How do you work in the corona era? AI proposes to improve work efficiency August 18 18:02

"I wonder men have a neat work at home?"
"Boss or would have us to evaluate properly the content of the work-at-home?"
On telecommuting spread in the spread of the new coronavirus, work management Ya Issues in terms of evaluation and productivity are pointed out. Against this backdrop, there is an American startup company that is currently receiving worldwide attention. AI is artificial intelligence that can be used to improve the productivity of each employee and improve the productivity. I asked the top management if AI could be a trump card for productivity improvement. (Nana Yamada, Reporter, International Department)

AI is your coach

“In sports, we rely on coaching to improve, but at work, most employees don't have coaches. Many managers don't spend their time teaching their subordinates. As your own coach, it will tell you where and how to improve.''

Tommy Weir, president of "enable," a startup company in Boston, USA, which was founded two years ago, claims that AI is the time to become an employee coach. In the company name, the word "enable" in English = "enable" is multiplied by AI, and the meaning "enable with AI" is included.

"Perfect" is 300 points

AI analyzes the data that companies have on their servers. Marketing information accumulated every day, customer management information, document creation time, email reply time, etc. Let AI read 15 billion data that has never been used as a measure of productivity. There is no data that the company must prepare for receiving the service.

AI scores each of the three indicators related to productivity with a maximum of 100 points. The total score is 300 points. The first is how productive your work time is. Analyze how much time you spend working on your PC, such as creating documents and presentation materials, and holding online meetings.

The second is whether the work method is consistent. This is because to improve productivity, it is preferable to work with the same work efficiency every day without much variation from day to day.

And the third and most important is the degree of influence on other employees and teams. For example, let's say you have an employee who seems to be more productive at the first glance and finishes all his work in time. However, if there are many mistakes in the work, other employees will spend time fixing the mistakes, which will reduce productivity. The effect on those around us is to be measured.

The calculated points can be displayed for each employee and team, and can be checked for each period such as one week or one month. Then, the AI ​​identifies areas to be improved and advises the management how to improve productivity. The advice is "Let's reduce the time of wasteful team meetings", "Let's let other employees explain how they are doing work from an employee named Jeff who is working efficiently" Target.

I asked Tommy Weir, president of "Enabling," if AI could be the trump card for productivity improvement.

“Data does not betray”

Q. Did the inquiries from companies change with the spread of the new coronavirus infection?

A. How to increase productivity has been a challenge since before Corona, but after the spread of infection, the number of inquiries has increased by 6 times compared to the past. Companies are now worried and asking themselves, "How productive our employees are, how do we know that? We don't know if work results are visible, but productivity is low or high." I can't tell you the name of the company, but I have also received inquiries from famous Japanese large companies.

Q. Another way to check the status of working from home is to check whether the mouse on your computer is working properly, or to take a screenshot of the employee's computer screen on a regular basis.

A. By simply following the movements of the keyboard and mouse, you can only tell what you were doing at that moment.

One American company had 10 minutes to complete the work on one day and 60 minutes to another day, resulting in uneven work efficiency. As a result of identifying problems with AI and adjusting work efficiency to be uniform, we were able to reduce annual costs by 37 million dollars (about 3.9 billion yen).

Another American business owner was worried about his huge overtime pay. Analyzing with AI, I found that overtime work was increasing because the jobs that had to be completed today appeared one after another during the second half of working hours. I was able to cut overtime by proactively carrying over work that was in time for the next morning the next morning. Merely understanding what employees are doing at this moment will not lead to these improvements.

Q. What is the most important thing to improve productivity?

A. The most important thing is to trust the data. The data is not betrayed. It will tell us where in our work is wasted. The company manages as many as 2080 hours a year of employees (8 hours a day, 40 hours a week). You should realize that the people who work there are heavily influenced by the choices companies make. Nobody wants to waste their time. Shouldn't we use the limited time effectively for our employees and the company?

Q. In Japan, about 70% are SMEs. Is it possible for small and medium-sized enterprises to utilize it?

A. SMEs are starting to work from home like the big companies amid the corona crisis, and face the difficulties of operating them. If you have enough data sleeping on your server, any company doing business in any field can use this service and even small businesses may benefit.

Towards the age of Wiz Corona

In May, Lenovo, a major PC manufacturer, targeted more than 20,000 employees of companies and organizations in 10 countries around the world (Japan, US, Brazil, Mexico, UK, France, Germany, Italy, China, India). In the survey conducted, 64% of the 10 countries responded that the shift to work from home was progressing due to the spread of new corona infection.

On the other hand, the percentage of people who said that working from home was less productive than working from office was 13% on average in 10 countries, compared to 40% in Japan.

Improving productivity has long been a challenge for Japanese companies, but it will be necessary to devise more than ever in order for companies to try various ways of working towards the age of With Corona.

Of course, if productivity is so important that the relationship of trust between the company and its employees is broken, there is no point. If it is used effectively while paying attention to the “side effect” of scoring by AI, it may help in solving the problem.

International Department Reporter
Nana Yamada

Joined in 2009
Nagasaki Station, Chiba Station, Economic Department, now in charge of America and Europe