As organisations continue to undergo their digital transformation initiatives, what does this mean for employees? According to the latest note from Gartner, the majority of workers are set to struggle with the skills needed for future roles.
More than two in three business leaders polled by the analyst firm said their company needs to become ‘significantly digitalised’ by 2020 or risk obsolescence. What’s more, almost two thirds (64%) of managers do not think their employees are able to keep up with future skill needs.
Gartner argues it is a two-way process to ensure employees get their skills up. On the employer side, organisations need to prioritise ‘quality development experiences’, rather than offering self-service development, which can ‘overwhelm’ employees. Leading organisations are also determining the most pressing skill needs for employees across the organisation, instead of focusing on leadership trends.
This publication has discussed various strategies for employees to ‘upskill’, with many initiatives focusing around citizen or low-code development. Earlier this month, it was revealed that students were being given the opportunity to build working apps in two hours thanks to a partnership between vendor Mendix and Major League Hacking.
Writing for this publication in March, Malcolm Carroll, director at Bluefinity International, noted the concern CIOs may have around training and data security. “Citizen developers will be coming from different starting points,” Carroll wrote. “Some may be highly confident with code; others will be absolute beginners, so it’s essential the provider offers training resources and support to suit all needs.
“This could come in the form of online videos, tutorials and downloadable training guides. All should be tech jargon free as well as clear instructions on how to get started,” Carroll added. “A good low-code solution should also be flexible and easy to roll out across all platforms, devices, databases and operating systems, meaning that input from IT is minimal.”
“In order to remain competitive in an increasingly digital world, companies must transform the skills of their workforce, both on a macro level by determining the skills their market and clients are calling for, and on a micro level, by showing employees the personal benefit to upskilling and offering experiences for them to do so,” said Sari Wilde, vice president of Gartner’s HR practice.
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