New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS): On-demand labour platforms and online work-management solutions are surging globally and leading companies are dissolving traditional hierarchies and replacing them with online talent marketplaces, a new report said on Thursday.

According to the report titled "Technology for People" by global professional services company Accenture, the trend is driving the most profound economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution.

Eighty-five percent of executives surveyed said they plan to increase their organisation's use of independent freelance workers over the next year.

"The pace of technology change is breathtaking, bringing about the biggest advancements since the dawn of the Information Age," said Paul Daugherty, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer of Accenture, in a statement.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the new user interface, tackling both big and small problems by making interactions simple and smart and underpinning the way we transact and interact with systems.

Seventy-nine per cent of survey respondents agreed that AI will revolutionise the way they gain information from and interact with customers.

With advances in AI, Internet of Things (IoT) and big data analytics, humans can now design technology that's capable of learning to think more like people.

"This human-centred technology approach pays off for businesses as leading companies will transform relationships from provider to partner - simultaneously transforming internally," the report said.