The world is pivoting ever more towards digital solutions and capabilities to make life easier, and the world of work is no exception. The digitalisation of industries is allowing businesses to expand into new markets, increase their productivity, and scale in ways never before possible.
However, with this increasing tilt towards technology, companies are facing a new challenge: there are not enough people with the right skills and training necessary to drive their digital evolution and growth. The rapid expansion of new emerging technologies has led to a digital skills shortage.
This talent shortage is a global phenomenon, evident in South Africa too. Salesforce is set to generate over $2 billion in South Africa from 2018 to 2024, through involvement with partners like CloudSmiths. This means more and more South African companies are implementing Salesforce technologies in their business practices every day.
This rapid and expansive rollout requires teams trained and ready to assist companies in navigating and managing the Salesforce ecosystem, but the demand is currently outpacing the supply – and the gap keeps widening.
Advice From the World Economic Forum
The global digital skills shortage is being driven by a mass migration of industries looking to leave behind outdated business practices and systems, and embrace the power of technology and digital conversion to refocus and expand their output. According to the 2020 Future of Jobs report released by the World Economic Forum, it’s been found that:
- Technological adoption will transform tasks, jobs, and skills by 2025. By 2025, the time spent on current tasks at work by humans and machines will be equal. While this does mean certain human-focused jobs are being annulled, it also creates opportunities for new roles centred around automation and digital transformation.
- Companies still recognise and value human capital investment. A significant number of businesses understand that reskilling employees is both cost-effective and brings significant mid and long-term benefits.
- Skills gaps remain high as in-demand jobs across industries evolve. Companies surveyed estimated that around 40% of their staff require reskilling to fill in-demand positions. Additionally, 94% of business leaders reported they expected employees to pick up new skills on the job.
- Online learning and training are on the rise. There’s been a five-fold increase in employer provision of online learning opportunities to employees and an average of 66% of employers surveyed expected to get a return on their upskilling investment within one year.
This data tells us that businesses’ shift to digital solutions doesn’t need to come at the cost of human capital. As companies gravitate towards technology and cloud-based software, these changes bring new demand for specialised skills and training with them.
When it comes to cloud-based technology like Salesforce, there is an ever-expanding list of positions that require specialised training and skills, such as consultants, analysts, developers and service managers. As South African companies roll out Salesforce in their business strategies, the need for Salesforce talent training keeps escalating.
Equipping Teams With The Right Skills
The employment landscape as we know it is changing before our eyes and businesses need to ride this wave of change or risk becoming obsolete. This means identifying opportunities to develop skills and proficiencies within an existing workforce to fill new positions as they become available.
Businesses that want to stay agile should be actively encouraging their staff to learn new skills. The surge in popularity of the Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) has made it much easier for companies to enrol their employees in fully online upskilling courses.
Not only will this strategy enable companies to adapt more seamlessly to the ongoing digital disruption, but employees’ sense of value and belonging at the company will be reinforced, making it a win-win situation.
CloudSmiths Are Leading the Way In Bridging the Salesforce Talent Gap in South Africa
The gap between companies in need of Salesforce talent and the employees who possess this talent needs to be bridged urgently. As one of Africa’s leading Salesforce partners, CloudSmiths is a key agent actively facilitating this transformation by offering in-depth training and upskilling, tiered according to participants’ background and level of Salesforce experience.
This allows businesses to streamline their management of Salesforce systems and enables employees to actively train and upskill other employees, promoting in-house scaling of talent, for long-term growth and profitability.
Initiatives to upskill and cross skill individuals are consistent. For example, CloudSmiths has had great success through their learnership program, which typically upskills 25 learners every year in tech skills, with a specific focus on Salesforce.
We have also seen the value of cross skilling people who already have developer or consulting skills, into Salesforce. It’s an effective strategy that allows us great breadth of skill as well as depth of skill.
As an active Salesforce Talent Alliance partner, we participate in various other Salesforce programs like the South Africa Careers Fair running on the 28th October, which also attracts professional talent looking to Salesforce to reset their careers.
