10 minute read
FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
ARE WE READY FOR THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION?
It is more important than ever before to skill the youth in 4IR technologies, and to reskill those whose talents are becoming redundant. By RODNEY WEIDEMANN
The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) represents a new era of innovation in technology and disruptive technologies that are already signifi cantly impacting how we work, live, play and govern.
The 4IR encompasses technologies like artifi cial intelligence (AI), robotics, cloud computing and the internet of things (IoT), which are combined in various forms to provide us with interconnected digital devices, intelligent robots and autonomous vehicles, among others.
The real question is whether or not SA has adequate skills for this, and if not, how the country aims to train and upskill its people in 4IR capabilities. Gerhard de Beer, managing executive at training organisation Mecer Inter-Ed, says the company believes that most organisations’ preparedness for the 4IR is grossly understated.
“When one looks outside of the private business sector, much more can still be done, particularly at school level where government needs to ensure that children are exposed to digital technology at as early an age as possible,” he says.
“Outside the school arena, and in conjunction with the government’s National Skills Development Plan, many private sector training programmes – with a plethora of content that maps to all the popular 4IR topics – are available.”
Most reputable IT training companies can provide a customised solution to suit almost every training need, he continues. The Media, Information and Communications SETA is busy updating its registered qualifi cations to include skills programmes and learnerships that address these sought-after skills.
“I think the most important factor to consider when choosing a training partner is to make sure of its offi cial learning partner status. IT training companies need to be accredited by the various IT houses whose courses they offer,” de Beer adds.
LINKING THEORY WITH PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE
While there are many students who do degrees at university, there is seldom an effective bridge between this theory and the actual workplace, says Christian Visser, technical lead at training provider Torque IT. “It is important to be able to link what you learn in class to the actual workplace, which enables learners to move beyond simple theory. Any youngster learning 4IR
Gerhard skills must also be taught de Beer entrepreneurial abilities – because high unemployment in SA means that the ability to leverage these skills to start your own business will be critical,” he says.
“To get the best out of 4IR skills training, the country must make sure that initiatives combine training with workplace experience – this is something the private sector is well aware of – and greater efforts are made to ensure that there is always an element of workplace exposure.”
Any initiatives SA can put in place to train the youth in 4IR skills will be vital, adds Visser, as the country needs to be in a position to benefi t from international opportunities that may present themselves. “However, without these skills, we will be unable to grasp these opportunities,” he explains.
“The advantage of training youngsters in 4IR skills is that they learn fast and, being from the digital generation, already have an almost instinctive grasp of many of the technologies. However, we must remember that providing skills to the youth is only one facet of this: we must also ensure that experienced individuals whose skills are becoming redundant are reskilled with relevant digital training.
“Perhaps most crucially, training, upskilling and reskilling in 4IR technologies must be ongoing. No matter where you begin your learning journey, once started, it never ends. The current speed of technology evolution means that to keep pace with change, you need to constantly focus on learning and developing new skills,” concludes Visser.
THE MOST IMPORTANT 4IR SKILLS
Torque IT’s Christian Visser suggests the following as crucial skills for the future: • Coding • AI • Robotics • Machine learning and automation • Cloud engineering • Data science engineering • IoT • Cybersecurity • Drone piloting • 3D printing • Data analysis • Software and application development
PRESERVING AND NURTURING CRITICAL SKILLS
South Africa needs to change its thinking around critical skills, writes PRASHEEN MAHARAJ, CEO Sandock Austral
For too long the narrative has centred almost exclusively around skills development rather than the preservation and nurturing of existing critical skills in addition to the creation of new skills and a talent pool.
The unfortunate outcome is the enrichment of skills development service providers with little to no new skills or capability being made available to the national resource pool. This has resulted in South Africa quickly losing capability and capacity in key areas such as energy, marine, defence, aerospace and healthcare among others, forcing us to rely on the importation of critical skills at a time when the country is experiencing an unemployment crisis.
After democracy, affirmative action saw the displacement of white skills by black skills. In recent years we have seen some reversals of this with the narrative being created in some quarters about the side lining of Black Excellence. As a result, we find critical and desperately required skills fragmented across our country and, to some extent, across the globe. This disjointed nature of South African skills means that they are no longer available to the national resource pool in an efficient manner although they exist.
The “lost” critical skills are no longer available to train, develop and mentor new graduates from tertiary institutions, further weakening the capability and capacity of the country to deliver on critical projects both locally and for potential export.
If South Africa has any hope of delivering basic services to its people efficiently and cost-effectively as well as creating jobs through an export-driven industrialisation strategy, it is imperative that we take the issue of skills preservation and nurturing as seriously as we do skills development.
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY
Fortunately, with the rapid advancements in technology, one can quickly develop a mobilisation platform to build a national resource pool and talent network. A mobilisation platform enabled by technology will move people to work together to accomplish something beyond the capabilities of any individual participant.
Tied to a mobilisation platform is a learning platform that facilitates learning by bringing participants together to share insights, skills and experience over time.
Learning platforms tend to foster deep, trust-based relationships as participants have the opportunity to realise more potential by working together.
The recent failures of some state-owned enterprises have resulted in many employees not being paid in full for up to 18 months.
Corporate failures like Steinhoff and disinvestments or scaling down of investments have also caused many job losses.
The COVID-19 crisis has created a huge amount of economic upheaval and uncertainty resulting in millions of people losing their jobs.
Therefore, security of employment is no longer guaranteed, both in South Africa and around the world, resulting in a shift towards self-employment. Despite the high job demands, business owners also have high job control and autonomy over their tasks.
This independent way of working gives rise to “procedural utility,” that is, the enjoyment of the process as well as the outcome of working while avoiding hierarchy and subordination. This unique combination of high job demands and high job control gives rise to a state when work leads to self-actualisation, mastery, new skill development and, ultimately, greater wellbeing. Job control completely cushions the stress aspects of self-employment.
Sandock Austral, a technology and engineering company participating in the marine, defence, aerospace and energy sectors, has taken up the struggle of unemployment and the fragmented national resources pool through the formation of the Sandock Austral Forum for Entrepreneurs (SAFE).
The aim is to create a technology-enabled mobilisation and learning platform for selfemployed and unemployed critical engineering, technology and other relevant skills to collaborate and work together to deliver on projects in the marine, defence, aerospace and energy sectors.
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For more information:
INCUBATORS AND ACCELERATORS HELP GROW SMEs
How accountants can leverage incubator and accelerator programmes to boost sustainability and growth for start-ups and SMEs
Enabling growth
Early-stage start-up support Access to nance Mentoring
The Space to grow: new models of business support – Accelerators, Incubators and Accountants report examines how alternative business support models, such as accelerators and incubators, are being used to allow more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and start-ups to achieve rapid growth and support their post-COVID-19 recovery. It also highlights the growing importance of small business support ecosystems. The report is based on several case studies from around the world and provides practical insight to SMEs and accountants looking to interact with these support models.
WHAT ARE ACCELERATORS AND INCUBATORS?
There is no hard and fast definition of incubators and accelerators, but simply put, they are support mechanisms to help businesses grow.
Incubators: support business creation and development. They are typically physical spaces that provide additional services such as training and mentoring for entrepreneurs, access to networks and, sometimes, specialist equipment or facilities such as laboratories. They can be nonprofit institutions set up by universities, governments, agencies or donors, or commercial enterprises set up by private sector companies and investor groups.
Accelerators: focus on growth and have historically put greater emphasis on funding, although elements such as networking, mentoring and market access are increasingly seen as equally important. A key feature is that they offer highly selective and time-limited programmes.
Both accelerators and incubators are providing post-COVID-19 recovery support that is important for mature businesses looking to reimagine themselves.
Some incubators and accelerators are highly targeted on a particular social impact – social inclusion, sustainability or other social benefits. But any incubator will be
External nance function Networking Technology evangelists Post-COVID recovery
This figure depicts some key points of synergy between accountants, accelerators and incubators.
looking to set its entrepreneurs on a path that is financially and socially responsible, pursuing not just growth but sustainability. The ecosystem mentality may have wider applications in promoting business resilience and sustainability more generally.
Impact incubators demonstrate how the support model can be fine-tuned to produce social outcomes.
COVID-19 has put extreme pressure on smaller businesses, many of which have had to close their doors. Others have experienced extremely rapid growth. Many support networks have found their members and alumni looking to them for support, not to grow, but to survive. Some incubators and accelerators have activated past and present members to work together to find innovative solutions to a range of issues thrown up by the crisis.
INCUBATORS, ACCELERATORS AND ACCOUNTANTS: KEY POINTS OF SYNERGY
Accountants can play a vital role in the new business support infrastructure as well as complement it. Start-ups and growth businesses need sound financial management and data as they start and grow their businesses. Accountants and small- and medium-sized practices (SMPs) can provide far more than mere compliance – they can become growth partners and grow with their clients. Working with the accelerators and incubators might also mean access to clients or the introduction of their clients to the right incubators or accelerators.
SMPs in particular can adopt some of the techniques and approaches used by accelerators and incubators and become “enterprise growth hubs”. Some of the progressive practitioners are combining their expertise and already acting as accelerators and incubators for groups of high-growth businesses and are supporting those businesses seeking recovery or transformation post-COVID-19.
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ABOUT ACCA
ACCA is the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants – a thriving global community of 227 000 members and 544 000 future members based in 176 countries – upholding the highest professional and ethical values.
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