Essay Example on Navigating Uncertainty: Leveraging AI for Project Management in the COVID-19 Era

Introduction

In the face of the Covid-19 crisis, the continuity of a project depends on a company’s plan for the future. As the economic difficulties continue to scale up, the future is highly uncertain. A business needs to leverage its resources to thrive in the new normal (Banaszak et al., 2020). Amidst the crisis, forging ahead with projects means protecting people, projects, and performance. Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become indiscernible. AI applications are making an effective and safe environment for businesses to operate and save their big data (“How can you Leverage,” 2020).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Economic Dimensions During the COVID-19 Crisis

According to Latif et al. (2020), AI, broadly defined as Data Science, plays a significant role in response to the global Coronavirus pandemic. Economic conditions of COVID-19 include a rise in unemployment and a decrease in disposable income (Gray, n.d.). Increased employee layoffs and the substitution of people with technology have accelerated the need to leverage AI and big data for project management. Zorfas and Leemon (2016) argue that safeguarding the safety of employees will develop emotionally connected and highly satisfied customers. Consequently, economic conditions will gradually improve.

Yi (2020) points out that the global COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down economic activities leading to significant fluctuations in financial markets; showing the extent of uncertainty and disruption brought by the world health crisis. Baldwin (2020) asserts that enterprises embracing technology are managing better in the era of the Coronavirus pandemic than their industry counterparts. The safety of employees is paramount in adapting to the new behavioral and social-cultural shifts (Saladino, & Auriemma, 2020). As organizations focus on government directives to loosen restrictions, securing future financial stability is equally crucial (McKinsey & Company, 2020). In addition, the health guidelines will safeguard the safety and the economic ability of the employees.

The McKinsey Global Survey showed that 30 percent of company executives interviewed believe that in the next six months of the pandemic, the economy will worsen. Yi (2020) points out that technology has impacted all industries as it has become a powerful tool to curb the spread of the Coronavirus. For example, data from China shows that there is a boom in AI applications across the world. AI tools can help save lives during a global crisis (Tzachor et al., 2020). However, a big argument is whether or not economists and policymakers ought to rely on predictive models.

Siddiqi and Iychettira (2020) state that the 2008 financial crisis addressed the perils and benefits of economic and financial models. However, such frameworks will only increase in the era of big data and computing ability. Therefore, for positive economic results, investigative questions need to be in place. If employers reduce repetitive tasks, sixty-five percent of workers will have access to better quality data due to AI technology and machine learning (Kakatkar, Bilgram & Fuller, 2019).

Banaszak et al. (2020) claim that as the world recovers from the pandemic, there will be few resources, and the economy will stumble and recuperate. Following the outbreak of Covid-19 disease, many retail businesses adopted a digital model to run their projects. Amid the global pandemic, the greatest achievement is utilizing AI to assist enterprises in undertaking their operations faster and more efficiently (Das, 2020). Since the onset of the deadly virus, machines have extensively replaced human power. There have been fewer human interactions in performing tasks (Palumbo, 2020).

Conclusion

Baldwin (2020) states “We should use technology to augment, not replace people.” Replacing human effort with technology for leveraging AI and big data for project management has led to a severe economic effect. In the current global pandemic, the safety of employees should be a priority. Since the use of technology is a safe measure for employees, AI will maximize the economic power and the future financial stability of projects.

References

Baldwin, A. (2020). How to plan your company’s future during the pandemic. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/how-to-plan-company-future-during-pandemic/

Banaszak, J., Charron, R., Guevara, J., & Stokvis, K. (2020). Preserving project continuity in the face of Covid-19. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/capital-projects-and-infrastructure/our-insights/preserving-project-continuity-in-the-face-of-covid-19#

Das, A. (2020). How AI solutions are helping online retail thrive in the new normal. https://www.retailcustomerexperience.com/blogs/how-ai-solutions-are-helping-online-retail-thrive-in-the-new-normal/

Gray, T. (n.d). Retail recovery: Forecasting new opportunities in a reimagined environment. https://www.tcs.com/content/dam/tcs/pdf/perspectives/covid-19/retail-new-normal-machine-learning.pdf

How can you Leverage Artificial Intelligence for your Business? (2020). https://blog.vsoftconsulting.com/blog/how-can-you-leverage-artificial-intelligence-for-your-business#

Kakatkar, C., Bilgram, V., & Fuller, J. (2019). Innovation analytics: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in the innovation process. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329903721_Innovation_Analytics_Leveraging_Artificial_Intelligence_in_the_Innovation_Process

Latif, S., Usman, M., Manzoor, S., Iqbal, W., Qadir, J., Tyson, G., Castro, I., & Razi, Adeel & A., Kamel Boulos, M., & Crowcroft, J. (2020). Leveraging Data Science To Combat COVID-19: A Comprehensive Review. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340687152_Preprint_Leveraging_Data_Science_To_Combat_COVID-19_A_Comprehensive_Review

McKinsey & Company. (2020). Covid-19: Implications for business. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/risk/our-insights/covid-19-implications-for-business

Palumbo, R. (2020). Let me go to the office! An investigation into the side effects of working from home on work-life balance. International Journal of Public Sector Management.

Saladino, V., & Auriemma, V. (2020). The Psychological and Social Impact of Covid-19: New Perspectives of Well-Being. Frontiers in Psychology. 11. 1-6.

Siddiqi, A., & Iychettira, K. (2020). The 4 key questions policymakers should ask COVID-19 modelers. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/policymakers-modelers-questions-forecasting-covid19

Tzachor, A., Whittlestone, J., Sundaram, L., & Seán Ó. (2020). Artificial intelligence in a crisis needs ethics with urgency. Nature Machine Intelligence 2, 365–366. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-020-0195-0

Yi, H. (2020). What to learn from COVID-19 and past crises? https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/what-to-learn-from-covid-19-crisis

Zorfas, A., & Leemon, D. (2016). An emotional connection matters more than customer satisfaction. https://hbr.org/2016/08/an-emotional-connection-matters-more-than-customer-satisfaction