Human Is the Next Big Thing

By Traci Maddox

One of my favorite movies of 2016 was “Hidden Figures.” The main character, Katherine Johnson, and her team of colleagues had an interesting job title—Calculator! Here’s what Katherine said about her job: “On any given day, I analyze the binomial levels of air displacement, friction and velocity. And compute over ten thousand calculations by cosine, square root and lately analytic geometry. By hand.”

That was the 1960’s. It was amazing work, but work that took hours to complete—and something an in-memory computer could do in a fraction of a second today.

Just as in-memory computing transformed calculating by hand (and made jobs like Katherine’s much easier!), digital technologies are transforming the way we work today – and making our day-to-day activities more efficient.

What’s the real impact of technology in today’s workplace?

We are surrounded by technology, both at home and at work. Machine learning and robotics are making their way into everyday life, and are affecting the way we expect to engage with technology at work. That has a big impact on organizations – if a machine can do a job safely and more efficiently, a company, non-profit, or government, and its employees, will benefit. Digital technologies are becoming increasingly more feasible, affordable and desirable. The challenge for organizations now is effectively merging human talent and digital business to harness new capabilities.

How will jobs change?

What does this mean for humans in the workplace? In our first blog, Kerry Brown showed that as enterprises continue to learn, human/machine collaboration increases. People will direct technology and hand over work that can be done more efficiently by machine. Does that mean people will go away? No—but they will need to leverage different skills than they have today.

Although we don’t know exactly how jobs will change, one thing is for sure—becoming more digitally proficient will help every employee stay relevant (and prepare them to move forward in their careers). Today’s workforce demographic complicates how people embrace technology—with up to five generations in the workforce, there is a wide variety in digital fluency (i.e. the ability to understand which technology is available and what tools will best achieve desired outcomes).

What is digital fluency and how can organizations embrace it?

Digital fluency is the combination of several capabilities related to technology:

Foundation skills: The ability to use technology tools that enhance your productivity and effectiveness
Information skills: The ability to research and develop your own perspective on topics using technology
Collaboration skills: The ability to share knowledge and collaborate with others using technology
Transformation skills: The ability to assess your own skills and take action toward building your digital fluency

No matter how proficient you are today, you can continue to build your digital IQ by building new habits and skills. This is something that both the organization and employee will have to own to be successful through learning and development initiatives.

So, what skills are needed?

In a Technical University of Munich study released in July 2017, 64% of respondents said they do not have the skills necessary for digital transformation.

These skills will be applied not only to the jobs of today, but also to the top jobs of the future which haven’t been imagined yet! A recent article in Fast Company mentions a few, which include Digital Death Manager, Corporate Disorganizer, and 3-D Printing Handyman!

And today’s skills will be used differently in 2025 as reported by another Fast Company article:

Tech skills—especially analytical skills, will increase in importance. Software developers, market analysts, and computer analysts demand will increase significantly between now and 2025.
Retail and sales skills—jobs related to soft skills that are hard for computers to learn— will continue to grow. Customer service representatives, marketing specialists, and sales reps must continue to collaborate and understand how to use social media effectively to communicate worldwide.
Lifelong learning—will be necessary to keep up with the changes in technology and adapt to our fast-moving lives. Teachers and Trainers will continue to be hot jobs in the future, but the style of teaching will change to adapt to a “sound bite” world.
Contract workers—must understand how businesses and projects work will thrive in the “gig economy.” Management analysts and auditors will continue to be in high demand.

What’s next?

How do companies address a shortage of digital skills and build digital fluency? Here are some steps you can take to increase your digital fluency—and that of your organization:

Assess where you are today. Either personally or organizationally, knowing what skills you have is the first step toward identifying where you need to go.
Identify one of each of the skills sets to focus on. What foundational skills do you or your organization need? How can you promote collaboration? What thought leadership can your team share—and how can they connect with the right information to stay relevant?
Start practicing! Choose just one thing—and use that technology every day for a month. Use it within your organization so others can practice too.

The computer made its debut in Hidden Figures. Did it replace jobs? Yes, of some of the calculator team. But they did not leave quietly and continue manual calculations elsewhere. They learned how to use that new mainframe computer and became programmers! I believe Human will always be the next big thing.

About the Author

Traci Maddox

Director, SAP North America Digital Transformation Initiative

Traci Maddox is the Director of SAP’s North America Customer Transformation Office, and her mission is elevating customer success through innovation and digital transformation.

About SAP SuccessFactors

SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite helps you completely reinvent the entire employee experience. You can shift from traditional HR transactions to engaging, end-to-end experiences, using intelligent technology to make each interaction simpler and more meaningful. And by linking employee feedback to operational data, you’ll understand what’s happening and why, so you can continuously deliver unexpectedly exceptional experiences that keep your business growing.