The strategic imperative of upskilling for tech businesses

The year 2024 marks a pivotal moment in which the trajectory of AI and machine learning means that there is a clear necessity for upskilling in the workforce, writes Ruban Phukan.

There has been a lot of fearmongering in this regard, with some forecasts stating that automation looks set to eliminate half of all jobs within the next 20 years. Additionally, according to the World Economic Forum, nearly 1 billion people worldwide will need to upskill by 2030.

However, rather than see this balance of incorporating AI with upskilling as something difficult for companies to achieve, it should be viewed as a great opportunity. If we take south-east Asia as an example, upskilling could well be a catalyst for transformative growth. Statistics forecast a remarkable 4 per cent boost to gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030, alongside a staggering US$250 billion cumulative increase if the skills gap is properly addressed.

With upskilling being so important to promote continuous learning through training and development opportunities, let’s examine the urgency of upskilling and how businesses can make this shift to have it as a top priority.

A switch in mindset

Firstly, we should stress that the need to upskill doesn’t mean that everyone should aim to become an AI data scientist or machine learning engineer. Instead, it’s about grasping how to utilise AI to tackle challenging, time-intensive, or mundane tasks in professional settings and daily life.

Professionals and leaders should adopt a growth mindset, demonstrating a dedication to continuous improvement through the acquisition or enhancement of technical skills, staying on top of industry developments, and pursuing advanced certifications.

Managers are often hesitant about upskilling their employees for fear of the costs and how it will inhibit their normal tasks. Some of this is justified if the training is not delivered in the right way.

Adults often find traditional classroom-style learning less engaging and effective. In fact, according to BCG, 65 per cent of respondents in a recent survey preferred on-the-job learning. Therefore, companies need to change their approach by masking training opportunities in activities such as shadow assignments or even internal apprenticeships.

Educational and business initiatives

Educational institutes and business organisations can play a pivotal role in building AI skills by developing specialised curricula, offering professional development programs, and fostering industry-academia collaborations. However, upskilling in a scalable way will need a pedagogy shift.

There are some companies that are already taking this concept to heart and taking some initial steps. For example, Infosys has reskilled thousands of cyber security experts, and even Amazon has a machine learning-specific university to make its employees experts in the field.

The traditional one-size-fits-all approaches to learning fall short of meeting the rapid and diverse skill development needs of individuals. Companies have often viewed training, for example, in a topic like annual compliance, as a digital box to tick and a simple certificate to keep regulators happy.

But, nowadays, upskilling must be personalised, catering to each person’s goals, roles, and proficiency levels. Companies need to harness automation to give personalised learning experiences with the help of AI coaches that can guide employees throughout their development.

Research from Plos One, entitled, Comparing AI and human coaching goal attainment efficacy, found that an AI-coaching pilot in the utility space caused an upturn of 8 to 10 per cent higher productivity and almost a 10 per cent cost reduction. Additionally, one of the managers operating in the study claimed that the AI coach did not “let anything fall through the cracks.”

Self-service as the model

We all tend to prefer self-service models in our personal lives, and so it’s only natural that this trend should permeate the professional space, specifically in the form of self-service upskilling. Self-service upskilling represents the concepts of autonomy, personalisation, and efficiency that we have all come to expect. So, it is a natural transition to apply these principles to professional growth and development.

It offers employees complete control over what skills they want to develop, how deeply they want to delve into a subject, the mode of learning they prefer, whether it be through text, audio, or video content, and the language they prefer learning. This ensures that learning doesn’t feel like a tiresome extra-curricular activity that workers have to take part in.

The fact is that we all crave opportunities for professional growth. Aligning those development opportunities that fit with the employee’s desire to learn of their own volition is the crucial challenge. Leaders should look to understand employee goals through 1:1s and co-design their development.

Organisations that embrace self-service upskilling could benefit from higher employee engagement and retention rates, increased productivity, and closing skills gaps. A recent example comes from the HR company Randstad, which provided its employees with more support and development and paid more attention to engagement. The employees in the study stated that they were almost 50 per cent less likely to leave as a result.

Organisations will subsequently enhance the learning experience for their employees by operating with this model and drive meaningful improvements in engagement, productivity, and innovation.

Final thoughts

I think we can also sometimes fall into the trap of viewing other companies as huge competitors that are fighting in an ever-more restricted talent pool. However, if we collaborate on shared industry training initiatives, this could provide a great framework to combine expertise and resources for developing AI skills, which in some cases might be too difficult for an individual organisation to deal with. Therefore, we could convince employees on a wider scale that upskilling and AI learning are worthwhile investments for their futures.

Ruban Phukan is the co-founder and chief executive of GoodGist.