Consumerisation, Socialisation To Drive Demand For New Tech Skills

In today’s world, where every organisation is trying to leverage the power of the Web and technology as a whole, the days are not far when the demand for next-generation technology skills will define job vacancies at the workplace prompted by the widespread use of consumer technology. Kathy Harris, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, talks about the various factors that are shaping this demand.

What do you mean by next-generation technology jobs?

These are jobs that require deep skills in three areas, namely, business knowledge, human behaviour and invoking the power of technologies.

How do you relate this development to the CIO?

CIOs can retain these high value jobs in the IT organisation by developing the deep business and behavioural skills needed within the IT set-up. Otherwise, CIOs face the prospect of these important, technology-intensive jobs being created in business units.

What skills should one possess to fill this space?

The primary skills needed are being artistic and graphical to design complex, interactive user experiences; analytical to analyse behaviour; socially and technologically aware to fully leverage social and Web computing. Ideally, the best teams and some individuals should have a mix of all these skills.

What are the factors that have contributed to the opening up of this new dimension of skills?

There are three main drivers: Consumerisation – the rapid adoption by individuals of consumer and computing devices; Socialisation of the Web – the participation by individuals in communities and in creating content or other Web products; and Use of consumerisation, socialisation plus individual and community behaviours to enhance business on the Web.

What role does social science play in stimulating the demand for these new skills?

Humans are social beings and the Web has developed into both a social and business space. As usage of the Web increases, social interactions and behaviours become more complex. Simple reporting of transaction counts or monetary exchanges does not capture the complexity and drivers of Web behaviours. Consequently, we need more advanced analytics and deeper understanding of human behaviour to interpret and exploit the social Web.

Many social networking sites have appointed tracking sites to understand the customer pattern of how they use these sites. Do you think this is the first step towards using social sciences to fill next-generation technology jobs?

These usage patterns are an early step and focus on analysing the relationship of people and communities. Behavioural analysis goes deeper to determine the drivers or triggers of individual and group behaviour. For example, why may an employee, who is very shy and reserved in person, become very confident and outspoken in a virtual community; what drives this disparate behaviour and how may an organisation – whether an employer, an online bookseller or an insurance provider – use this knowledge to stimulate one behaviour vs another?

In what way does consumer technology accelerate the creation of these next-generation technology jobs?

Consumerisation is triggering the adoption of technology, increasing the use of the Web and bringing along tempting opportunities for organisations. All this drives the need to understand how best to leverage the people and power of the Web. Next-gen technology jobs will help organisations harness that power.

How do you see India as a market for next-generation technology jobs?

In a recent report , Gartner defined four categories of next-generation technology jobs, namely, Web Information Analysis roles, Web User Experience roles, Behaviour Analysis roles and Digital Lifestyle Support roles. Two of these promise good opportunities for India. The remaining two categories will be longer-term markets.

Web Information Analysis and Web User Experience roles promise short-term potential. These roles require knowledge and understanding of competitive business processes such as marketing, selling and unassisted service on the Web as well as the ability to develop visual and other interactive environments. I believe India has opportunity in these jobs because the education and experience to build the needed skills for these are available here.

Behaviour Analysis and Digital Lifestyle Support roles are more complex. These roles focus on knowledge and understanding of human psyche, behaviour and needs, which depend on education, experience and the understanding of cultural norms and attitudes. I believe there is less emphasis on these skills and jobs in India today. However, the continued social and economic development of the country is likely to drive up the demand and the opportunity for education and experience in these areas.

Which sectors will first witness the emergence and acceptance of this new opportunity? Do you see any particular sector attracting more demand than others?

Any sector that conducts a large percentage of its business on the Web will feel the need for these new roles and skills. The earliest users are likely to be in the retail, financial services, government, media, and entertainment sectors that are deeply involved in the Web business.