Software robots' workforce contributions will increase 50% in the next 2 years

No, the robots are not coming for your job as they ready to take over the world ... yet. But the future of the world's workforce will mark a significant shift and work will be heavily reliant on the teamwork of human and machine, noted the just-released IDC white paper, Content Intelligence for the Future of Work. And we're not quite in sci-fi film territory either, said Holly Muscolino, research vice president of content and process strategies and the future of work at IDC. "A software robot (or'digital worker') is essentially a software program that automates a task that has previously been accomplished by a human worker," Muscolino explained. "The term'robot' is used to signify the role that these software solutions play in automation, however, beyond that, there is no relationship between a software robot and the physical robots that we may see on the manufacturing line, patrolling supermarket aisles on starring in'Star Wars'' movies." Muscolino added, "A variety of software technologies are classified as'digital workers.' The technology gaining the most airtime today is robotic process automation (RPA), but other automation technologies, and AI-enabled technologies, like digital assistants and chatbots, are also classified as'digital workers'."