The majority of business leaders are already investing in, and benefiting from, the increased use of smart technologies in the workplace.
This is according to Avanade's recent research on smart technology, which refers to technologies such as connected devices, wearables and intelligent automation that allow computers or machines to do work or make decisions traditionally done by humans.
It surveyed 500 C-level executives, business unit leaders and IT decision-makers globally.
The intersecting of new smart machine algorithms, hardware and big data is creating a big bang of discovery, invention and innovation built on new general-purpose technology unlike any we've seen before, says Gartner.
As with any new technological development, early adoption accompanied by smart strategies and
effective execution can position businesses for competitive advantages that can last for years, says Deloitte.
The risk of investing too late in smart machines is likely greater than the risk of investing too soon, it adds.
By 2015, there will be more than 40 vendors with commercially available managed services offerings leveraging smart machines and industrialised services, says Avanade.
By 2018, the total cost of ownership for business operations will be reduced by 30% through smart machines and industrialised services, it adds.
According to the report, increased revenue is a major driver of their adoption, with business and IT leaders expecting up to a 33% rise in revenue from smart technologies over the next five years.
Additionally, businesses anticipate retraining current employees, creating new roles and reorganising their structure as up to 20% of existing roles are repurposed.
The study says 63% of companies are already experiencing key benefits from their smart technology investments, including increased revenue, improved customer experience and higher employee satisfaction.
Also, 92% believe that it will be easier for organisations to attract and retain top talent as they increase their reliance on smart technologies.
In addition, 73% said that they will require more skills in the areas of problem solving (61%), the ability to gather and analyse data (59%), critical thinking (51%) and collaboration (51%) as they blend smart technologies with humans.
"While the adoption of smart technologies may seem threatening to some, the reality is that successful organisations are already realising business results and planning their next round of investments in this area," said Ashish Kumar, chief growth officer and digital lead at Avanade.
"We believe that smart technologies can actually increase the humanity of a digital workplace and help organisations attract and retain the critical talent they need for the future."
With more smart machines working in the enterprise, people are freed up to concentrate on critical business issues and innovation, to decide on which course of action artificial intelligence should take in certain instances, or even to override decisions made by machines, says Avanade.
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