N8N-zappier-agent builder - automation of thought
I was thinking … if OpenAI decided to open to release Agent Builder last night, is it possible that tools that are very similar to it, will become more and more the norm in interacting with workflow based tasks? If so, how long would a company need to replace it’s repetitive tasks(Service Desk, First Level etc) with such automation workflows?
My estimation would be around 5-10 years depending on how fast companies decide to adopt an automation platform. I don’t believe the change will come any time soon, as even though the hype is real, the adoption at enterprise level is usually slower than at consumer based level. Be that as it may, a thought crawled into my head, how much of the enterprise IT Roles will be possible to be replaced by tools like Zappier, N8N or Agent Builder?
I do believe a big chunk of the supporting jobs will no longer exist in 10 years. Jobs that presume also troubleshooting will cease to exist and be replaced with automation agents. Don’t believe it? Have a look at Network Chuck Video, configuring N8N to do troubleshooting for it’s home network. Link attached. How the agent is trained to understand what tasks are required of him to do, and automatically reply with a solution or that the problem still exist.
And this is done with a few invested hours in understanding the cycle and prepare a use case that resonated with his own environment.
Let’s think corporate IT. Currently a ticket is handled in let’s say 2 ways:
the old way of doing it: Ticket is generated, is routed to a 1st Level Team, which(based on an KEDB[Known Error Database]) is being analyzed and tried to be solved. If any of the steps documented in the KEDB is successful, incident is closed. If the incident could not be closed, it is routed to a 2nd Level group which again checks and troubleshoots the issue. If again not solvable, there is a 3rd Level Group who handles the issue and if necessary escalate with the provider of the software/hardware. After the incident is successfully closed, a Problem Management record is being created, documenting the found resolution and steps taken that the issue will no longer repeat itself.
the new way of doing it, pretty similar to the first one, but having a ServiceDesk in front who handles the tickets opened by monitoring and customer and a DevOps team which is splitted internally into Level 2-3 and assigning the ticket within the same team sort of say.
Having a look at the 2 workflows, we can see that predefined steps are being used at least for the 1st Level Groups to make the testing. Same is in the case of a Help Desk, if the ticket is being created directly from the monitoring/customer. A predefined set of questions and resolutions sits behind every step checked.
The groups of people which handled these tasks will no longer have a job in the future. You might argue that there is no problem as new jobs will be created, which is true, nevertheless the skill level is no longer the same. The capabilities extend to understanding several technologies and processes in order to be able to use the newly available tools on the market. Corroborated with the fact that the sheer number of jobs will be reduced to probably 10-20%, this will cause a gap that is no easy to fill.
And I am not talking only about jobs in IT. Such powerful tools are able to replace for example the person making you a vacation reservation, someone working in accounting, how a flight is being booked and so on.
The impact of such technologies is so massive that will change the way we work, that will change society as we know it. You might be thinking, change cannot come so fast as it didn’t in the past. I argue that what we are experience is something that not only is transformative for humankind but also it is happening in a rhythm that puts us at risk of losing control.
Now the question is what can we do? One solution will be that the states actively participate in regulating such technologies. Being in the situation that our society is as a hole affected by the pace in which innovation and automation is being implemented, we should put a break on it until we figure out how we want to evolve. Things like increasing the working hours for the remaining are just poor choices and contradict the direction where we are heading.
As the industrial revolution brought us machines that could work for us, but in parallel a reduction of the working hours to 8, we should look also in this case in finding a solution that would benefit mankind. Things like UBI (Universal basic income) should no longer be laughed upon as a stupid idea, especially in the context of today world.
People should be given opportunities to develop and be creative, have their minds clear of clutter and dream big, being relieved from repetitive tasks through automation. Not being afraid what tomorrow will bring and how they will support their families in the face of it. And that can happen only if we all strive for something better leaving the profit driven economy behind and focus on a more people oriented one.
Until next time, TFG