Many fear the end of the world but most do nothing to prepare for it. Unfortunately, for some individuals in the world of work the end might be sooner than they presume and they are either still oblivious to this or they simply are hoping for the impossible but it is inevitable. The only thing that can be done by such persons is to put contingency plans in place to ensure that when their worst fears are realized they would not have their world turned upside-down but will have strategically positioned themselves to transition smoothly.
With digital disruptions and technological innovations, the future is with us and it is still merely superficial as the possibilities remain endless. From smart-cities to Artificial Intelligence to Building Information Modeling, every sector in existence is experiencing an overhaul in processes, systems, and overall structure – nothing is escaping. Also, with these technological influences in the way things are done around the world, skills, infrastructure and what have you are getting obsolete.
Many of these traditional elements have people who are involved in handling, implementing, and earning a livelihood at their core. Several people have already lost or are in the process of losing their livelihood due to solutions that are more effective and technology-driven. Take for instance yellow taxis in Lagos and other locations where Uber, Bolt, Opay and the likes have infiltrated. Sure, you can bet that those on the receiving end of this disruption never saw it coming but it came anyway. It is even sadder to see that some of them still adamantly hang-on to their traditional means instead of incorporating into the new order. Where people continue to hold on to their traditional way of doing things despite changing phase brought about by technology, the economic factor must be there. A classic example is the traditional Cyber Café business where we visited to do all things internet-related and make phone calls, we still have a few around but these have re-strategized their business model to service the existing market. So these existing café businesses are still needed for this, asides from that our calling is done on-the-go with our smart devices and documents can be better sent as soft-copies from the same device, we are connected to the digital space from a click of our fingers – did people lose their jobs thanks to smart-phone, you bet.
Take a look at the baby-boomer generation business owners most are not even conversant with navigating phones, laptops, and technological gadgets and have to rely on employing the millennial generation to handle the tech-aspects but the question is for how long because soon to breathe one might need some technology’s assistance – okay maybe that is too extreme, but the point is, even some of these CEOs are catching up and doing immersive learning of the workings of the digital world and there are those who instead of strategically positioning themselves are acting as resistance to the implementation and adoption of these solutions especially in the places or sectors they directly control or influence. Be it as it may, the changes are inevitable and instead of fighting, it should be embraced and taken advantage of while there is still time.
There are training; online, that comes at no cost to get enlightenment and deeper knowledge of the digital ecosystem. YouTube TM is one of such resources; openSAP TM is also an interesting one, CourseraTM, UdemyTM, Google TM all offer online courses to this regard – do well to take advantage of them. Get an understanding of machine learning, artificial intelligence, learn programming, and overall, do the needful to position yourself on the winning team.
To the jobs machines will take over, I am no prophet of doom neither am I a Seer, so there would not be any job-calling but my advice is simply to not wait to see if your job falls into the beautiful hands of the dreaded machine take-over. However, one sector that is being heavily impacted with disruptive solutions is the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry – if you belong in this niche, take a hint and do the needful. Go for exhibitions, industry conferences, training, research fairs, and get in on the latest development – they show up every other day. Prevention is said to be better than cure and it is much better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. I am talking to me too!
