At this year’s 15th annual MyBroadband Conference and Expo, Reshaad Sha, CEO Liquid Telecom South Africa has one core message to share: The 4th Industrial Revolution is already upon us; if South African businesses don’t begin preparing for digital transformation now, they are sure to lose their competitive edge over their global counterparts.
The same is true for the type of skills that will be required for the jobs of the future, and not starting now will result in a massive skills shortage.
According to a report from McKinsey Global Institute titled, “Outperformers: High-growth emerging economies and the companies that propel them” as many as 375 million workers – or roughly 14% of the global workforce – may need to switch occupations or upgrade their skills by 2030 due to digitisation and automation.
However, the same report estimates that 250 to 280 million new jobs will be created globally from the impact of rising incomes on consumer goods alone.
South Africa has a predominantly young population that has grown up with technology, and we need to make sure that we are providing them with the opportunity to be able to upskill themselves.
“Liquid Telecom had launched its free technology learning platform – 21CSkills – to address this very need,” explains Sha. “The initiative offers over 200 free courses, all in the fields of Cloud Computing, Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science. These are the building blocks of business and life going forward, so these are the skills that we need to harness.”
Developing the right digital skills is important, but there are other factors that South African businesses must consider for success in the age of 4IR, such as choosing the right technologies, security, and the right connectivity.
Businesses need a network that is secure, provides superior quality, has low latencies and resiliency to enable and support a seamless digital transformation journey.
“Liquid Telecom is the digital service provider of choice for South African businesses and ours is a network that is scalable, future-proof and reliable and helps businesses open up unprecedented new possibilities. Today, Liquid Telecom has one of the most technologically advanced, modern and reliable networks on the African continent.”
“Liquid Telecom isn’t just speaking about digital transformation; we’re driving it.”
Don’t miss Reshaad Sha’s keynote address, which will detail the different futures that South Africa faces based on how we embrace the 4th Industrial Revolution.
Catch him on stage at the MyBroadband Conference and Expo at Gallagher Estate on Thursday the 17th of October.
To win a Google Assistant, visit Liquid Telecom’s stand on the day.
