50% of US workers at risk of losing jobs to automation

This is one of the many reasons that a recent article published in The Technology Review, an online publication curated by MIT, generated a firestorm of controversy and mild panic. It claims that more than fifty-percent of all jobs in the United States are vulnerable to automation. Or, to put it more bluntly, fifty-percent of the current US workforce could lose their current job to automation technology.

Scary, right? Well, it doesn’t have to be. Progress is a constantly marching force that may be delayed, but never stopped. Corporations are hungry for more profits, and consumers are hungry for lower priced goods and services. So how do we turn what sounds like bad news into good?

Automation could solve its own problems

The same technology that people fear will take their jobs could produce their next career or job. One shining example of how technology is making our jobs easier and more efficient, without removing the critical human element, is in the market of CMMS. What is CMMS you ask?

Well, one needs to look no further than a fantastic description of what CMMS is and how it works, by one of the leading providers of CMMS solutions. Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) provide companies with a pain-free, cloud-based solution to keeping track of the maintenance schedules for their equipment.

And it’s not just industrial manufacturing firms that can use this. Hospitals, schools and even transportation firms are using CMMS to create more efficient workflows for their day-to-day operations. So how does the work of leading CMMS developers help save American jobs?

Knowledge will be key to thriving in an IT marketplace

I’m glad you asked. Think about the problems faced by US based firms in this constantly evolving automated economy. As companies scale, things become increasingly complicated. In order to keep from overspending on operations and missing upgrades that could result in cost-savings, they need someone to help them overhaul their processes. Then, once the systems are overhauled, they need someone to maintain all the great progress that’s been made.

Who is that someone that helps solve their problems and maintain the new solutions they’ve implemented? You got it! There’s a person on the other end of that equation. So while the US may lose jobs in one sector, tech jobs of all shapes and sizes are opening up by the boatload. And don’t forget, in an increasingly gig-centered economy, he or she who knows the most earns the most.