Digital transformation initiatives are driving government agencies to develop integrated IT asset management strategies that can meet resource demands and reduce analyst workloads. To meet growing service and asset requests, agencies are looking to IT asset management solutions that incorporate robotic process automation and artificial intelligence. IT asset management has typically been viewed as an operational solution that enables an agency to properly document IT assets along with associated contracts, license agreements and disposal information. However, in recent years, IT asset management has become an important part of an overall security strategy for many agencies after several highly publicized security breaches. Incorporating RPA with AI into next-generation IT asset management solutions will also help federal agencies that are struggling to meet IT asset management objectives due to limited resources.

Amazon's fleet of automated warehouse robots, now more than 100,000 machines strong, is working alongside human employees to help meet the e-commerce giant's massive fulfillment demand. The company's robots carry inventory around massive warehouse floors, compiling all the items for a customer's order and reducing the need for human interaction with the products. But the chief technologist of Amazon Robotics, Tye Brady, insists that these robots are enhancing human efficiencies rather than eliminating warehouse jobs. Amazon has been going full steam ahead when it comes to hiring and now employs over 500,000 people. Brady views the robots as necessary to this growth. "When there are tens of thousands of orders going on simultaneously, you are getting beyond what a human can do," he told the audience at MIT Technology Review's first EmTech Next conference today.

A festive assortment of tips to get your e-tail site ready for the seasonal rush. Black Friday is an official American institution and an unofficial holiday. The Friday after Thanksgiving has traditionally kick-started the holiday shopping season in the US, although many stores have recently started offering their "Black Friday Deals" earlier. How can e-tailers prepare themselves for Black Friday and beyond? If you read the Absolutdata blog regularly, you know that we frequently talk about the need for speed in the fulfillment department.

We are at an interesting tipping point regarding how and where work gets done. As business leaders and managers, we have become increasingly capable of engaging a workforce that is some combination of virtual and on site, part time and full time, permanent and contingent. But just when we've sorted out preferred management routines, there is an entirely new landscape emerging with technology options central to the work and possibly your business model: work automation. How, when, and where should leaders be thinking about applying the various automation technologies to their businesses? There are currently three technological enablers of work automation: robotic process automation, cognitive automation, and social robotics.