The consultants at McKinsey among others have been pitching concept of Operations 4.0, clearly some cousin to the Industry 4.0 movement for manufacturing originating in Germany.

Operations need a transformation at most companies, McKinsey says, as "Business is now in the midst of the most significant disruption in decades."

What is Operations 4.0? Well, McKinsey says it isn't really one thing, but rather it is the combination of four primary structures, as shown in the graphic below. Note the heavy sprinkling of big data and artificial intelligence throughout.

"The fourth industrial revolution's digital analytics can support a productivity leap because it generates so many distinct opportunities," McKinsey adds, saying that "Among the simplest is faster acceleration: changes happen more quickly and organizations can do more things in less time. Higher efficiency means that these changes require fewer resources, while enhanced effectiveness gives the changes greater effect."

Sounds like that means there will be fewer of us needed as software robots take over a lot more of the work.

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