As we emerge from the Coronavirus crisis, firms will undoubtedly look to automation as a way to mitigate the risks that future crises pose to the supply and productivity of human workers. The report “The COVID-19 Crisis Will Accelerate Enterprise Automation Plans” details how automation has been a major force reshaping work since long before the pandemic, and how it’s now taking on a new urgency in the context of business risk and resiliency. Key takeaways include: 

  • Firms will invest in more cognitive capabilities and supplied AI, industrial robots, service robots, and RPA, however these investments will have unequal impacts on the global workforce 
  • COVID-19 has made automation a boardroom imperative as CEOs are now forced to expand business continuity and risk to include ‘white swan’ events 
  • Businesses will need to approach automation with empathy as the human impact of the crisis on the workforce continues into recovery  

The author of the report, Leslie Joseph, has also published a blog post on this topic: COVID-19, Automation, And You. Leslie is available for media interviews. Please reach out to press@forrester.com