‘Embrace technology or fail’

ACCORDING TO the World Economic Forum, 65 per cent of current primary school children will end up in careers that do not yet exist, with a high possibility of these being in or linked to technology. This was part of the food for thought shared by HEART/NSTA Trust’s Managing Director Dr Taniesha Ingleton at the Jamaica Technology and Digital Alliance’s BizTech 2023 conference on Wednesday, November 15, at the Summit Hotel.

Dr Ingleton addressed the gathering of about 200 persons and shared on matters pertaining to the importance of technology as businesses strive to evolve and grow in the 21st century.

The importance of technology, she emphasised, cannot be overlooked because gone are the days when companies had glitches in their internal systems and they called the IT guy to fix them and then he would disappear again into his office or department.

“Business leaders often view technology as mere support and this has to change. We have to recognise that it is not a mere support function, as the IT guy has to be at the forefront and become the heartbeat of the business. So the IT guy has to see himself as the head strategist driving the business and be elevated around the decision-making table as he creates the digital roadmap for the company.”

She added further that any company that sees technology as a mere appendage will be in trouble. Jamaica, she stated, lags behind many First World countries as we try to be digital first and paper second, while for some countries it is digital only.

“Some of us don’t want to spend the money as we don’t see it as an investment in having a competitive advantage. Well, HEART is spending billions on technology,” she said.

The ever evolving job market demands that they properly equip the workforce and bridge the skill set gap and the need for ‘upskilling’ of the labour force. According to one recent study, 85 million persons will be displaced globally as the world moves from a human workplace to automation. However, if we are proactive, we can bridge the skills gap and earn some US$11.5 trillion in global revenue.

With the use of STEM education, HEART has recently developed seven centres of excellence and has committed to establishing at least three more STEM labs in order to play their part in shaping the future generation of Jamaica. These spaces will serve as hubs of specialised training that focus on best practices for the relevant industries’ needs.

These centres utilise high-value equipment that provide training in areas such as robotics, opto-electronics, mecha-tronics and geomatics, as it is forecasted that by 2027, these areas will generate $74 billion in income, therefore making them critical to expanding technological output.

In addition to training and retooling, the advent of the recent global pandemic also caused a critical shift in employment as it facilitated more people recognising that they can actually stay home and create their own businesses using technology and provide equal if not better revenue stream.

“We are on the cusp of the Fifth Industrial Revolution. We have to realise just how quickly technology is moving so everything about us and around us must change,” Ingleton said.