The current human capital crisis has caused businesses to struggle to maintain a productive workforce. With the increasing cost of labor and the shortage of talent, companies are turning to RaaS (Robots as a Service) and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) to fill in the gaps.

  • Why are companies increasingly turning to these technologies?

  • How is RaaS being used?

  • What are the benefits of using bots in business?

Though RaaS is a sustainable solution to some of your human capital woes, there are challenges businesses face when implementing this tech. RaaS is a novel business strategy and by the end of this article, you should have a better understanding of how it can help mitigate your human capital crisis.

How bad is the human capital crisis?

We are all well aware of the horrid impacts COVID had across the entire globe. While the pandemic abates in many regions of the world, we are faced with the residual affects it brings – a tremendous decline in human capital. We’ve lost great minds and wonderful talent at a rate that simply cannot be recovered in the same way it was obtained. Without an effective plan to correct this unforeseen consequence, we can only expect long-term negative effects on economic growth and workforce earnings. With such a grave impact, we have to act quickly because the window of effective resolution is closing fast.

As people retire and accept promotions, that opens opportunities for newer talent to fill those positions and receive mentoring from their predecessors. The problem with this model is now there’s a shortage on both ends, there aren’t enough predecessors to coach new talent and there isn’t enough new talent to relieve current professionals.

“40 million people who would have had a job in the absence of the pandemic, did not have one at the end of 2021, worsening youth unemployment trends. In multiple countries 25 percent of all young people were neither in education, employment nor training in 2021.” (World Bank Group)

How, then, is work getting done?

  • Very ineffectively because companies are relying under qualified employees to fulfill a skilled role

  • Very begrudgingly because managers are stacking too many responsibilities on their top talent to compensate for a small team

This is not sustainable, but RaaS is.

What is RaaS?

A novel business model, RaaS (robot as a service) allows bot manufacturing companies to lease robotics to other companies of varying industries. These bots take repetitive manual processes and turn them into automated processes. Tasks like scheduling, rescheduling, data compilation, and more are generally a human’s responsibility. It’s tasks like these, however, that are perfectly delegated to RaaS. We are experiencing a human capital crisis but there are infinite solutions with deploying bots to fill in the gap. The residual effects of RaaS helping humans are reduction of initial investments for startups, minimized scaling costs, and practically no upskilling investment.

An answer to the human capital crisis

Hiring is an expensive process that involves scouting for talent, vetting candidates, grafting the new hire into your company, and hoping they stay for the long run.

“…the average cost per hire was nearly $4,700. But many employers estimate the total cost to hire a new employee can be three to four times the position’s salary…” (Society for Human Resources Management)

You have to consider the time paid for your current team to fulfill all the necessary scouting, etc. That is, of course, if you aren’t trying to do it all by yourself. If the new hire decides to leave your company, you’re short thousands of dollars with nothing to show for it.

Bots don’t look for work; don’t need to be interviewed; don’t need to be trained; and don’t quit their jobs. They’re a relatively minor investment with a guaranteed long-term benefit making RaaS a great solution for startups and SMEs looking to expand their capabilities without breaking the bank.

A means to scale

To get more work done in the same amount of time, oftentimes people look to hiring more talent. Not only is it costly, as we just discovered, it’s also not guaranteed to yield the results you need. One of the unfortunate side effects of the pandemic is that many professionals lost their opportunities to hone their skills. We are left with many, many job seekers who only have potential, not skill. Luckily, you can bring them on anyway because where they lack, RaaS can assist.

  • Does you junior analyst have a hard time compiling relevant data for thorough analysis? Leave it to RaaS.

  • Does your assistant struggle with scheduling and planning programs that don’t overlap? Leave it to RaaS.

  • Is your newly promoted accountant having difficulties with month-end reports? Leave it to RaaS.

Robots don’t need weeks of training on a new concept. They only need a few moments to upgrade their code and they’re ready to go. You can take a chance with potential when you have a completely malleable bot that’ll help inexperienced team members get the job done. All of which make it possible to scale in a sustainable manner.

New tech for a new generation

Millennials are the new managers in large corporations and are, at an increasing rate, becoming their own bosses. More concerned with work fulfillment than pocket fulfillment, millennials with the help of Gen Z are changing how businesses do business.

  • They want the option to work from home

  • They require to be paid proportionate to their value

  • They don’t want to do what they don’t want to do

One might think that food, shelter, and other basic needs would be motivation enough for people to go to work. However, younger professionals are setting boundaries and companies will have to comply or fold.

“The vast majority of robotic applications are doing jobs humans don’t want to do or shouldn’t be doing for safety reasons.” (Forbes)

RaaS doesn’t just do what some humans can’t do, but also what they don’t want to do. This opens the opportunity for more fulfilling work making your company more attractive to job seekers. As it stands, RaaS is your best chance to survive the human capital crisis.