Narrowing the digital divide by nurturing a ‘business-ready’ workforce

Narrowing the digital divide by nurturing a ‘business-ready’ workforce
By Chris Miller of CA

Published: June 15 2009 14:40 | Last updated: June 15 2009 14:40

We often hear about the “digital divide” between those connected to the online world and underprivileged sections of society unable to reap the same benefits – but now we are seeing a “skills divide” preventing organisations and recruits from fulfilling their potential.

Today’s stream of employer dissatisfaction over suitability of new recruits is likely to become a torrent of complaint when economic recovery finally arrives and talent is thin on the ground.

Despite data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showing that an average of 54 per cent of relevant age groups enters tertiary education, country-by-country research questions whether we are producing workforce candidates equipped to take on the challenges of a digital economy.

In the UK, for example, the CBI employers group revealed that two-thirds of employers think graduates and postgraduates still lack business skills necessary for the workplace.

Research shows that multinationals are planning to outsource even more non-core activity to help beat the economic downturn and drive out costs. For the US, UK and mainland Europe, this trend is effectively taking away the need for companies to maintain many core IT development programmes – a situation likely to intensify when cloud computing and software-as-a-service are piped into the enterprise.

As a result, precious IT, project management and business skills are being stripped out of companies and so denied to new recruits. This could harm future development of all types of businesses, especially as studies show that IT is required to perform nearly 80 per cent of all jobs.

With this in mind, we appear to be ignoring the strategic role of technology at the very time we require skilled practitioners to harness the full power of IT to run the 21st century organisation. Economies such as China and India are also experiencing a shortage of IT jobs, as competitor countries offer next-stage “body-shopping” of IT services.

This is all leading to a significant disconnect between the changing needs of an organisation and the ability of different departments to address them with smart technologies.

When competing in the global arena, today’s economies will always require a degree of outsourcing, but they also need personnel with a grounding in both technology and commerce to help drive business innovation.

As senior management pushes the “offshoring button” to drive out costs, the downturn has uncovered a need for workforces with the technology, project management, commercial and communications skills needed to make the case for, and manage, alternatives to large-scale outsourcing of IT.

No wonder organisations baulk at the investment needed to bring new staff up to speed. One multinational estimated that training just one graduate to full productivity in business today costs approximately $200,000.

So employers must find alternatives to nurturing workforce talent in-house. In short, they need to build 21st century business skills into school and university curriculums. In fact, they must set the scene for graduates to absorb a suitable balance of technology, communications and workplace skills to ensure that IT is able to play an enabling role in modern business.

A glimmer of good news is that employers are stepping into the breach, with governments following.

Global enterprises offer work-experience programmes and internships, but these are frequently scaled back when the economic going gets tough. Inspired by reality TV or charities that genuinely understand the younger mindset, governments are moving to establish “finishing schools” for recruits-in-the-making.

Necessary and well-intentioned? Yes. But a long-term answer? Probably not. Today’s businesses need a structured approach to giving young people a wider appreciation of the role of technology in business and society, and inspiring them to work in IT.

Enterprises and universities are therefore starting to combine resources to update the curriculum. In the UK, blue-chip companies, the e-skills UK sector skills body and a number of universities have established degree courses that balance business with technology skills.

Some use webcast lectures from IT executives, face-to-face mentoring and hands-on business exposure to cultivate wider business skills among their students. Undergraduates able to question a chief information officer on his or her role in innovation will have their eyes opened to the commercial potential held by IT in the workplace – and will fire up their career ambitions.

In fact, as global research calls for faster broadband to provide a platform for an integrated and dynamic economy, employers need to do more to connect technology – and the way it shapes business – with school leavers, younger-age groups and the disadvantaged.

Many a parent is surprised by the way a child is able to adopt and integrate technology into their everyday lives. Yet students are perceiving IT as a dull option, so applications to pursue technology courses continue to diminish.

How can this be when technology is so pervasive and such an exciting part of our economy? At the same time, research shows that IT is second only to finance as the most sought-after graduate discipline among recruiters.

Employers need to reach out to school-age youngsters and the disadvantaged in order to channel their seemingly natural affinity with technology into building successful and sustainable organisations. Bosses need to show young people what IT can do for them, and employers have a responsibility – beyond their CSR programmes – to make this happen.

Only when business leaders provide the necessary leadership and open up possibilities within the education system and wider community can they hope to attract IT talent into industry.

This will help close the divide between the beneficiaries of technology and those with the skills to make it work for all sections of society.


Chris Miller is senior vice president and general manager, UK and Ireland, for CA

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009