The focus of cognitive assistants is generally about augmentation of employee work rather than replacement.
Automation tools can often replace a human interaction—we see this a lot in self-service, especially in the case of straightforward, focused inquiries. Tools can typically free the employee to do something less transactional, more valuable to the customer, and more “human.” However, with cognitive assistants, the capabilities are more powerful and therefore more nuanced. Generally, the use cases we’ve seen are about making employees, whether contact center representatives, IT service desk staff, or human resources officers more efficient and effective; often that means that the bot is working side-by-side with the employee as an assistant, synthesizing and presenting data, aimed at making their lives easier and processes more intelligent and agile.