The question is rarely automate or offshore. It is which tasks in the role to automate, and who handles the rest. Split the role into tasks, sort each one, then decide.
Sort each task with five questions
- How often does it happen? Many times a day points to automation; a few times a week, to a person.
- Does it follow fixed rules? The same steps every time points to automation; steps that change case by case, to a person.
- Is the input clean? Digital, structured and consistent points to automation; scanned, messy or incomplete, to a person.
- Does it need judgment? If a rule decides, automate it; if someone weighs the options, keep a person.
- Does a customer or client feel it? Work behind the scenes can be automated; where tone and trust matter, keep a person.
A task with most answers pointing to automation is a candidate. Mostly pointing to a person, keep a person on it.
Three common roles, split
Accounts payable. Reading invoices and entering them can be automated. Matching exceptions, chasing approvals and talking to vendors need a person.
Customer support. AI can draft replies to common questions. A person reviews each one, handles the unusual cases and keeps the tone right.
AI training data. Labeling and reviewing data for AI cannot be automated away: AI learns from people. Subject matter specialists check that the labels are right.
Why the answer is often both
Automation breaks quietly. A rule drifts, a file arrives in a new format, a connection stops. Someone has to notice, fix it and handle what the automation cannot. A dedicated person who knows your process makes the automation reliable, and the automation frees that person for the work that needs judgment.
How to start
- List the tasks in the role and the hours each takes in a typical week.
- Sort each task with the five questions.
- Automate the task with the most hours and the least judgment first.
- Give the remaining tasks, and the automation's exceptions, to one person.
employmagic does both: our Process Engineering specialists find and build the automations, and dedicated specialists handle the rest inside your tools.