No employment sector offers the identical uniqueness and excitement as a career in defense. Despite this, personnel retention may be a persistent problem. More people left the soldiers than joined (15,120 versus 14,880), and also the size of the country military fell for the ninth year running, government data showed within the twelve months to 30 September 2019. Further, from 60% in 2010 to 46% in 2019 was personnel service life satisfaction had fallen, MP Dhesi noted. Loss of personnel causes pinch points for service delivery which, thanks to the character of military work, can cause those remaining to figure longer and harder. As reliance on fewer military personnel increases workload and dissatisfaction, this creates a downward spiral. Loyalty goes only to date.
Including pay, the impact of operational service on personal life, and confidence in how careers are managed, there are other causes of dissatisfaction. Facilitated by modern technology like Intelligent Automation, AI, and robotics, speeding up processes by improving efficiency within the day-to-day running of the military, Navy, and RAF can increase satisfaction, although not a panacea for all ills.
Keeping military personnel inspired is significant to improving retention as a brand new generation starts their careers in defense. Our military is commonly used as a backstop in times of unexpected emergency, as the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic showed. A well-trained, motivated workforce able to support the general public against every type of recent threat is invaluable.
New technology can enable leaders to boost all areas of personnel experience. Defense can move towards a holistic, employee-centric way of managing staff, reducing costs, speeding up processes, and improving satisfaction and retention, by introducing new digital ways of working.
Areas for improvement
In personnel management, there’s a myriad of processes involved. These include candidate targeting, employee recruitment, training, service rotation, talent, and role matching, career development, planning, and repair deployment, accommodation management, exit planning, and execution, and veteran and family support.
However, historically, the technology foundation has taken a degree solution approach founded to serve each of those areas individually. Disrupting information flows across organizations, the processes are ‘siloed’ (separated from each other). This could create disjointed practices and knowledge, slowing down decision-making and increasing costs. As an example, say a plane must be urgently dispatched to an occasion. If something crucial has been missed during preparations, like a make sure the chosen pilot has the proper qualification for using instruments installed thereon form of aircraft, the mission is delayed.
ALSO READ: The Importance of Studying Technology
Towards a holistic, employee-centric solution
There is a far better thanks to managing the number of processes and tens of thousands of personnel – intelligent automation combined with work to hold out tasks (case management). Intelligent automation requires several elements. The primary may be a technology architecture that puts personnel – and their needs – within the middle. It’s built from the ‘center-out’ with an incremental number of user-centric micro-journeys. It captures data available about every worker within the soldiers in one single information hub. It’s also home to every micro-journey – sets of steps to be undertaken to achieve each outcome. This suggests every workflow is consistent, ensuring fairness when making decisions, like matching trainees with first roles. It also eliminates delays in each process, as there’s one source of truth on data accessible by leaders in several functions. Asking questions and awaiting replies about candidate availability, time isn’t wasted.
The second element is applying computing to ‘case management’ – task work, like securing accommodation for a soldier deployed to a replacement base or arranging an exit interview with a retired officer. Robotic process automation will be accustomed to train robots to grasp tasks emailed to employees with tongue processing. Email bots read instructions to know tasks, and either automatically resolve issues without human intervention, or send them to the correct specialist team with the sub-tasks outlined and urgency level assigned. This not only hastens activities that make employees’ lives easier – for instance by giving more notice on the beginning date of their next role but also takes the pressure off humans, allowing them to concentrate on more complex work and improving their own job satisfaction. AI and robotics utilized in workforce intelligence also can be applied, analyzing methods for closing processes and identifying ways to simplify and automate them, while maintaining efficiency and avoiding mistakes.
The third may be a ‘low code/no code’ software, designed with a center-out technology approach – software that doesn’t require plenty of, or any, specialist coding knowledge. This can be designed to permit existing processes to be optimized and simply add new ones. Development is often delivered by people with no prior coding skills; the concept of a soldier developer is real and is already going down within defense. User-centric solutions can now be delivered in weeks, not years, and reflect the important needs of defense personnel. This agile technology is already available, and since it will be based on public or on private cloud networks, scaling isn’t a difficulty. As it can handle the increased workload without slowing down, data storage is technically unlimited.
Incremental technology transformation
To transition to new technology and achieve smoother, more efficient, smarter personnel management processes, incremental change is required. IT staff can ensure a smooth transition with minimum disruption by digitally transforming step-by-step instead of by ripping-and-replacing existing technology. Technology is offered to allow organizations to steadily transform, that specialize in the largest pain points first.
It’s time for a contemporary solution that meets the wants of defense within the 21st century. Outdated systems cause confusion and impede processes creating poor job satisfaction, putting workers off long careers in defense – not due to the work but due to poor underlying processes and systems. Intelligent automation, AI, robotics, and low code solutions supported by a center-out technology structure make the difference. How long the following generation stays depends on improvements within the short and medium term.
