Artificial Intelligence to change the profile of employees in the Business Services Industry

The era of artificial intelligence is just beginning, and fully harnessing the benefits of this technology requires time and managing numerous challenges. Activities such as customer support, software testing/development, marketing, and financial-accounting services could represent over 70% of artificial intelligence use cases in the near future.

For this reason, the Business Service Leaders Association (ABSL) Romania organized the 11th edition of the national conference focusing on artificial intelligence and its impact on the business services industry and life in general. At the conference’s opening, ABSL released the annual report of the business services industry, providing an overview of the sector and its trends.

According to the ABSL 2023 report, only 26% of companies in the industry currently use artificial intelligence and machine learning in their services, a percentage that is also reflected globally across different industries, while 74% of outsourcing companies in Romania use basic automation in customer service activities.

It is estimated that artificial intelligence will work best for employees with higher education, potentially automating up to 60% of their current processes. This is expected to substantially increase labor productivity, with estimates suggesting that half of the current work processes could be automated between 2030 and 2045.
“A hundred years ago, in the science fiction novels of Karel Capek (the inventor of the word ‘robot’), it was anticipated that robots would predominantly replace employees with intensive physical activity. Now, we see that in reality, they more often assist those with higher education and intellectual activity. It is somewhat counterintuitive but not necessarily bad news, as there is enormous potential for productivity growth. If we manage to integrate artificial intelligence into the development of products with the highest share in our industry (financial services, IT, and HR offered by over 65% of responding companies according to the latest ABSL study), we can keep Romania in a competitive position in the region, despite the salary increases induced by inflation,” says Cătălin Iorgulescu, Vice-President of ABSL.