The missing case for Digital Talent

The business world is agog with the advent of "Digital" age. We are hearing a number of "technologies" coming up as the new "skills". The training companies are rushing into this space with offerings on "Cloud computing, information security,analytics, AI, iOT, Digital markeing, Machine Learning" and many other "contemporary" and "highly employable skills". Nevertheless, they may be missing an important point in this rush and this may just fall short of the required productive entry in the business and industry, for want of a critical missing piece.

Microsoft could take the lead in the 90s on the big opportunity of the Operating System, but failed on the mobile front. Motorola, going strong on the mobile, slumped suddenly infront of Apple and Samsung.Nokia lost the momentum on the mobile space, RIM lost the complete segment it had conquered. On the other hand, Google made a big entry on the mobile OS, Android, Amazon could get into the cloud services,Google is betting high on the drones, IBM is getting strong on Watson Analytics.

The talent industry has still not come to grips with the newer paradigms behind these lessons. It has been blind to a need for an emerging approach to talent in the new "Digital World". The fact is that the Digital is not like the earlier technologies at all. We cannot take the same approach that we had taken to get the young workforce trained on the new Digital skills. These are not like the java, C++ or any of the programming languages or technologies alone by themselves. the new business landscape needs a "Skill Convergence", like never before.

There is increasing need for "Convergent Skills" for the next age workforce. They need to understand the "Horizon" in technologies and emerging use scenarios. Changing lifestyles and innovative products demand not just the technical skills, but a strong understanding of the customer use cases, business models, design alignment of multiple technologies towards a sound "value proposition". The training providers are not onto this game yet. In a world where the skills are getting outdated as fast as they emerge, "Convergent Skills" concept is the only insurance against obsolescence.

Training has to evolve to the next stage of value where the end point is the ultimate "value" to business. The fast developing start up landscape does not have the luxury of the earlier mammoth organizations to have multiple roles or layers to provide "business value" at the end of the chain. The value has to be driven at the forefront in the skill interface with the business processes. The experimentation and fast fail processes at the start ups are the building blocks of innovation and competitive edge, having the potential to challenge the biggest of the traditional players.This is a completely new and complex paradigm for the training organizations in the current world. While we are witnessing a hectic pace of technology changes, the corresponding business model and value changes are less clear and are blurring at the best. This could well be the next level of disruption for the education and training industry.