Digital skills in demand for Malaysian companies
06 Jul 2023
In today’s rapidly evolving technology landscape, the need for workforce digital skilling has become even more critical.
As industries undergo digital transformations, organisations must equip their employees with the necessary skills to thrive in the age of automation, artificial intelligence and technological innovation.
Digital skilling is the process of acquiring or upgrading digital skills and knowledge necessary to operate and succeed in a digital environment.
The process covers a broad area of competencies, including digital literacy, data analysis, coding, cybersecurity, digital marketing and cloud computing.
Bridging skills gap
By investing in digital skilling initiatives, organisations can bridge the skills gap, empower their employees and foster innovation within their operations.
In Malaysia, both public and private sector firms are positioning themselves for greater agility and innovation.
They are accelerating efforts to upskill and reskill their workforces, as well as leveraging data insights to identify skills gaps and opportunities in growing areas of the economy.
Based on data from LinkedIn, by 2025 there would likely be three new skills needed to perform any job in the country successfully.
According to LinkedIn country manager of Malaysia and head of emerging markets (Southeast Asia), Rohit Kalsy, skills are taking centre stage, and businesses and professionals must to adapt and be more nimble than ever to succeed.
“Since LinkedIn first set up its office in Malaysia in 2019, we have partnered and continue to partner corporate Malaysia in diverse industries. Today, as companies embark on digital transformation, we are uniquely positioned to leverage our rich data insights as well as our library of the most in-demand skills to help them find and develop diverse talents to be agile and competitive,” he said.
Digital skills in demand
Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Malaysia said it has witnessed a “significant shift” in the skills and roles needed in its organisation in recent years.
According to its chief digital technology officer, Muhammad Afhzal Abdul Rahman, the body has identified four key strategic growth areas to invest in, namely in hiring and developing talent in data security and cloud computing, fostering a customer-centric approach, and leveraging data and analytics to make informed strategic business decisions.
EPF has developed learning and development programmes to train talent in these areas.
“Over the past years, we’ve witnessed a significant shift in the skills and roles needed within the EPF and the larger finance sector. We recognise the importance of staying ahead of these changes and are committed to keeping our workforce future-fit as we navigate the shifting dynamics of the modern workplace. For example, we’ve developed internal training programmes to equip our talent with hard skills such as cybersecurity and cloud computing, to soft skills like agile methodologies and design thinking,” said Afhzal.
“In this regard, LinkedIn Learning and Insights have been game-changers for our talent strategy. It provides various online courses and resources that are useful to EPF employees so that they are ever ready to seize opportunities and excel in the fast-paced world we operate in,” he said.
Evolving job roles
Malaysia’s digital economy is expected to contribute to 25.5 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product by 2025, and create 500,000 jobs.
But even as new roles are being created, existing job roles are evolving, according to CIMB Bank.
It is investing in emerging growth areas such as in sustainability, and is monitoring trends in the industry to capture such opportunities.
“We see new areas (of opportunities) such as sustainability grow exponentially. We are looking for ESG (environmental, social, governance) advocates to be part of the bank as we scale up and embed sustainability into our DNA. For our graduate training programmes, we are structuring them so that we can build digitally fluent, sustainability champions. We also see traditional roles in areas such as risk, compliance and audit evolving to increasingly incorporate aspects of tech and data,” said CIMB group chief people officer and group chief sustainability officer, Gurdip Singh Sidhu.
Gamuda Berhad, a leading construction and infrastructure company, encourages its employees to take ownership of their personal development.
Self-directed learning platforms and in-house webinar (TechTalks) sessions are made available to employees, in line with the company’s digitalisation transformation agenda and expansion as a regional player.
“We are seeing a lot of interest in cross-disciplinary learning. For example, our engineers are actively learning about business development and finance to sharpen their business acumen. This is essential as we want to develop more all-rounded talent promote career growth and facilitate opportunities of internal mobility where feasible,” said its Group Human Resources and Admin senior general manager, Wong Lye Ling.
“As our business continues to be more dynamic and regionalised, there is a need for on-demand upskilling and reskilling of our people — anytime, anywhere. This is the future of learning and development,” she said.
Source: NST
