Digital skills a necessity
20 Jul 2021
The advancement into the digital age and Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) has rendered digital skills a necessity for employees and businesses alike in the current landscape, even prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Even before the pandemic, we had begun to see the rapid rise in demand for technology related jobs and the incessant decrease in demand for more traditional roles,” Redbeat Academy director of strategy & innovation Dr Ram Gopal told SunBiz.
Domestically, he pointed out that there is a shortage of such skills as evidenced by a Randstad survey in 2018 that found close to 90% of the Malaysian workforce does not have digital skills, and graduate unemployment also increased due to the lack of such skills.
On the ground, Ram said this translates into organisations within the country as well as the Asean region finding themselves at the cusp of a transformation but unable to close the huge skills gap. Reskilling the available talent has the potential to address this gap.
He noted that consistent upskilling would also address the issue given the fleeting nature of tech stacks, which have expanded market reach and lowered costs, and have enabled the development of new products and services.
“I believe that all sectors of the economy must adopt ICT to enhance productivity, enlarge market reach, and reduce operational costs.”
On the question of demand, the director observed that skills in data analysis, software engineering, digital marketing, artificial intelligence and cyber security are much sought after in the market.
For Redbeat Academy, established with the collaboration between AirAsia Digital and Google Cloud which was launched during the first movement control order (MCO 1.0) last year, saw over 1,200 AirAsia employees sign up for such courses, allowing them to look for new opportunities within the organisation.
Source: The Sun Daily
