If you are still using skilled people to do repetitive tasks, you're wasting resources. Automation exists to change that. When people talk about digital transformation, the focus is usually on cost. But in my experience, the real opportunity lies in how we use automation to rethink roles and make better use of people’s time and skills.
If you're running a business today, you're probably under pressure to scale without hiring. Skilled talent is hard to find and even harder to keep. Labour costs are rising and budgets are tight.
Many teams are still carrying the pressure of doing more with less, after years of economic uncertainty and constant change. Fatigue is building, and it is starting to show in missed deadlines, high turnover and falling productivity.
Automation is not here to take people out of the business. It is here to take the low-value, repetitive tasks off their plates so they can focus on what really matters. Solving problems. Making decisions. Using the experience only people can bring.
This is not theory. I have seen it work.
One of the strongest examples I have come across is a manufacturing business, female-led and family-run, with many long-serving staff. As the business grew, leadership made a deliberate decision not to bring in outsiders or let anyone go. Instead, they automated manual processes and reassigned their team into more strategic roles. Some of those employees had been with the business for decades. Today, the company is thriving because it kept their knowledge and gave those employees room to grow.
With automation, well-being, job satisfaction and even creativity can improve.
That kind of approach matters even more in economies like South Africa, where unemployment is high and rising. In the first quarter of 2025, the country’s official unemployment rate was 32.9% − one of the highest in the world. So yes, the fear that automation could lead to job losses is understandable. But it is not the full picture.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 shows that while 83 million jobs might be lost due to shifts in the balance between humans and machines, 69 million new ones will be created. Many of these will be more meaningful, more creative and more resilient.
The outcome depends on how we handle the transition and whether we design systems that support people rather than replace them.
In my work, I have seen big improvements when business focuses on the right problems: automating what is repetitive, checking for errors, flagging exceptions, freeing up capacity. I’ve worked with companies that used to bring in 40 temp workers every month-end just to get through the backlog. After streamlining the process, they no longer needed the extra help, and their core team started working reasonable hours once more. More importantly, people began to enjoy their jobs again.
That is not only a good outcome, but also a business advantage. A Boston Consulting Group study found that half the workers around the world are experiencing burnout. The top causes are due to overwork, lack of resources and poor work-life boundaries.
Companies with high burnout levels face nearly three times more absenteeism and twice the staff turnover. With automation, well-being, job satisfaction and even creativity can improve.
Reimagining work is not simple
I will not pretend it’s always easy. Some leaders still worry that automation will lead to job cuts. Others are hesitant to change systems that feel familiar, even if they are inefficient. But the biggest risk is doing nothing. In today’s market, inefficiency is too costly and burnout is not sustainable.
There is no universal playbook. Every business is different. That is why I always start by listening, not just to executives but to the people doing the actual work. They know where the delays are. What is not working. What is slowing them down.
It’s also why I encourage my team to think like users. If you are designing a system for finance, do not think like a developer. Think like the person working through a 200-invoice backlog. Step into their role and solve their problems, not the ones you imagine.
In the end, automation is a tool. It is not a strategy. The strategy is about how you grow, how you treat your people and how you build something that lasts. Technology only works if it helps you meet those goals.
So, if you are looking at automation, ask these questions: What are we trying to free people up to do? What knowledge are we at risk of losing? Are our systems helping people work better, or just faster?
The businesses that get this right will be the ones that move quickly, attract good people and stay resilient in the long run. And if that means moving your most experienced invoice checker into a leadership role instead of replacing them, that’s progress.
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