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How Virtual Knowledge Workers Augment Human Capabilities

Baljinder SinghSenior Vice President and Chief Information Officerlookdeeper@exlservice.com

Written by:

Digitizing a business process requires a

continuum of interventions:

• LEAN: Making the process more efficient

by removing errors and redundancy

• RAPID: Automating the process by

removing manual steps/intervention

• SMART: Applying analytics to make the

process more efficient

• LEARN: Incorporating machine learning

to make the process adapt

• VIRTUAL: Transforming to a digital,

adaptive process that can run without

human intervention

Over the years, technology has made

knowledge workers more productive.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA), as

example, can now eliminate many of the

repetitive tasks that consumed the time

of a knowledge worker, allowing them to

focus on more important responsibilities

while making a business process more

RAPID. However advancements in

machine learning, cognitive computing

and AI allows companies to further

augment business operations with VKWs,

software programs that can learn, adapt

and make decisions.

The Emergence of Virtual Knoweldge WorkersThe role and scope of the virtual

knowledge worker is constantly evolving.

At the moment, VKWs in the workplace

augments rather than replaces human

capabilities. This provides people with

more time to focus on crucial value-

creating activities.

Because they follow a defined set of

automatic responses, virtual knowledge

workers make fewer mistakes and

are faster than humans. These digital

assistants mimic human conversations

by assessing the context of what a user

is saying and responding appropriately.

Knowledge work requires the ability to learn, analyze and apply intelligence – traits that only people

used to have. Now, advancements in automation, cognition and Artificial Intelligence (AI) allow

organizations to augment their workforce with virtual knowledge workers (VKWs). Performing complex

tasks that previously required a person, these automated programs have been deployed across

several industries with great success.

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This can create a superior customer

experience by allowing for seamless

interaction between VKWs and customers

across multiple channels including phone,

messaging, mobile and web.

One area where VKWs can take some of

the burden off of human employees is

using natural language to converse with

the customer. VKWs can answer simple

help desk questions via chat, allowing the

support user to interact and deal with more

complex tasks.

Altering and improving VKWs often requires

no coding; the bots are trained to mimic

human actions while interacting with

existing application. Over time, processes

become virtualized simply by training the

bots.

Real-life Applications of Virtual Knowledge WorkersVirtual knowledge workers are more

prevalent than you would expect. There

are several interesting use cases across

different industry segments

LegalAn unlikely area where there are several

examples is the legal field.

A VKW named ROSS assists various teams

in a US firm with legal research. Another

VKW called DoNotPay has successfully

helped void 160,000 parking tickets across

London and New York in less than two years

–for free. The bot asks a set of questions to

calculate whether a ticket can actually be

appealed. After determining that an appeal

is viable, the bot walks the user through the

detailed, specific steps to contest the ticket

These VKW lawyers can even work out

precise compensation for delayed flights,

or assist vulnerable groups like those who

are HIV positive and refugees in foreign

countries by presenting tips to navigate

complicated legal systems. AI lawyers

are expected to soon start drafting their

own documents, building arguments and

comparing and contrasting past cases.

However, arguing cases in the courtroom

is still the domain of human lawyers,

no matter how well they’re assisted by

machines.

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HealthcareThe vast amount of data and variables in

healthcare make it an extremely attractive

area for virtual knowledge workers.

One high-profile example is the Google

Deepmind Health Project, a VKW used

to mine medical record data in order to

provide better and faster health services.

VKWs from other companies are assisting in

clinical decisions in areas such as radiology

and cardiology by analyzing images to

quickly detect problems that humans may

miss.

Another application offers consultations

based on a user’s personal medical history.

A person can report the symptoms of their

illness to the app, which checks them

against a database of diseases using

speech recognition. After examining the

patient’s history and circumstances, the

app suggests appropriate courses of

action. It also reminds patients to take their

medication and follows up to find out how

they’re feeling.

Some firms have begun using VKWs to

retrieve and examine invoices containing

digital data regarding treatments, providers

and hospitals. By analyzing this information,

the VKW can tell if healthcare providers

repeatedly mistreat certain conditions. They

can also direct patients to providers with a

better success rate for their condition.

AccountingA VKW has been designed to help small

and medium-sized enterprises digitize

and automate accounting and financial

processes. Users submit their receipts to

the bot, which turns them into a machine-

readable format, encrypts them and

allocates them to an account. The platform

gradually self–learns while tracking

invoices, sales, costs, and their liquidity.

Financial AdvisoryLegally, the term “financial advisor” refers to

any entity offering advice about securities.

Robo-advisors are a class of VKW financial

adviser that provides financial advice or

portfolio management online without

human intervention.

Most robo-advisors are restricted to

allocating investments among asset classes

using the same algorithms as their human

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counterparts, freeing up these employees

to focus on financial planning and cash-flow

management.

Robo-advisors directly managed about $19

billion as of December 2014, according to

a study done from Corporate Insight, while

another study predicted this to grow to

$255 billion in total assets by 2020.

InsuranceVKWs can be deployed to research,

aggregate, refine and present information

to underwriters, thereby allowing them to

focus on their core underwriting activities.

Forward-thinking insurers are deploying

VKWs already. These include companies

using VKWs to develop a range of

underwriting solutions to achieve accurate

pricing. Others rely on VKWs to rate, bind

and issue policies over the phone. Another

virtual insurance agent can generate a car

insurance quote if a customer simply texts a

photo of their license plate.

Recommendation for Getting StartedVirtual knowledge workers represent

a holistic approach to the digital

transformation of a process. This includes

mapping the customer touch points and

moments of truth with a design thinking

approach, architecting a flexible data

infrastructure that delivers context, and

incorporating cognitive automation and

machine learning into the business process.

However, once on this path, companies

will need to build the right framework for

a successful VKW program. These basic

requirements include:

• Security

• Integration

• Monitoring

• Management

Companies should first identify where a

virtual knowledge worker would generate

the greatest return and then pilot and test

solutions to understand capabilities and

limitations. This includes assessing the

types of work the bot will perform, and then

building the business case for integrating

VKWs into the process.

Program management and governance

are crucial as well. Organizations may

need to redesign tasks, jobs, management

practices, and performance goals when

they begin implementing VKWs.

Carefully charting a plan for implementing

VKWs can transform a company’s

operations. VKWs can provide personalized

interactions with customers in the front

office while automating complex tasks to

free up human talent for high-value work in

the back office. Organizations that combine

advanced capabilities in RPA, AI and a solid

VKW framework will be well positioned to

take advantage of these virtual workers.

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