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

PR80501

PHOENIX, Sept. 12, 2019 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

- 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   

    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.  

    Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/633365/Infosys_Logo.jpg

    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.  

    From their responses to questions in each of these five areas, Infosys

developed a Talent Readiness Index. The research team sorted companies by their

index score, and three distinct clusters emerged — Followers, Challengers and Leaders.

        - Followers have fewer approaches to develop talent and don't measure

their results or effectiveness.

        - Although challengers invest heavily in anywhere, anytime training,

they still rely on traditional sources for talent acquisition.

        - Leaders build lifelong learning culture and use it to retain top talent.

    What sets leaders apart?

        - Pursue multiple talent approaches and initiatives to not only meet

current needs but also be well prepared for future talent demands.

        - Are frontrunners in providing training programs and inculcating a

lifelong learning tradition.

        - Have rigorous hiring methods and don't compromise on quality of

hires; however, they are also open to nontraditional sources.

        - Aggressively work toward sustainably smarter workplaces.

    Barriers to talent transformation

    Infosys looked at two perspectives on the barriers that prevent sufficient

demand-supply match of talent — tangible and intangible barriers to talent

transformation.

    Among the tangible barriers, lack of budget is the biggest barrier to

repurposing efforts, followed by organizational issues, lack of management

awareness or support, and inadequate talent management plans.

    Among the intangible barriers, learnability received short shrift in the

research, and it limits the tremendous potential of reskilling as a competitive

advantage for companies that embrace learnability. Undervaluing learnability

limits potential of other talent initiatives.

    What action to take?

    Infosys identified four approaches that can help companies prepare

themselves to address the talent needs of today and prepare for those of the

future. For each approach, leader and follower categories have been designated

to describe good practices and actionable recommendations.

        - Cast a wider net for new hires

        - Reskill and redeploy in-house talent

        - Engage temporary workers and gig economy strategically

        - Align organizational structure to evolving business needs

    Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys, said, "There is not just a

talent war – it's a famine. To succeed, companies must hire, develop, and

retain talent better than their competition. As enterprises progress in their

digital journeys, the winners will be those who utilize multiple hiring sources

and reskill workers in a culture of lifelong learning – invest in their people,

who are the ultimate differentiator in a commoditized world. This is further

validation of Infosys' commitment to continuous learning and reskilling that

has been a bedrock of our success for over three decades."

    For a full copy of the report, please visit:

https://www.infosys.com/navigate-your-next/research/talent-radar/  

    Methodology

    In July 2019, the Infosys Knowledge Institute conducted an online survey

using a blind format, attracting responses from more than 1,000 CXOs and other

senior-level respondents from companies with revenue greater than US$1 billion.

Respondents represented multiple industries and were from Australia, China,

France, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States.

    To gain additional qualitative insights, we also conducted primary

interviews with 20 industry practitioners and subject matter experts.

    About Infosys

    Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and

consulting. We enable clients in 45 countries to navigate their digital

transformation. With over three decades of experience in managing the systems

and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer our clients through their

digital journey. We do it by enabling the enterprise with an AI-powered core

that helps prioritize the execution of change. We also empower the business

with agile digital at scale to deliver unprecedented levels of performance and

customer delight. Our always-on learning agenda drives their continuous

improvement through building and transferring digital skills, expertise, and

ideas from our innovation ecosystem.

    Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NYSE: INFY) can help your

enterprise navigate your next.

    Safe Harbor

    Certain statements mentioned in this presentation concerning our future

growth prospects are forward-looking statements regarding our future business

expectations intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private

Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and

uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those

in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to

these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties

regarding fluctuations in earnings, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, our

ability to manage growth, intense competition in IT services including those

factors which may affect our cost advantage, wage increases in India, our

ability to attract and retain highly skilled professionals, time and cost

overruns on fixed-price, fixed-time frame contracts, client concentration,

restrictions on immigration, industry segment concentration, our ability to

manage our international operations, reduced demand for technology in our key

focus areas, disruptions in telecommunication networks or system failures, our

ability to successfully complete and integrate potential acquisitions,

liability for damages on our service contracts, the success of the companies in

which Infosys has made strategic investments, withdrawal or expiration of

governmental fiscal incentives, political instability and regional conflicts,

legal restrictions on raising capital or acquiring companies outside India, and

unauthorized use of our intellectual property and general economic conditions

affecting our industry. Additional risks that could affect our future operating

results are more fully described in our United States Securities and Exchange

Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year

ended March 31, 2019. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may,

from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements,

including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and

Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not

undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time

to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law.

     Source: Infosys