Need Reskilling and Non-traditional Talent Nurturing in a Culture of Lifelong Learning - Finds New Global Research from Infosys

- Soft skills that emphasize collaboration emerged higher than individual skills and are just as important as technical prowess  

- Learnability is the most undervalued intangible skill, with lack of budget the biggest tangible barrier to reskilling the workforce  

PHOENIX, Sept. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys Knowledge Institute (IKI), the thought leadership and research arm of Infosys, today unveiled market research titled 'Infosys Talent Radar 2019.' The report revealed several insightful findings, most importantly about the talent famine, skills in high demand, the rising importance of soft skills and the barriers to talent transformation across global enterprises. 

What's driving the demand for digital talent?

According to the research, although nearly all large enterprises are pursuing improvement initiatives, digitizing the business is less about disruption and more about meeting focused objectives which include better understanding of customers and markets (46% of respondents), customer experience (45%), increasing productivity (40%), and employee experience (35%).  

Which skills are in greatest demand?

• Digital initiatives require people with sophisticated technical skills and the ability to continually update those skills as cycles continue to shorten. The five technical skills in greatest demand today are analytics (67% of digital initiatives), user experience (67%), automation (61%), IT architecture (59%) and artificial intelligence (58%).
  
• Digital projects are focused on creating superior customer and employee experiences, and soft skills have become just as important as technical ones. Those in greatest demand are teamwork (74% of digital initiatives), leadership (70%), and communication (68%). However, our respondents seem to underestimate the relative importance of two soft skills: empathy (52%), which is essential for design thinking, and learnability (56%), which is key to the continuous personal and technical development essential for today's digital talent.
  
• For both hard and soft skills, the capabilities hardest to find and in greatest demand are analytics, communication, and adaptability. However, the skills companies need most vary by industry and the types of digital initiatives they are pursuing.

Meeting the need for talent – Talent Readiness Index

Digital initiatives require skills that can and will evolve. Organizational processes and culture determine the readiness to meet any talent need. Infosys analyzed five key areas on how well respondent companies were positioned to meet their talent needs – Planning, Hiring, Training, Incentives, and Workplace.