PowerSource Solutions

AI: Threat or the Next Productivity Transformation Tool?

I was listening to the local morning radio station last week as I was getting ready for work. I heard the news reader say that IBM was going to pause hiring approximately 7,800 new employees in back-office positions – as the CEO thought the jobs could be replaced by AI.

I started to smile, as it brought me back to my early days at IBM. At the time, mainframe computers were all we had, the PC and server computers had yet to appear, Bill Gates was in high school, and Yahoo was a not so kind name to apply to certain individuals. We were constantly conducting long-range capacity planning to support the introduction of future families of computers.

It was almost a given that a brand-new manufacturing facility was required for expansion within the next five years. I learned in a subsequent position in HQ’s that this new expansion location need was not unique to Poughkeepsie, in fact almost every IBM manufacturing location had a similar need for aa growth location to meet anticipated demand.

Most fascinating, I was told that an earlier IBM corporate strategic projected that within five years IBM would need to hire every high school graduate in the United States to meet their manufacturing workload requirements. Really, though I am not sure this was fact or legend!

So, with hindsight we know IBM did not become the universal employer. What happened? A very powerful factor intervened – productivity. Increased use of two and three shift operations, requiring and getting productivity in indirect employee departments, and the introduction of the PC became a massive productivity tool. I was the CFO of a large research and manufacturing facility with 10,000 employees in the mid 1980s. As we introduced PCs into our location, we required each department to reduce their staffing levels by one headcount for every three PCs added to their department.

One productivity area IBM completely missed was the reuse of recently obsolete computers returned from customers. When the next faster, better generation of computers was introduced, the customers would upgrade to new equipment and return their leased computers to IBM. Approximately 80% of the high-end computers were leased rather than purchased. The company had very clever manufacturing engineers, and they started to introduce the returned computers to control manufacturing equipment previously manually operated by direct employees.

So, back to the beginning, why did I smile when I heard the IBM news on the radio? During my working career, IBM moved from potentially requiring every high school graduate as employees to pausing the hiring of the next 7,800 employees – due to the application of new technology for further productivity.

What will AI bring? I’m still exploring the big picture, but I think we all should consider how AI will impact our organizations to ensure we remain competitive and productive.

For more detail, please read the complete article at:

AI: Threat or the Next Productivity Transformation Tool? This article discusses the role of technology in productivity trends.

PowerSource First Quarter Recap

Once upon a time I was an executive in public companies, and the idea of a public quarterly report became second nature. Using the same approach for our privately-held company, we thought we would report quarterly as well. We had a busy first quarter with the relaunch of PowerSource Solutions. I enjoyed getting in touch with a number of individuals, and I particularly appreciate the support and advice from Dale Powell, Karen Roche, Dale Grossman, and many others.

We celebrated the addition of our first 2023 client, advised a biotech firm on strategic alternatives, and developed a business plan for a new digital venture. We continue to engage in business development to grow our fractional, outsource Controller and CFO services. Please take a look at our website for more details.

Our new website (https://pssconsult.com) was launched, and we followed through on our promise to provide professional articles in our areas of passion: management and leadership, technology, and striving for ethical success. All told, we published 11 articles on our web site and cross-promoted then on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter accounts. Again, thanks to Kerry Moynihan for providing several of the articles. We encourage those of you with experiences to share to write that article you just don’t seem time to start (or finish). We would happily host your article on our website and promote it to our social network. We’ve commented on must-read articles by Michele Guillermin and Lisa Gable, and modestly grew our followers.

We are excited with the opportunities in 2Q2023, and hope to have some interesting announcements during the quarter. Thanks for your support and interest.

I was watching Season 2 of the Morning Show on Apple TV a few months ago, and it was fascinating to watch them weave Covid-19 into the season. It went from some low-newsworthy event in China to completely transforming the broadcast news industry within weeks.

For those of us who were leaders and managers from March 2020 through the Spring/Summer of 2021, our skills and imagination were tested every day. We learned how to use new essential collaboration tools such as Zoom, Teams, Slack, and other software applications. Cloud-based enterprise software and data services for accounting, human resources, budgeting and planning, sales, and marketing – became must have essential tools in all functional areas. Organization-owned, server-based VoIP systems and other ‘essential’ services became costly artifacts of the pre-Covid, in-office work environments. If you weren’t in the Cloud, you were in for challenges to continue meeting customer and stakeholder requirements.

Now we are in a new normal, with remote working continuing to be an important element of the human resources programs and expectations. A Gallup survey in June of 2022 found that 8 in 10 people are working hybrid or remote, while only 2 in 10 are entirely on-site. They updated the survey in January 2023, and they stated the work from home experiment will reach equilibrium with:
· 55% hybrid workers
· 22% fully remote workers
· 23% fully on-site.
Equally startling, fully on-sites do not feel closer their organization’s culture. In fact, hybrid workers identified most positively to the organization’s culture.
And an AT&T study found the hybrid work model is expected to grow from 42% in 2021 to 81% in 2024. Employees are eager to continue working remotely or hybrid (Dec 8, 2022).

So, most of us will need to continue to effectively manage our teams in some form of remote environment. I thought it made sense to identify the six key lessons learned to operate successfully when your employees are not in your direct line of site every day, all day.

The focus of this article will be more inward focus with respect to the organization. We found, with some experimentation and continuous research, that the following six management techniques were essential:
· Watercooler virtual meetings
· Project deliverable focus with each employee
· Extra effort to reach peers, to avoid creating silos
· Schedule periodic in-person meetings for groups
· Cloud technology essential,
· Less hovering, more collaborative management style.
I believe the lessons learned during remote and hybrid working have direct and indirect benefits for most industry sectors. As the US finds most jobs and job growth in the service’s sector, becoming world-class with remote working is a skill all organizations need to develop.

For a deeper read, please go to the linked article.

Remote Working Lessons Learned from Covid In this article we will discuss six Remote Working Lessons to Remember and apply in all work modes.

In this article, we explore the important role of the ‘unsung heroes’ who show up every day, every practice and make it possible for the team to succeed.

https://articles.pssconsult.com/4zv3brxb

Salute for Showing Up! In this article, we explore the important role of the ‘unsung heroes’ who show up every day, every practice and make it possible for the team to succeed.