Cognitive Robotic Process Automation (CRPA) is capable of performing judgement-based activities via natural language processing, speech recognition, and machine learning. This is the next step and will prove to be a quantum leap for businesses once it is fully developed.

The augmented workforce

If you take out the mundane; if you take out the boring; and if you take out the stuff that you can automate, you’re left with the things computers can’t do: being creative, being empathetic, being entrepreneurial, being sociable, handling exceptions and making decisions. All of these make life more interesting and challenging.

The more innovative organisations are moving away from whole jobs done by people to deconstruction of job roles into skills, with some skills done by humans and some skills done by software. Humans and machines working together in a symbiotic relationship to complete a task or process. An augmented workplace is one in which humans and technology come together to create something better, faster, more accurate, than can be done independently. Organisations that grasp this are using technology to extend and enhance human capabilities in ways which make knowledge workers more productive.

Having personally witnessed the many technology innovations that were meant to revolutionise the workplace, including (but not limited to) Content Management Systems (to fix data management issues), knowledge management systems (to fix knowledge capture issues) and enterprise social networks (to fix communication and collaboration issues) it’s no wonder that it’s taken the best part of 40 years to finally revolutionise the workplace.

It sounds simple, and it is. It’s recognising what machines are good at (speed, repetition, analysis, pattern matching) and what humans are good at (exception handling, decision making, innovation) and designing processes that enable machines to augment human capabilities. Taking the robot out of the human is a surely a mantra for the 21st century workplace.

This theme will be explored in detail at the forthcoming Innovation Network Summer Workshop scheduled for the 19th June. We have an excellent line-up of speakers and topics including:

Dr Chris Brauer, Goldsmiths University of London: Insights and learnings from his research into the "Augmented Human Enterprise" .

Cleary Ahern, Occupation Psychologist: The human impact and workplace psychology that will accompany the introduction of intelligent automation.

Caroline Mitten, Experian: How Experian have empowered people to add value from intelligent automation.

Sam Thornton, Barringa Ltd: Severn Trent Water Case Study - choosing the right process to automate.

Lucy Standing, The Association of Business Psychology: What drives performance and engagement at work.

James Dening, Automation Anywhere: How the Automation Anywhere Enterprise platform is delivering massive productivity improvements to their clients.

I'm certain we have enough knowledge and experience amongst this group of speakers to give us the insights to change the way we work and consign that Monday morning feeling to the dim and distant past! KIN members should have received an invitation to the workshop - if not, contact your KIN key contact, or email Kat at kin@wbs.ac.uk.

The Innovation Network Spring Workshop summary - 'Work in 2030 - It may not be what you think'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 10:31:00 +0000

'Thought provoking and challenging'
'First-rate speakers'
'Excellent venue'
'Superb agenda, as usual for KIN'

...This is just some of the feedback from participants in the Innovation Network Spring Workshop, held at the Shard on 28th March.
Innovation Network members can see all the presenters materials, videos plus much more research on the future of work at the event page.
All of the presenters facilitated 'table group discussions' to stimulate thinking about how to apply what we have learned.

A few highlights:

Ed Houghton from CIPD started us off with some scenarios of what work in 2030 might look and feel like. Each table discussed these scenarios and decided on whether they were likely or unlikely. The conclusions led to much debate. Despite much press about the future being about millennials, CIPD believe that a more important factor is how we manage an ageing workforce. The pressure from 'never off' and flexible working will have a serious impact on workers wellbeing, especially stress. Organisations that are proactive in this area will ultimately succeed and attract quality, skilled staff. Splits in the workforce between highly skilled and unskilled will grow, leading to further inequality.

Eliza Easton from NESTA followed with research findings on what skills will be needed to succeed in 2030. Eliza reiterated the need to tap into the wealth of experience from an ageing and retiring workforce. She challenged us to think about what it is that we are training workers for; skills needed for today or 11 years time will be quite different. Are schools teaching judgement, fluency of ideas, originality, deductive reasoning and problem solving? As AI and machine learning take much of the drudgery of transactional work away, these are the skills that organisations should be retraining workers in. Eliza called these 'transversal skills'.

Kevin McCullough of PLAN shared his view on how tech and automation will impact future work. His nicely optimistic view contrast vastly with the doom-monger predictions in the press of job losses. He calls this 'the human / machine interlace'. He gave many examples from history where technology has led to an increase in both job numbers and workers' satisfaction. One of the most memorable was when bible printers in 1470 Augsberg feared that the printing press would put them out of work. Their hand printing skills were indeed obsolete, but the vastly increased demand for machine-printed bibles meant a huge demand for printers.

Kerstin Sailer from Brainybirdz is both an architect and social scientist. Kerstin gave us some statistics to show how much we need to improve the working environment. 58% of staff say their 'workspace enables them to work productively', yet 85% of workplace design is spent on people-related costs. The physical space can bring us together or keep us apart - who would have thought that a Palladian Villa of 1580 would be a more effective office of the 1990s? She showed us how we might rethink the working environment, using an evidence-based approach.

Finally, Amanda Dickens and Jas Sidhu of PwC showed us their technique for identifying potential 'disruptors' to established organisations. Firstly, they posited that there were 8 significant technology innovations that will disrupt many organisations: AI, Augmented Reality, Blockchain, Drones, Internet of Things, Robotics, Virtual Reality and 3D Printing. Jas and Amanda then demonstrated their 'Core City' virtual reality tool that they use to help clients reveal their own disruptors. Finally (and for me, more effectively) they ran an exercise using case-studies from Retail and Airlines. Participants in groups were given a set of 'disruptor' cards for each scenario and asked to plot them on a likelyhood/ timeline matrix. During the feedback walkabout, a very lively discussion ensued!

This was followed by a drinks and networking reception, where everyone enjoyed a spectacular sunset over the Thames from the 17th floor of the Shard.

KIN members who couldn't participate can see the presenter videos and slides (scroll down to the event library) on the event page. How well will your organisation cope and thrive in 2030?

Hard work: sleeping on the job and picking up a paper clip

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 09:55:00 +0000

I read a fascinating article today about what a humanoid robot would have to do in an office environment. It neatly shows (with video) how simple movements are actually extremely complex. It's going to be a long time before a robot could do what we do constantly, without even thinking about the micro-motor controls involved.

There's also an item on 'Sleeping on the job: the cultures of sleep and napping around the world'. Apparently, in Japan taking a nap at your desk or during a meeting is a sign of hard work. So now you know how to respond to your boss when you doze off during the next budget review. But seriously, the benefits of taking a nap during the day, especially for creativity, are proven in many studies.

These articles come from Insight, the magazine published by Mark Eltringham. I highly recommend subscribing to the curated content of Insight for topical items on People/Places/Tech in the workplace. Incidentally, mark will be coming to the Innovation Network's Spring Workshop 'Work 2030 - it may not be what you think'.

Favourite resources from a KM researcher and facilitator

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 08 Feb 2019 09:30:00 +0000

The Innovation Network is a non-profit practitioners" network of large, predominantly blue-chip, organisations that share innovation and organisational learning practice.

As one of three facilitators for the network, my role is to look at how various emergent and innovative technologies are changing the way that work is done. This research is presented to the network in the form of masterclasses, roundtables, webinars and quarterly workshops. These are some of the sources I use:

Essentials - The Future of Work: This is one of the weekly newsletters from Faveeo.com, which uses an AI-driven curation tool to find and follow the most trusted and valuable sources. I like the convenience of having an intelligent bot do the heavy lifting for me, with the results presented in a structured and well-designed newsletter. It covers blockchain, digital transformation, smart contracts, smart assets, industry 4.0, security and more.

Essentials - AI & ML: Another Faveeo newsletter, this covers AI and machine learning news, automation, robotics, AI in business, and data science. Other Faveeo newsletters include Future of Mobility, Future of Money, Future of News & Journalism, Future of Energy and Future of Food.

National Geographic - The future of medicine: I've been a paid subscriber to National Geographic magazine for over 30 years. It covers an enormous spectrum of topics but if there is a common theme it is human endeavour and innovation, which neatly fits in with my work for Warwick Business School. This article describes 12 innovations that will revolutionise the future of medicine, from bionics to virtual reality consultations.

CognitionX: This (free) subscription daily curated news service covers all things AI. It's a useful resource for keeping updated on technology, services and products in this fast-moving domain. It provides filters for topics, industry sectors, products, technologies and use-cases. It's part of my "must read" list at the start of each day.

For fun:

Josh Bernoff's writing: His blog has a slightly irreverent title but I enjoy the no-nonsense style of blogger and author Josh Bernoff at Without Bullshit. Josh and Charlene Li co-authored the best-selling book "Groundswell". Josh is a fairly acerbic critic of poor writing style, particularly corporate communications and marketing messages that use passive voice and jargon. His blog includes some useful tips to improve customer communication and detect fake news.

An article in Jinfo I found particularly interesting:

Given my current interest and research into all things AI, I was drawn to the article by James Mullan on "How technology is transforming the legal sector". Though the title refers specifically to legal, the article was broader, looking at the role of the information professional for identifying the most appropriate information and tasks to apply to AI tools, and training users on how to effectively utilise these tools. I wonder how many information professionals recognise the important role they can play in the successful adoption of AI?

I hope you find some of these resources useful to you in your search for knowledge. The world of work is changing....very quickly!

Steve Dale

KIN Facilitator

Is your CV fit for 2030?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 11:13:00 +0000

Many years ago I recall a business coach advising me to keep my typed CV to no more than two pages, preferably one. It comes as no surprise that the CV in that form is long dead, in favour of a host of social media and online searches.
However there may still be a place for a more formal or structured resume. Michael Page has put together a useful interactive tool
'to see what a typical CV in your sector looked like in 2000, what it looked like in 2018, and what it may look like in 2030'.

It's rather ironic that the typeface for '2030' looks like it's from Back to the Future'. Anyway, choose your sector, then your decade to see what skills you will need to drive your career into 2030.

The next KIN members' Quarterly workshop 'Work in 2030 - It may not be what you think' will be held on 28th March 2019 at The Shard London.

*Thanks to Steve Dale for suggesting this item

The Human Machine Interlace

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 09 Jan 2019 10:37:00 +0000

No, 'The Human Machine Interlace' is not a typographical error.
The article by Kevin McCullough*, is a thought-provoking, optimistic piece about our future relationship with technology.

Amazing bio-mechanical developments are already available to provide external mechanical aids, such as exoskeletons to help heavy or repetitive lifting jobs. It won't be long before these are actually incorporated into the body - for example to help those with disability. If this seems fanciful, roboticist Hugh Herr believes that one day physical disabilities will not exist. Listen to him on the TED Radio Hour podcast 'Transformations'.

In his article, McCullough suggests that the myriad of articles and quizzes that ask 'will robots take your job?' is unhelpful and misleading. He posits that the purpose of AI is not to replace humans, but to make machines less dumb and remove the drudgery of repetitive or dangerous work to release human potential. As always, leading edge technology development leaves ethics and legislation trailing behind. If we can manage our way through this, the future is looking good for machine-augmented work.

*Kevin McCullough is one of the presenters at The Innovation Network' spring workshop 'Work in 2030 - It may not be what you think' to be held on 28th March 2019 at The Shard, London.

Innovation and turf wars

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 18:39:00 +0000

I have this quotation from James Martin on the wall of my home office, from my time as a battle-scarred project manager.

'Coping (with a disaster) is visible and dramatic. Prevention is unpopular, because it usually means changing something that is not yet failing; it is thankless, because the only testimony of its effectiveness is a non-event'.

The same could be said of organisations, particularly successful ones, that struggle with the adoption of innovative ideas. In July 2018 the Harvard Business Review reported on a survey that looked at blockers to innovation in large organisations and concluded:

'Change-makers trying to conduct experiments are rarely greeted with open arms — especially when they’re working on an idea that may cannibalise stable businesses or upend today’s distribution model'.

I witnessed a perfect example from in the early days of retail outlet stores. A large, hugely successful multi-national retailer wanted to experiment with this store format in the UK. A bright, young high-flyer was chosen by the CEO to lead this innovation, given a substantial budget and told he could have the pick of the bunch to join his small team. Having cherry-picked individuals and assembled resources, a two store trial was started. It was an abject innovation failure. Not because of the concept or execution, but because of turf-wars and resentment by other senior managers.

The report charted the factors that leaders thought that most stymied innovation. Top of the pile, unsurprisingly, were cultural issues (politics and turf wars are symptomatic of cultural mores). One factor that appears to be missing is attitude to risk. It's not clear whether this was because survey recipients were not offered 'tolerance to risk' as an option, or it wasn't considered by them to be a major factor. From my discussions with many organisational leaders, most successful innovative organisations have an overt policy towards risk and its attendant inevitable misses.
The KPMG sponsored report (excerpt available here) goes into some detail about the negative actors and barriers to innovation. It is worth looking at each for your own organisation or division and what mitigations you can put in place for each. As with all cultural issues, particularly 'politics and turf wars' the only way to effect change is through leadership action and modelling behaviour.

Innovation Announcement: Designing your ideal KIN Innovation masterclass...

noreply@blogger.com (kinadmin) — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 17:16:00 +0000

We are planning a KIN Innovation Practice Masterclass in the first half of 2019.

Andrew Pope of Innosis has offered to run a one-day event on the following topics.

We would like to know which you would like to hear about the most, so that Andrew can plan a day that best meets your needs.

Email me your views gary.colet@mail.wbs.ac.uk

2. Designing digital (social platform) innovation strategies

Commonly used in medium and large organisations, enterprise social networks offer a unique opportunity to connect workforces to business needs and market drivers. However, digital social innovation requires an understanding of what engages us on social networks as well as how to create appropriate content for these channels to ensure any innovation strategy will have a greater chance of success.

3. Building collaborative behaviours that underpin innovation

Innovation that arrives from structured or spontaneous means is largely served by active collaboration between people and teams. Understanding what makes good teams thrive and how to start creative conversations is essential when planning innovation programs, campaigns and actions.

4. Mapping innovation facilitation to virtual channels

Facilitating innovation involves setting an environment and starting conversations that promote ideation. Here we explore the different focus that virtual channels require to compensate for the lack of in-person interaction.

Designing your ideal KIN Innovation masterclass

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:13:00 +0000

We are planning a new Innovation Network Masterclass in Q1 2019.
Andrew Pope of Innosis has offered to run a one-day event on the following topics.

KIN members are invited to let us know what's most important to you in setting up and running an effective innovation practice. Let us know your preference, so we can create the most valuable agenda for the event.

gary.colet@mail.wbs.ac.uk

1. Building self-organising teams for innovation
Hierarchies and control as an organisational technique inhibit the potential for innovation in workplace teams. Empowering teams to sense, respond and act underpins active collaboration and pre-conditions for innovative teams, especially in complex working environments.

2. Designing digital (social platform) innovation strategies
Commonly used in medium and large organisations, enterprise social networks offer a unique opportunity to connect workforces to business needs and market drivers. However, digital social innovation requires an understanding of what engages us on social networks as well as how to create appropriate content for these channels to ensure any innovation strategy will have a greater chance of success.

3. Building collaborative behaviours that underpin innovation
Innovation that arrives from structured or spontaneous means is largely served by active collaboration between people and teams. Understanding what makes good teams thrive and how to start creative conversations is essential when planning innovation programs, campaigns and actions.

4. Mapping innovation facilitation to virtual channels
Facilitating innovation involves setting an environment and starting conversations that promote ideation. Here we explore the different focus that virtual channels require to compensate for the lack of in-person interaction.

Bricks and mortar to bricks and clicks - the future of retail innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 11:05:00 +0000

We've all read about the apparent demise of high-street retail, most of it put down to the massive move to online purchases. Shopping centres report a drop in footfall of 3.5% in September, compared to last year. House of Fraser and Debenhams are in real trouble. It seems that bricks and mortar retail is in desperate need of innovation.

Whilst in New York last week, I bought a mini camera tripod from Amazon. Nothing special in that. However the way I did it was very different. Amazon are experimenting with channels that supplement their pure online offering. The store in Spring Street, Soho that I made my purchase in is their first 4Star location. Every item on the shelves is rated by customers as more than 4*, new or 'trending'. Shelf edge prices are updated dynamically to match online. The place was heaving with customers. I suspect that the store will also stimulate additional online sales.

Other store formats are also being trialled. In Seattle, their 'Amazon Go' store allows Amazon Prime customers to register on entry, select their items and simply walk out with them. No sales assistant interaction, no cash desk. Purchases are simply billed to their Prime account. The way they do this is through a combination of camera tracking, RFid tags and other tech. The Prime store may just be an experiment (they trialled it for a while with Amazon staff only), but all credit for trying.

Having worked in retail for many years, this is these are the biggest innovations I have seen in a long time. A perfect example of bricks and mortar turning into bricks and clicks.

This could be seen in two ways. Either Amazon are going to swallow even more of the high street by parking their tanks there, or existing retailers are going to see this type of melded retail offering as their future. Amazon have been pioneers and innovators without peers - and this proves it.

Chatbots & Digital Assistants: Shaping the future of work. (Sponsored event for Children In Need), 13 Nov 2018

noreply@blogger.com (kinadmin) — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 14:04:00 +0000

Way back in 1966, the natural language processing program, ELIZA, played the role of a digital psychologist. This early chatbot was capable of "listening" to you as you shared your life story, delivering mostly coherent, yet vague canned responses to whatever you typed in.

Chatbots have come a long way since then. Many in the current generation are equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), making them more powerful than ever. And today, chatbots are used by organisations to listen to and respond to requests, find the answers to commonly asked questions, or even help us order a pizza.

Meanwhile, using our smart devices we can ask intelligent assistants, such as Apple Siri, Microsoft Cortana, Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa, to set up events in our calendars, dictate emails, play from millions of songs, turn off the lights, and more. And the more we talk to them, the better intelligent assistants get at understanding and serving us, thanks to AI.

Chatbot technology is becoming commonplace in our homes, on our phones and even in our vehicles – but what about in the workplace? This dedicated breakfast briefing will explore the contemporary world of chatbots and digital assistants and their increasing utility for automating routine tasks. Can they be relied upon to do some of the knowledge management 'heavy lifting', and if so, what will the future workplace look like?

This event would be of particular interest to and benefit the following roles and functions:

HR
Customer Support
Community Managers
CIO's
Innovators
Knowledge Managers
Legal/Paralegal

The key learning points from this event will be:

Understanding the current and emerging role of chatbots in the workplace
Identifying the skills, resources and costs of developing a chatbot
Seeing/interacting with NRF's latest chatbot
Plenary discussion about how chatbots may shape the future of work

A hot & cold buffet breakfast will be available during the briefing.

Full details can be found on this event page:
Roundtable: Chatbots & Digital Assistants: Shaping the future of work. (Sponsored event for Children In Need)'

Tickets for this special event are £32, available from Workplace Week, with all proceeds donated to BBC's Children In Need charity.

A battery of problems

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 18 Sep 2018 08:51:00 +0000

Whilst electric vehicles are becoming commonplace on our roads, we don't really think about the technology that powers them. The Innovation Network members had a unique opportunity to visit the Warwick Manufacturing Group's research facility at Warwick University last week.

Part of our tour took us to the battery testing facility, where we saw the power packs that propel Teslas, Leafs, BMW i3s and other electric cars. The expectation that we would see revolutionary technology was quickly dispelled when we were shown the ubiquitous AA size batteries, of which hundreds power the Tesla. Sure, there is very smart tech that monitors and controls them. However it seems battery manufacture and chemistry has not moved on dramatically since the aptly named Professor John Goodenough invented the Lithium Ion cell in 1980.

I've been preparing for the KIN Spring 2019 members' workshop 'Work in 2030 - it may not be what you think'. In talking to members about a potential case study on horizon scanning, it's become clear that techniques that keep a collective open mind are just as important as any innovation process. As one individual said to me 'horizon scanning only shows you what's already possible, not what seems impossible today'. There is a wonderful 1964 clip of Arthur C Clarke predicting the future (3 mins). Clarke starts with 'Only if what I tell you seems completely unbelievable, have we any chance of visualizing the future'.

This fits with a recent posting from Greg Satell on 'We need to re-engineer our organisations for a new era of innovation'. As he says 'It’s becoming more important to prepare than adapt. By the time you realize the need to adapt, it may already be too late'.

The second point that he makes is that 'it is crucial to build a continuous pipeline of problems to solve'. Whilst Apple is renowned as a tech innovator, the reality (certainly in the early days) was that Steve Jobs was a brilliant problem-identifier. He didn't have the solution to 'put 1000 songs in my pocket' - he gave the challenge to hard drive manufacturers.

Innovators need to re-engineer their organisations and people to think in this way, in order to vizualize the 'completely unbelievable'.

https://www.digitaltonto.com/2018/we-need-to-reengineer-our-organizations-for-a-new-era-of-innovation/

Enabling Technology Announcement: New Roundtable Event: Supercharge Collaboration With O365, 16 Oct 2018

noreply@blogger.com (kinadmin) — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 10:41:00 +0000

The most recent Enabling Technologies Survey (conducted April – May 2018) identified two topics that could potentially be combined into one Roundtable event, namely the generic 'Collaboration Tools & Technologies' and the more specific 'Sharepoint/Office 365'. Whilst recognising that KIN Member organisations are using a wide variety of technologies and platforms for user engagement, collaboration and knowledge sharing, (e.g. Jive, G-Suite, Facebook for business, Wikis, Microsoft etc.) it is proposed we focus primarily on Sharepoint and O365 for this Roundtable.

Recognising that our member organisations are at different stages of their implementation journey from Sharepoint to O365, this Roundtable provides an ideal opportunity for knowledge sharing between those at the beginning of their journey and those who are just starting it.
As with previous Enabling Technologies events, we don't just talk about the technologies themselves, but look at the pragmatic issues around their implementation and effective use.
For this Roundtable, we are seeking:

People who have knowledge to share about …
People who want to know more about ….

Sharepoint Online

Searching for Information using Delve
Understanding document libraries
Using Groups/Team Sites for collaborative working
Setting up Communities of Practice
Grouping and Sharing documents using Boards

OneDrive for Business

Navigating OneDrive
Uploading content
Sharing Documents and Collaborating
Synchronising OneDrive to the Desktop

Skype for Business

Communicate using Instant Messaging, Voice and Video
Setting up Group meetings
Integration with Outlook
Sharing – Presentations, Content/Screen, Polls, Virtual Whiteboard

Office Desktop Applications

What's new in Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint?
Creating and editing documents in 'The Cloud'
Sharing documents and collaborating with colleagues online

Strategies for encouraging user adoption and engagement

When registering for this event, it would be helpful if you would indicate whether you have knowledge to share, or whether you are there to learn.

Full details can be found on this event page:
Roundtable: Supercharge Collaboration With O365'

Enabling Technology Announcement: Gartner Hype Cycle for AR and VR

noreply@blogger.com (kinadmin) — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 10:52:00 +0000

As can be seen from the Gartner Hype Cycle, AR lags VR a little on the slope of productivity, yet it is clear that the technologies have navigated the hype cycle in tandem. There is a very real distinction between the wider adoptions of AR and VR; whereas VR has generally been driven by entertainment applications particularly in relation to gaming, the adoption of AR is increasingly being driven by the workplace. We'll be looking at some examples of how AR, VR and MR (Mixed Reality) are being used in the workplace environment at the Autumn Workshop (10/11 September), and particularly how they are being used to drive better collaboration and productivity.

Enabling Technology Announcement: Results from the Enabling Technologies Survey 2018

noreply@blogger.com (kinadmin) — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 10:38:00 +0000

The output and analysis from the Enabling Technologies Survey is in the attached pdf. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to the survey. The findings are fairly self explanatory, but the key points are:

AI and BigData/Analytics are the most popular topics, and have featured in recent workshops and webinars. We will run future events on these topics, including one of the quarterly workshops scheduled for 2019.
Members wanted to know more about Blockchain. A very successful and well-attended Masterclass was arranged for the 3rd July at the PwC offices in London. Presentations and other knowledge assets are available from the KIN Memberspace event page, or alternativley, KIN Members and WBS Alumni can contact me if they want copies.
There is a lot of interest in collaborative tools & technologies and Office365, so it makes sense combine these into a single event, which will be a blend of Masterclass (with an expert on O365) and Roundtable, for peer knowledge sharing. This event - Supercharging Collaboration with O365 - has been scheduled for the 16th October. We're looking for a venue for this event, so please let me know if you can accommodate.
Immersive Technologies (Augmented and Virtual Reality applications) is the topic for our forthcoming Autumn Workshop on the 11th September. We are have also arranged a visit to the WMG labs for the afternoon of the 10th September to see some of the leading-edge developments, including AI, robotics, 3D imaging etc. We will be joined by KIN Alumni for this visit.
We ran a webinar on Chatbots & Virtual Agents on the 14th June, organised by Nancy Kinder in conjunction with the Knowledge & Community Network. The webinar was recorded and is available on Youtube and the event page.
I will follow up with the organisation that has expressed an interest in G-Suite.

If anyone has any additional feedback on the survey, or would like KIN to consider running an event on a topic not mentioned in the survey, please contact Steve Dale (steve.dale@mail.wbs.ac.uk)

Enabling Technology Announcement: Algorithms In Decision Making - Commons Select Committee Report

noreply@blogger.com (kinadmin) — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 14:35:00 +0000

Anyone who attended the December 2017 Workshop on "Data Driven Decision Making" couldn't have failed to be impressed by the presentation given by Dr Stephanie Mathisen, who spoke about the dangers of unregulated algorithms in the public sector that may influence decisions that could affect any of us. But whether you attended or not, I highly recommend reading the recently published report by the House of Commons Science & technology Select Committee.

The report acknowledges the role that Stephanie played in bringing these issues to the attention of Government: "The Report responds to a request for an inquiry into algorithms suggested to the previous Committee's 'My Science Inquiry' by Dr Stephanie Mathisen. She raised the question of "the extent to which algorithms can exacerbate or reduce biases" as well as "the need for decisions made by algorithms to be challenged, understood and regulated".

Augmented and Virtual Reality in the Workplace

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 10:20:00 +0000

Recent ‘innovation’ themed KIN Quarterly workshops have included “Reimagining the Innovative Organisation”, “The People Side of Innovation” and AI-augmented decision making. We continue the series for our Autumn Workshop (10/11 September) looking at how innovative technologies are shaping the way that work is done. We will look at how immersive technologies, such as augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), have transitioned from game-playing to serious business applications.

The emphasis will be on the business application of the technology rather than how the technology works. We will hear (and see) from pioneers in the practical application of AR and VR to solve real world business problems. There will be case studies from PwC, Severn Trent Water and the National College. The best way to understand the potential of these technologies is to actually try them out. Participants will be able to ‘immerse’ themselves in some of the AR and VR applications in our “Showcase” demonstrations from Kazendi, Cognitant, and Mbyronic.

Examples of business and operational tasks to which AR and VR bring benefits are:

Hands-free tasks: From engineering to medicine, the ability to access information and digital objects through AR and VR devices. Examples: AR to enable engineers to see inside complex machinery by overlaying a design schematic. Allowing employees to check judgements, consult models or literally ‘see-through’ the problem.

Visualisation of data, objects, projections and models: AR and VR technologies allow for visualisations of all kinds to be shared between teams within their working environment. Example: AR used to enable architects or product designers to share models with clients.

Improving teamwork, collaboration and communication: AR and VR have real potential to facilitate remote working and virtual team-working. Example: Team or project co-presence / virtual meeting in digital environments.

AR and VR can provide cost-effective solutions for knowledge-intensive training on high-value assets. Example: Virtual ‘on-the-job’ training in simulated hazardous environments.

KIN events always strive to balance academic and experiential learning. We will will start the day with a thought-provoking keynote from Dr Fridolin Wild. Fridolin has undertaken significant research into performance augmentation and enhanced learning techniques provided by Augmented, Virtual and Mixed Reality applications.

This workshop is not a glimpse into the future or ‘what might be’, but a practical exploration of what business and industry innovators are doing now to augment human capabilities and change the way that work is done. But you need to experience this rather than read about it. If you're sceptical, I’m sure you'll come away more excited than you thought you would be.

KIN members can register to attend the workshop by contacting Jane at kin@wbs.ac.uk. Please register by 29^th August.

Not only, but also….

Previous KIN members (alumni) are invited to join current members on Monday 10th September from 2.30pm - 5.00pm for a guided tour of the Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG). WMG provides innovative solutions to industry; through research, education and collaboration. The tour will include a visit to the Manufacturing Automation Centre, where they use immersive technologies and advanced 3D imagining. We will also visit the Autonomous Vehicle development centre where we will be able to try their simulator. This will be followed by a networking dinner in the evening. KIN alumni should let Jane at kin@wbs.ac.uk know if you’d like to attend the tour and the networking dinner by 29^th August.

10 years of KIN Bloggin'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 08:33:00 +0000

It's almost unbelievable, but it's 10 years since KIN started this Blog.

We have covered a huge range of topics, moving from old-school Knowledge Management to cutting-edge innovation practices. We've covered site visits, member news, changes in KIN personnel (we miss you Dawn!) and some personal perspectives on the changing nature of work.

Individual blog posts: 264
Most unlikely topic: James May and Meccano
My favourite post: Rory Sutherland
Funniest posts: Don't laugh and Tongue-in-cheek project management definitions

We hope that you continue to enjoy the KIN Facilitators' picks.

Gary, Steve, Erica (and Phil, who posted the very first KIN blog in 2008)

PS, If you don't subscribe to KIN Bloggin' you can easily sign-up here.

Do it without 'the deck'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 08:20:00 +0000

David D'Souza gave one of the most memorable KIN talks ever.
He did it without slides.
This is why and how...

https://daviddsouza.com/2018/07/10/why-i-strongly-dislike-powerpoint/

If you must use slides, try using simple images without text to reinforce your story.

(David's talk from the Winter 2016 KIN members' workshop is here)

Future-proofing the organisation - video

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 14:43:00 +0000

Nadim Habib is a superb and engaging speaker on business and change. It's worth listening to his whole talk, but if you don't have 30 mins, jump to about 13 minutes to hear him on 'the future', forecasts, turbulence and agility.

If nothing else, listen to his excellent and funny anecdote at about 26 mins on how to get people to collaborate.

Habib is based in Lisbon, but we are going to work on getting him to speak at a future KIN event. As an academic he definitely talks KIN language.

Tongue-in-cheek project management definitions

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 14:45:00 +0000

I was having a clearout of old papers recently.

Amongst my Marks and Spencer stuff I found the amusing list of alternative definitions for project managers attached below. I wrote this glossary about 25 years ago, so now I suppose we could add:

Agile

Artificial intelligence

Machine learning

Big data

Virtual reality

Silicon roundabout

Startup

Working from home

No-code

Algorithm

Any offers offers for alternative definitions for these?

(Incidentally, in government projects 'SRO' is Senior Responsible Officer).

Innovation serendipity - how not to do it

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 16:00:00 +0000

At The Innovation Network we've often discussed how important the physical environment is to maximising the chance of innovating. Cloisters, staircases, coffee machines are common examples of places where people can be expected to have chance encounters and spark ideas off one another.

I've just listened to the Planet Money podcast episode #847 'Inventing Accidents'. That's accidental inventions - not inventing car crashes. The broadcast features several inventions that came about when individuals were looking for something else. Did you know the Super Soaker water pistol was accidentally invented by a NASA scientist?

Pagan Kennedy (yes that is her name) has studied and written extensively about serendipity. In the podcast she talks about 'engineering serendipity' being a myth and building special multi-million $ staircases are a waste of money.

The best thing you can do to bring about accidental innovations - hire the most diverse workforce you can find.

You can listen to the podcast (18 minutes) here.

KIN has a diverse and exciting set of innovation events scheduled for the summer and autumn. The next is the 'Building Trust with Blockchain' masterclass on 3rd July, hosted by PwC. Check out the calendar of events here.

Innovation Announcement: New Masterclass Event: LEGO Serious Play, 09 Nov 2018

noreply@blogger.com (kinadmin) — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:39:00 +0000

Do you use your hands to think?

Creativity, ideation and design thinking are all important components of innovation and problem solving. However, it's often difficult to get the creative juices flowing without some external stimulus. LEGO Serious Play (LSP) is a high-energy creativity, communication and problem-solving technique. It enables faster and better decisions with more commitment from participants. It's particularly effective at releasing untapped potential (people always 'know more than they know they know') and latent ideas.

This is a hands-on, interactive Masterclass for KIN members that will show how to use all our senses, particularly visual and haptic (tactile). Using the metaphor of LEGO modelling, we will experience a new way of thinking (with your hands). This is underpinned by research into the neuroscience of groups and meetings. We will also explore contemporary leadership themes such as psychological safety, systems thinking, diversity and inclusion, authenticity, creativity and collaboration. These are all critical components of successful innovation. You will have the opportunity to tackle your own problems, unlock ideas and take these back into your organisation. LSP is being used in an increasing number of organisations – large and small, commercial and public ; this is an opportunity to experience using it first hand and understand how it and playful approaches can have a significant impact.

This event would be of particular interest to and benefit the following roles and functions:
R&D, Change management, knowledge managers, innovation specialists, strategy roles, operations management, Learning and Development, HR

The key learning points from this event will be:
A practical and engaging problem solving technique, novel idea-generation, team-building, inclusion techniques, the neuroscience behind team working

Full details can be found on this the KIN members' event page:
Masterclass: LEGO Serious Play'

Data paranoia

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 08:43:00 +0000

I received an invitation from one of our speakers at a past KIN Workshop to join Dock.

This technology offers to connect all our social media activity through the blockchain-enabled platform Etherium. The last thing I want is for all my digital presence, such as it is, to be more connected, despite the security that blockchain allegedly offers.

The invitation cleverly/worryingly lets me know which of my contacts have already signed up for Dock. I had not given Dock permission to see my contacts, so I can only assume that it had done some clever stuff connecting me through the contacts of the person that had invited me. Blockchain may be 'secure', but the rest of it?

Paranoid, moi?

Steve Dale is running a KIN Masterclass 'Building Trust with Blockchain', hosted by PwC in London on 3rd July. KIN Members can get more information and register here.