Building workforce capability in the digital world

The Fourth Industrial Revolution has ushered in new business models and new ways of working that ideally require a combination of technical / functional + digital + human centric capabilities. Today, such capabilities are in short supply.

As the India Outlook of PwC’s 23rd Annual Global Survey indicates the primary challenges in upskilling initiatives for India CEOs are around defining the priority skills for the future in the context of their business; ability to drive an organisation-wide upskilling agenda; retaining employees who have been upskilled; ability of employees to learn new skills needed for the future; and motivating them to learn and apply their learning.

Our report indicates that 73% of India CEOs are concerned about the availability of key skills. Those with more advanced upskilling programmes cite higher workforce productivity, reduced skill gaps and improved employee engagement and stronger corporate culture.

Notwithstanding these positive business outcomes, only 11% of India CEOs, compared to 18% of Global CEOs, believe their organisation has made ‘significant progress’ in establishing an upskilling programme that develops a mix of soft, technical and digital skills.

Our report offers recommendations to address such issues and discusses the need to identify and prioritise the “burning platform” defined by an organisation’s differentiating capabilities that combine technical / functional, digital and human centric capabilities.

Going forward, it will be important for an organisation to align its upskilling initiatives with its future capabilities. Such a step will enable an organisation to differentiate itself on the basis of its workforce’s talent and skills, and design and implement upskilling initiatives in a sustainable way.

So, one of the biggest budget priorities for organisations worldwide over the next couple of years will be to understand how they differ from their competitors from both a business and capability perspective, and accordingly build their workforce capability in the digital world.

Read the report to find out more about our recommendations.