12 Nov The Rise of the Global Mobility Bot Will Make Recruits More Informed

Movies like the “Terminator” depict robots in a more sinister way, always physically imposing and nearly indestructible. The reality is that robots are not all human-like but more invisible and unobtrusive, working in the background to make humans more knowledgeable and efficient. These type of bots can serve the purpose of global mobility professionals. They’re called chatbots or bots and they can serve as virtual assistants.

Many bots are recruitment tools that use automation and machine learning that assist global mobility professionals in terms of hiring qualified candidates on a massive scale. They can quickly answer questions related to talent acquisition. In fact, automation and machine learning software can be integrated into a more complex impersonal piece of computer infrastructure commonly regarded as hardware.

Yes, a robot with a human face and body but made of steel — looks (rightly or wrongly) l more powerful, but today’s artificial intelligence technologies can already do what its human masters can do. There is no need yet in terms of how we want them to behave when acting as a bot can already serve the many needs of human beings.

So far, the need for bots these days stem from finding ways to be more efficient and organized than its human counterpart, and perhaps even do things that they cannot. One of the more enthusiastic bot manufacturers claims that it is only a matter of time before these intelligent machines replace the smartphone.

Right now, the more successful “social robots” are being deployed to function as toys, nannies, semi-tutors, office receptionists, lawn mowers, and swimming pool cleaners. They are novelty attractions.

However, if it stays at that basic level — holding the very cursory of conversations, responding to a question about the weather, guiding the human guest through the lobby — then eventually the curiosity will wear off. Humans will lose interest in this very basic kind of bot, threatening its longevity in the market.

That’s why their creators are raising the bar to increase the level of complexity of task that a bot or chatbot can accomplish. For example, as far as global mobility managers are concerned– instead of giving the latest immigration updates, the bot could  also explain in detail the impact of said law on the assignees that the company is hiring.

Instead of just churning out the innumerable rows of data that accumulate in the organization’s database, the bot will be able to pinpoint one specific trend that the global mobility manager should watch out for.

It must also be able to explain in detail why, and then perhaps make more recommendations, for a responsive plan of action. A global mobility bot can also give a virtual tour to the assignee, well within their new place of employment, if the global mobility manager is tied somewhere in another meeting.

Give it a few more decades, and perhaps something similar to the space probes that the U.S. government sends to other planets will happen. A global mobility robot might be sent out to new destinations and hotspots.

A bot can act like a travel researcher on a finding mission, observing the local goings-on, holding a conversation with the locals, and storing and presenting all these data and images to headquarters to prepare them for what they might encounter.

That kind of bot will be more than just a mobile virtual assistant. It can evolve into becoming a more sophisticated “junior partner” of the global mobility manager. In case one is thinking of the more popular Hollywood icons to give it a face and name, it would be less James Cameron’s cyborgs and more of Spike Jonze’s Her.