Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company, in a new research report said that cloud, cybersecurity and machine learning technologies would be some of the most in-demand digital skills by 2025. The report said that the need for digital skills training became more acute during the pandemic, with 95 per cent of workers in India reporting they need more digital skills to cope with changes in their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lack of training
The report found that over the next year, the number of Indian workers requiring digital skills for their jobs is projected to increase by 27.3 million, representing 7% of India’s workforce. Despite this, only 45% of employers in India have a training plan in place, which could affect their competitiveness in areas such as productivity, innovation, and employee retention.
The “Building Digital Skills for the Changing Workforce” report, prepared by strategy and economics consulting firm AlphaBeta, and commissioned by AWS, surveyed 1,012 digitally skilled workers in both technology and non-technology roles, and 303 employers in India. The report also found that the ability to use cloud-based tools, such as cloud developer tools, as well as online collaboration, accounting, and customer relationship management (CRM) software, will be the most in-demand skill required by employers by 2025, followed by technical support skills, and cybersecurity skills. It also highlights the need for more advanced cloud computing skills, including machine learning and cloud architecture design, which emerged as the fifth and sixth most in demand digital skills by employers in India by 2025. These skills are expected to be in high demand in businesses ranging from healthcare to agriculture, fintech to media and entertainment.
AWS said it is focused on breaking down barriers to help solve this challenge, and is investing hundreds of millions of dollars globally as part of a global commitment to provide free cloud computing skills training to 29 million people. To prepare the next generation of cloud professionals for early cloud careers, and to build a diverse pipeline of entry-level talent into the workforce, AWS said it collaborates with higher education institutions, non-profit organisations, workforce development organizations, governments, and employers on a range of digital upskilling programmes.