In ten years, the industry’s talent pool will be quite different, dominated by GenZ graduates. Employees will be working from different locations, anywhere, possibly in a hybrid mode of combined WFH and office workspaces. Work will be augmented with AI solutions, but this will be a standard for the digital natives. The new environment could be much more challenging for elder workers finding it more difficult to adjust. As upskilling and continuous reskilling will be the dominant mode, coaching and training will become essential. This will require staying ahead by acquiring appropriate skills for the new FOW environment and taking an agile approach in listening to and catering to employees’ changing needs.
Skills, and in particular skills of the future, are becoming more critical than roles or knowledge. The top skills being pursued will be the automation, data analysis, and management of customer expectations. With the growing importance of skills, the industry will be constrained by skill-biased technological change. A lack of skills in specific local markets will be a major constraint to their development and ultimately could lead to an adjustment in the global location of centers.
Public education systems are unlikely to respond fast enough to growing demands, creating significant pressure on wages. To meet upskilling requirements, companies of all sizes will significantly increase their outlays on personnel training. New employees will be sought abroad and among older employees and employees from various other sectors.
Considering the challenging demographic trends in most developed countries and the increasing demand for the skills of the future, the reskilling of older workers will gain significance.
Intelligent solutions can partly solve the problem of a global shortage of skills as the augmentation of human labor with intelligent solutions can reduce the pressure on entry-level competencies, significantly increasing the pool of sector candidates. Intelligent solutions will guide/augment humans and will provide support in decision-making. It will shorten the learning curve drastically and let humans develop more sophisticated knowledge and skills, allowing them to pick up more complex skills.
Learn more about factors driving the growth of the industry and predictions for the sector for the next decade by purchasing Strategic Foresight in the business services sector 2021.
