Given the accelerated technological transformation of the world of work, the development of digital skills is becoming an increasingly relevant added value for workers, helping them to maximize their employability potential.

The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically impacted the world, with severe economic repercussions. As part of the process towards economic recovery, the challenge is not only to generate jobs and bring workers closer to such opportunities, but also to train talent, which now plays a fundamental role.

Beyond the multiple consequences of the current health situation, it is estimated that by 2025, 50% of employees will need to update their skills as a result of the increased adoption of technology in the workplace.

This curve highlights a silent revolution: digitalization. In recent decades technology has begun to take a central role in people’s lives and it is no secret that at the enterprise level, organizations have also implemented more and more solutions, services, devices and programs related to this trend. This strategy has been accentuated in the last year, with the aim of enabling the necessary infrastructure for businesses to operate remotely.

Given this scenario, the development of digital skills becomes an increasingly relevant added value for workers, helping them to maximize their employability potential. According to a study by Deloitte, 40% of companies are having trouble finding suitable candidates due to the lack of profiles that have this training, while 30% of graduates have a job where they do not use the skills they developed in their studies.

In order to enable workers for the positions that organizations are looking for, there are training platforms and programs that address this need to train personnel for the challenges of the digital economy, offering free resources so that people can develop new skills that bring them closer to better job opportunities. In this way, the skills and unemployment gap can be narrowed.

According to data from Microsoft’s Global Skilling platform, in Mexico, more than 2 million people have accessed these trainings and 1.6 million have completed their learning paths, consolidating as the country with the highest completion rate worldwide in courses such as:

• Digital skills for collaborative and remote work.
• Customer service
• Life skills (socio-emotional)
• Technical support training
• Software development

This reflects a greater push for the formation of multidisciplinary talent in the country, reinforcing soft skills with the knowledge of digital tools.

However, projections indicate that this first step is part of a route that involves certifications and specializations in different areas of IT, for example, the projection of an IDC study estimates that by 2030, 17% of systems professionals will require advanced knowledge in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Internet of Things and Cloud Technologies.

In this way, through this type of platforms, training can continue to be strengthened so that there are more and better job opportunities and the digital divide continues to be reduced.

By Lupina Loperena Ruiz
The author is the leader of Microsoft Philanthropies in Mexico (@LupinaLoperena).