Digital Upskilling Is Vital As We Navigate The Rapidly Evolving Digital Economy
Digital Upskilling Is Vital As We Navigate The Rapidly Evolving Digital Economy
Putrajaya, 27th August 2021
The high-velocity digital adoption in various sectors under the COVID-19
pandemic situation has intensified the need for Malaysia and the rest of
the world to produce skilled talents capable of participating in the
development and deployment of digital technology. The unprecedented
growing demand in specialised digital skills results in a considerable
talent gap that requires rapid upskilling within companies and provides
new opportunities for talents.
The matter was discussed at a panel session yesterday, organised by the
Strategic Change Management Office (SCMO), the government agency
overseeing the implementation of the MyDIGITAL initiative, and the
Social & Economic Research Initiative (SERI), in collaboration with
Microsoft Malaysia. The panel members were Dr. Sumitra Nair, Vice
President and Head of Digital Skills & Jobs at the Malaysia Digital
Economy Corporation (MDEC), Mr. Aadrin Azly, Chief Digital Officer of Petronas and Professor Elizabeth Lee, CEO of Sunway Education
Group. The session was moderated by Dr. Helmy Haja Mydin, the CEO
of SERI.
The panel session, themed ‘Digital Talent in the New, Now & Never
Normal: Are Skills the Currency of the Future?’, is a follow-up to the
release of the SCMO-SERI Digital Talent Survey and the Engagement
Session on 17th August 2021. In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Fabian
Bigar, the CEO of SCMO, highlighted the importance of streamlining the
efforts by the government, the private sector and academia to develop a
pool of advanced digital talents. The speakers at the panel session
represented these three corners of digital talent development.
Multi-stakeholder collaboration is the key to address the evolving demand
of digital talents. Tertiary education institutions must allow the private
sector to get closely involved in the design and accreditation of digital
courses in order to enhance the employability of graduates. Meanwhile,
the private sector must also be more open to providing incubation and
learning opportunities for undergraduates to gain hands-on exposure. All
of these must happen systematically, anchored on agile and flexible
policy decisions.
The existing workforce are also encouraged to embrace a growth mindset
and continuously learn by upskilling themselves and acquiring
specialised digital skills according to the current trends. They can no
longer solely rely on employers to provide training in order to gain new
skills. At the same time, the training and academic institutions under the
public and private sectors are called upon to enhance the quality of digital
talents in Malaysia by offering short-term and medium-term courses for professional certifications in high demand digital skills such as big data
analytics, data science, cloud computing and digital marketing.
Having appropriate digital skills and certifications would enable digital
talents in Malaysia to gain better prospects in the local digital scene as
well as global, since physical location is no longer a barrier in digital
operations.
The Digital Talent Survey released by SCMO and SERI had highlighted
the following findings:-
- The top two barriers to having adequate and sufficient digital talent were: skills gaps in the local labour market and inability to attract specialised talents.
- Big Data Analytics and Digital Marketing were the digital skills most sought after by employers, followed by Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Cybersecurity, and Cloud Computing.
- Critical thinking and analysis, analytical thinking and innovation, and collaboration topped the list of soft skills, followed by English proficiency, and communication.
- On average, only 4.8% of respondents felt that the existing labour market fully meets their digital talent needs.
- According to survey respondents, the following are the tech roles which tend to remain vacant for more than three months: Big Data Analytics, Data Science, Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing.
The Digital Talent Survey report can be accessed here, and the link to
the recording of yesterday’s discussion can be accessed here and here.
About the Strategic Change Management Office (SCMO)
The SCMO is an agency under the Economic Planning Unit entrusted to ensure the delivery of the initiatives spelled out in the Malaysia Digital Economic Blueprint and the National 4IR Policy.
The SCMO is an agency under the Economic Planning Unit entrusted to ensure the delivery of the initiatives spelled out in the Malaysia Digital Economic Blueprint and the National 4IR Policy.
About the Social & Economic Research Initiative
SERI is a non-partisan think-tank dedicated to the promotion of evidence-based policies that address issues of inequality. For more information, please visit seri.my
SERI is a non-partisan think-tank dedicated to the promotion of evidence-based policies that address issues of inequality. For more information, please visit seri.my
For more information, please contact:
Mohd Faizal Azizan
Head, Corporate Communication Unit Strategic Change Management Office
+6011 2828 6745
faizal.azizan@epu.gov.my
Head, Corporate Communication Unit Strategic Change Management Office
+6011 2828 6745
faizal.azizan@epu.gov.my
Nabila Hussain
Policy Communications Lead Social & Economic Research Initiative (SERI)
+6012 274 9047
nabila@seri.my
Policy Communications Lead Social & Economic Research Initiative (SERI)
+6012 274 9047
nabila@seri.my