Recent examples include the introduction of customised on-line language courses based on machine learning techniques, the “internet bots” hired by a growing number of firms to handle the initial stages of customer services, the new possibilities opened up by the latest generation of virtual personal assistants.
The combination of globalisation and technological progress has also provided all companies, and not just multinationals, with a new potential pool of human capital from around the globe, such as low cost manufacturing workers from China, software and customer service professionals from India, or skilled workers from Eastern Europe.