Digitization has dramatically improved the speed in which the companies react, transform and improve the business models. Upskilling is expected to take a considerable chunk of the $3.8 trillion of spending into IT by major companies in 2019. Microsoft and General Assembly (GA) collaboration is one example of how these companies are approaching this issue.
Access to information due to easy access to the internet, mobile devices, and social networks provide a large pool of data that can be valuable in determining their client’s behavior. This, in turn, can lead to faster growth of a company both in profits and size.
The McKinsey & Co. report is a clear indication of the effect digitization is having in this business. Hidden in plain sight in their report is the fact that, talent will be the driving force of this growth. Employees who are skilled enough to interact with this technology will significantly help their companies in swiftly advancing their goals and this may lead up to faster growth. Companies and governments have started to take note of this phenomenon and are beginning to invest significantly in their employees’ training.
McKinsey & Co. recently reported:
Bold, tightly integrated digital strategies will be the biggest differentiator between companies that win and companies that don’t, and the biggest payouts will go to those that initiate digital disruptions.
Amazon, for example, has invested over $700 million, which is expected to go into reskilling and upskilling around 100,000 of their employees. This amounts to $7000 per individual in training. This project is expected to go along way in helping Amazon close the gap between the skills of their employees. This investment will have a positive effect on the growth of this company.
Collaboration for digitization
There are three ways in which companies and governments can take part in employees education. This includes Upskilling, reskilling and through government investments.
Microsoft, through various studies, has realized that a lot of their customers are not skilled enough to use Azure’s capabilities to do their job.
This system is used in fields such as aerospace and manufacturing and this has been very worrisome for Microsoft. The cloud computing platform, which is also used by GA requires upskilling. The two companies have entered into an agreement which will ensure that more than15,000 workers are trained on its full capabilities by 2022.
Even Amazon.com has confirmed that the American workforce is changing. A greater need has risen for technical skills in the workplace. Amazon is not only hiring – but adding to their training program, reskilling to develop existing talents on behalf of their customers. This is truly a commendable approach.
Better avenue returns in digitization
Reskilling will help the employees make a transformative career journey. It will involve learning new skills and tools in their field of work to enable them to work efficiently and better at their current jobs. Investing in this field by business has always produced more skilled labor for companies which in turn have translated to better revenue returns.
Governments have been investing in their citizens’ education skills to spur their development growth.
A good example is what Singapore is doing. Singapore has implemented a policy which they spend around $360 per year in what is called skills future credit. This amount is meant to be used by citizens over the age of 25 years to advance their skills in their field of work. In turn, these skills will be used in the growth of the economy.
The learning process should not have any limit and companies have realized that. They are now at the forefront of their employees’ education. This means that in the coming year, training will be very vital in the growth of these companies.
