From the past, the most desired student skill listed by the employers was fluency in English. And with changing times, digital fluency has become one of the top requirements across industries.
IoT, machine learning and zillions of apps introduced each day are leading the digital disruption in our age. Also, the impact of such a digital disruption is felt not only in the IT department, but across the entire organization, creating a huge demand for technology skills. Hence,
A recent research by Accenture found that in India, men use digital tools to prepare for and find work more frequently than women (81% and 74%, respectively). Yet, the research found that when women and men have the same level of digital proficiency, women are better at leveraging it to find work. While women still lag behind men in digital fluency in all but a handful of countries, improving their digital skills can help bridge gender gap at the workplace.
Some of the key skills that men and women need to acquire in order to become digitally fluent and make the workplace a level playing ground are:
Mobile skills: Mobile skills to look out for encompass design skills, e.g. platform design, user-interface and gamification. Also, from e-commerce firms to the banking industry, all organizations are hiring app developers to gain a competitive advantage using apps as a platform to connect with their target audience. Hence technology skills such as app development, cloud services and mobile device management are in huge demand.
Basics of security: The age of invention and improvement is of the past. At present, organizations are more concerned about hiring security experts who can tighten the security gaps on web and on mobiles to decrease the vulnerability of cyber-attacks. The demand for candidates with good domain knowledge in this field is huge and there is a large imbalance in the supply and demand. Companies have become wary of these threats especially since many now have an online presence and are vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
Networking Certifications: With the advancement in technology, organizations need certified network engineers and systems managers to ensure seamless operations across the various platforms that they engage their customers on. Given the amount of investments companies are making in India to enhance their Internet of Things and Cloud infrastructure, candidates with a good understanding of networking will be in much demand.
Data Analytics: What doesn’t get measured, doesn’t improve. Far from being just a buzz word, analyzing data to track trends and strategize has become more main stream and the potential for landing a job in this profile is exponentially growing. Consumers have never been more open about sharing their consumption habits and this has led to a substantially voluminous amount of data (pictures, texts, videos, etc.) being churned out for companies to analyze and make sense of. The industry is coming of age, with firms who hire professionals with analytical skills.
In a digitally disrupted age, digital transformation is the only way ahead to remain competitive. Hence, bridging the existing digital skills gap is a must. Organizations need to invest in imparting these digital skills to their employees. Government and skilling institutes also need to identify these gaps and bridge them with relevant courses for the working professionals as well for the students. For employees, just acquiring digital skills is not enough. They constantly need to keep updating themselves to stay rust free and recession proof in the ever evolving industries.
