Tag: digital skills

Literacy, the ability to read and to write, enables prosperity. Yet at least 773 million young people and adults lack basic literacy skills. As technology evolves, users who lack the foundation of learning and education will not reap the benefits of the ongoing digital transformation.

If businesses have learned one thing during the pandemic it is that resilience, rather than being a tactic to respond to crisis, is a discipline cultivated over time. Today, to not have a digital strategy is to not have a strategy. To build resilience at work, organisations need to start thinking about virtual and remote models, provision of tools that enable collaboration from anywhere, and strategies to look after their peoples’ mental health and wellbeing.

While digital transformation and the move to the connected enterprise offer brilliant benefits to organisations, improved visualisation, better and faster data acquisition and processing, remote support, and informed decision-making, there is industry-wide concern that the 'smart' enterprise is increasingly vulnerable.

The latest statistics from the International Labour Organization (ILO) reveals that in 2020, close to 9% of global working hours were lost due to COVID-19. This equates to 255 million full-time jobs – approximately four times higher than jobs lost in 2009 during the global financial crisis.

A global pandemic and the ensuing lockdown implemented in South Africa disrupted businesses across most sectors, putting small and medium sized businesses, in particular, under immense pressure. If 2020 has taught us one thing it is the extent to which we have come to rely on the internet.

Gone are the days when small businesses need to sell their products to just the people who live or work in the immediate vicinity. Digital platforms and partnerships are now empowering micro-companies to extend their offerings, opening new doors for business growth and development.

A recent World Economic Forum report has highlighted evolving trends in the workforce, globally and in South Africa, as the local labour market faces the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR).

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) reported on 12 November 2020 that employment in South Africa increased by 543,000 in the third quarter of the year – recovering some of the 2.2 million jobs lost during the lockdown-hit second quarter.

The task of re-skilling millions of workers may feel overwhelming. By 2022 alone, 75 million jobs will probably be displaced across 20 major economies, while 133 million new ones will spring up in industries that are only just gaining traction. At the same time, it’s estimated that nearly two-thirds of children who started school in 2016 will go on to have jobs that don’t yet exist.

Growth of the entrepreneurial sector is key to addressing South Africa’s unemployment crisis, especially amongst the youth. Young people, however, face many barriers to success. Amongst these is a dire lack of digital literacy and access to internet and data.