Digitalization: Teach five competencies now

Industry 4.0, digital learning and working 4.0 – these topics dominate many a discussion. How will we work in the future? What skills will be in demand? How are companies and employees preparing for the digital transformation? You will find answers here.

Qualifying for digitalization

Experts from industry and science have already reached one conclusion: jobs that primarily involve repetition and simply structured tasks will likely gradually disappear in the future. This includes simple unskilled labor activities that can also be taken over by robots without a loss in performance. But even a quarter of academic professions are not safe in the long term. A popular example often used is that of a high-priced lawyer: once it becomes possible to create an algorithm that can "understand" legal cases in all their complexity and assign them to the relevant court rulings and paragraphs, the lawyer may potentially become redundant in their current field of work. The same could apply to relatively new professional fields, such as online marketing managers, if advertising on social networks is controlled by AI technology.

Top 5 skills for the digitized working world

However, digitalization is also creating new professions and required qualifications. Companies are restructuring themselves to meet market demands. In doing so, they must bring their employees along with them. To achieve this, employers should already be placing value on ensuring that their employees possess the skills that will be urgently needed in the future.

1. Operational experiential knowledge: There is knowledge that cannot be taught through a textbook. That is why it is becoming increasingly important for companies to engage in knowledge management. This allows valuable practical knowledge to be collected and made accessible to all employees. Digital tools for conveying practical user knowledge will increasingly be videos, voice assistants, and virtual reality tools.
2. Online skills: Employees do not have to work in marketing to come into contact with digital tools. In the HR department, one should know how e-recruiting works, and e-learning is increasingly being used in corporate training and further education.
3. Communication and cooperation skills: Even in small and medium-sized enterprises, work is increasingly becoming decentralized. Cross-departmental teams are being newly assembled depending on needs and projects, which can be a new challenge for employees. For instance, a web designer may have to work with an administrative assistant from the finance department, or the IT manager may need to explain to the production manager how new software is being introduced into the company.
4. Independence: Decentralized work in teams and working as a cloud worker also require increasing self-responsibility. More and more companies are moving toward leaving it up to their employees how long they work, as long as they complete their tasks.
5. Creativity: What AI cannot yet handle is creative work. Developing new strategies, working on complex topics, and creating artistic products will become increasingly important.