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For the past twenty years, digitalization has changed societies and economies, and its evolution is only gaining momentum every passing day. The breakthrough and transformative power of these new technologies, namely AI, blockchain, internet of things, robotics, etc., are leading the pace towards the fourth industrial revolution. Obviously, this revolution is having a positive impact as life standards, quality of life and opportunities are improving. But, this transformation is also having some disruptive effects, especially regarding labor markets. To fully exploit the benefits of digitalization and ensure the sustainability of our social models, this drastic change and digital transformation that is occurring needs to be carefully observed and managed so that the society reaps its benefits at maximum and minimizes the negative effects. That means ensuring that individuals, businesses, and society as a whole is fully prepared, in terms of necessary tools and capacities, to fully embrace and participate in this digital transformation. Presently, according to the Digital Agenda Scoreboard, nearly 40% of workers in the EU lack digital skills and 14% have none. Because of these changes, it is perceived that most of the jobs, especially the ones with a lower level of education, will be replaced by robotics or AI. For organizations to be able to remain competitive and grow, they need to invest in their peoples’ digital skills and follow the change.
To be part of this change, both organizations and people need to initially embark on a never-ending journey of learning and development. Compared to previous years when college provided us with almost all the skills needed for the market, nowadays such a degree is not sufficient to ‘fulfill’ the skillset needed for our careers. Any individual that stops learning and innovating, will most likely endanger his/her career. The same applies to organizations. If organizations in the 21st century don’t build a culture of continuous learning and change of skills, this will result in their obsolescence.
Secondly, many organizations, in an effort to become ‘digitalized’ have decided to train their staff on using certain software or digital tool. As laudable as this may seem, simply training a person to push a button or signing a document electronically is not enough. Instead, to become digitally literate and function properly in a digitalized environment, employees need to have a mixture of skills such as cognitive, emotional, motor and sociological that helps them to solve problems and perform tasks.
For obvious reasons, the digital transformation will fundamentally change the future business models, companies and the way they deliver their services and products to their customers. In a nutshell, we have mentioned above the reasons why companies need to follow the digital wave and transform, but most importantly they have to do so to survive. If you are already considering to take steps to digitalize your processes, experts at ECIKS will guide you through the necessary phases.
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