Technical skills that are in the greatest demand today are analytics, user experience, automation, IT architecture and Artificial Intelligence, revealed new research from Infosys on Thursday.
Infosys looked at two perspectives on the barriers that prevent sufficient demand-supply match of talent -- tangible and intangible barriers to talent transformation.
The study found that 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%).
Among the tangible barriers, lack of budget is the biggest barrier to repurposing efforts, followed by organisational 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 the potential of other talent initiatives.
"There is not just a talent war -- it's a famine. To succeed, companies must hire, develop, and retain talent better than their competition," said Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer, Infosys.
"As enterprises progress in their digital journeys, the winners will be those who utilise 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," Rao said.
Soft skills that emphasise collaboration are just as important as technical prowess, according to the report titled "Infosys Talent Radar 2019".
For example, the soft skill empathy is essential for design thinking, while learnability is key to the continuous personal and technical development essential for today's digital talent.
For the study, the Infosys Knowledge Institute conducted an online survey that included more than 1,000 CXOs and other senior-level respondents from companies with revenue greater than $1 billion.
Respondents represented multiple industries and were from India, Australia, China, France, Germany, the UK and the US.