A survey from PwC, looking at the opinions of C-level business leaders, confirms that the majority of senior executives accept that disruption is here to stay and it dealing with the effects of digital driven change is part and parcel of business life. Moreover, the survey showed such changes show no signs of slowing down. The poll, called the “21st CEO Survey“, revealed that around two-thirds of the CEOs polled felt that emerging technology and automation is set to disrupt their business over the next five years.
The report makes uncomfortable reading for many business leaders, emphasizing “heightened levels of anxiety regarding the business, economic, and, particularly, the societal threats confronting their organisations.” There are, however, opportunities for the more robust companies to turn these challenges into advantages.
The main way that firms that ride out the changes is by ensuring they have the right people with the appropriate levels of skills in order to apply and embrace the digital technologies that businesses need. These technologies include cloud technologies, data analytics, robotics, to name a few.
This is not straightforward, since 62 percent of the business leaders surveyed do not believe they have sufficient digital skills among their workforce today. Plugging this gap won’t be easier either, since 38 percent think it will be difficult, given the current profile of the jobs market, to attract employees with the right kind of digital talent.
A consequence of this is that such technological changes will have a significant impact on the jobs market. For someone thinking of going into busienss today, even if they have no intention of working in Information Technology, a through grounding in digital technologies is a must.
Another way that businesses are looking to get around the internal skills shortage is through offering more apprenticeships and internships so they can to grow their workforce, a workforce equipped with the necessary digital skills. Other parts of the PwC survey are assessed in the companion article “What keeps CEOs up at night? New threats for the new age.”
In related Industry 4.0 news, see the Digital Journal story “Digital transformation forecasts for Australian manufacturing“, which examines the impact of disruptive technology from the Australian perspective.
