Industry executives and experts share their predictions for 2024.  Read them in this 16th annual VMblog.com series exclusive.

The Year of Knowledge Work Automation

By Antti Nivala, Founder & CEO of M-Files

In a world of information chaos, organizations are continuously searching for cutting-edge initiatives. AI and automation shook up the digital landscape in 2023, presenting new opportunities to revolutionize the way we work. As we head into 2024, M-Files' CEO Antti Nivala shares his top predictions on what business leaders can expect in the coming year. 

Knowledge Management Will Become More Holistic

The productivity of knowledge workers is critically important to the growth and profitability of businesses. Knowledge workers work best in a state of flow, where they can be creative, think freely, and problem-solve. Anything that detracts from that "flow state" creates a distraction from higher value-added work. Over the next year, we can expect to see organizations approach knowledge work in a more holistic manner to increase the productivity of knowledge workers by embracing automation. Automation can eliminate information chaos and improve process efficiency, reducing the amount of time-consuming busywork to allow employees to work smarter and drive better customer experiences.

Generative AI Can Help Tap into New Sources of Knowledge

With the emergence of Generative AI, knowledge work is facing the next level of transformation. We can expect to see businesses benefit from being able to automate the classification of data, extract its meaning, and interact with that data using natural language. Knowledge workers can more easily harness the knowledge embedded not only in documents, but virtual meetings and conversations, such as video calls and virtual chats. By unlocking all the organization's intellectual capital, knowledge workers will be more productive, insightful, and deliver better customer experiences.

Ethical AI Will Take the Spotlight

Artificial intelligence has become the new focus of regulation by governments across the globe, with Biden's executive AI order and the EU AI act aiming to provide stability and guidelines for the rapidly expanding technology. Mass adoption of AI presents one of the most significant opportunities in corporate history, and organizations must ensure they are leveraging solutions built on a foundation of high-quality data. With data quality at the heart of the AI conundrum, it is imperative for organizations to take an ethical approach to AI and understand how Large Language Models (LLMs) operate and where they pull their knowledge from. LLMs can be powerful tools, but only if grounded in trusted information. To better contribute to the safe and responsible development of AI, we'll see organizations start to treat AI like an intern and consider its findings to be a recommendation rather than instructions. We will also see regular audits and human involvement increase to ensure AI solutions can be fully trusted.

Generative AI Will Continue to Gain Traction, But Not Without Overcoming a Few Hurdles

Generative AI is gaining increasing traction in the financial services industry, with applications in customer service, fraud prevention, risk management, coding, and data analysis. It has the potential to save the industry billions of dollars annually by automating repetitive tasks and enabling employees to focus on more creative, profitable work. However, challenges such as customization for specific use cases, reliability of generated output, regulation, and a shortage of talent with expertise in generative AI need to be addressed. Generative AI is promising, but its full potential in sensitive tasks like investment decision-making is still a way off. Financial services organizations must carefully assess the safety, security, and regulatory implications of AI before widespread adoption can occur.

Integrations & Data Curation Will Become Imperative

Lack of integration between systems prevents the flow of information and creates silos artificial intelligence can't easily overcome. For any AI application to work, the application needs access to the data it is supposed to process. In addition to access, organizations need to ensure only relevant and correct data is given to the AIs. In 2024, we can expect organizations to prioritize the curation of data across tools to ensure they can effectively feed their AI tools the right data across curated topics to gain a leg up from the competition.

The Year of AI Assistants

As the new tool in our toolbox, it can take time to figure out how to best incorporate AI assistants to unlock their full potential. Despite AI assistants having a wide variety of uses, in 2024, we can expect to see vendors tailoring AI assistants for specific, high-value tasks within software to help knowledge workers embrace fast access to information, assist with creative tasks, and support ease of use. AI assistants will become more industry-specific as well as more personalized. Users can expect the assistant to understand their industry jargon and tailor responses based on their job role and task at hand.

Data Governance Will Be a Key Component of AI Success

With AI assistants relying on quality and current content to provide reliable responses, data governance will become a key focus in the upcoming year. A general misconception is that you can point an AI assistant to any pile of documents and get reliable results. However, the reality is that content integrated across sources must be cleaned and validated for AI to work effectively. We will see organizations turn to metadata in 2024 to better achieve data governance.

AI Will Become More Accessible

With the global economic uncertainty, it's imperative for organizations to evaluate long-term investments carefully. There will be a fine line between balancing risk, cost, and the fear of missing out on the latest, innovative technologies. While the surge of upsold AI features has historically put pressure on the budget, we can expect to see adjustments to make AI more affordable to small and mid-size organizations. Instead of being strictly offered as an add-on, AI will become more accessible as customers determine the value they're willing to pay.

As we enter the era of knowledge work automation, Generative AI and automation can dramatically alter how knowledge workers operate to effectively collaborate, increase productivity, reduce risk, and heighten job satisfaction. The new year is approaching, and now is the time for organizations to leverage digital initiatives, like knowledge work automation, to achieve a future-forward business strategy.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Antti Nivala, Founder & CEO

Antti is the Founder and CEO of M-Files and also serves as Chairman of the Board. He conceived the vision for M-Files and has grown the enterprise SaaS company to become the leader in knowledge work automation, earning recognition as one of the world's most innovative technology companies by leading industry analyst firms, including Gartner, Forrester, and Nucleus Research.

Antti has been named both Software Entrepreneur of the Year and CTO of the Year in Finland, and Executive of the Year for the BIG Awards for Business in North America. A trusted partner to thousands of customers in over 100 countries, M-Files has more than 500 employees and 10 offices across the globe.