The automated economy will open up employment opportunities for those with the right skillsets.
While it is true that automation has already begun to infiltrate many industries, and in some cases replace humans for certain tasks, the news is not all bad. Automation also presents the opportunity for new roles, organisational departments and even industries to be created. What will become most important is having the right skills to be able to work in conjunction with technology, respond quickly to innovation and adapt to the changes in the workforce.
Important skills
While automation and skills development might seem an unlikely duo, they are fast becoming the most important duo of the modern business environment. “Skills like coding, data analytics and representation, SEO, SQL, Java and C#, for example, will continue to become more and more important in the successful running of all organisations, and those who have the right skills will be at the top of the employment food chain”.
This makes education, training and skills development more important than ever. “This is another important area that the digital transformation has improved; through online learning platforms education and skills training has become more accessible than ever.
Anyone with an internet connection and a mobile device can access online education in their own time. Not only is this revolutionary in terms of the South African business environment, but will bode well for entrepreneurship and economic development too”.
Responsibility lies with South African employers too
In conclusion, the responsibility lies with South African employers too: “While learners, graduates, job seekers and currently employed individuals should be keeping up to date with market trends and taking advantage of online educational platforms, it is important that employers are aware of the important role they play in the development of skills across the board.”
“Not only should they be implementing skills development training strategies in the workplace, as part of their employee relations strategies, but they should be looking for opportunities to extend this out to the youth – through internships and graduate programmes, for example. The digital skills revolution is upon us.”
(Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the author Van den Barselaar, ManpowerGroup SA’s managing director. The matter of this article has not been edited and has been copied from an e-news portal by skillreporter.com. SkillReporter shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organization directly or indirectly.)