The future of every industry will require the average employee to be a “techie”, says Lyndy Van Den Barselaar,Managing Director, Manpower South Africa

When one looks at the direction businesses are taking to ensure profitability in an increasingly competitive globalised environment, operational efficiency remains one of the primary objectives. Operational efficiency strategies are, in many cases, directed towards the automation of skills, to ensure that a task can be done quicker, and without the need for an increased human workforce. After all, if a business can have a computer that never stops working, perform a function at ten times the speed, never makes a mistake, and does not require a parking bay or sick leave, then operational efficiency and business profitability is greatly increased.

However, we are a long way off before we start seeing the rise of businesses that are purely run off computer programmes without any human interface, but the ever-forward trend to this eventuality presents a case that future employees will have to develop and maintain basic skills associated with computer programmes. In order to remain relevant in a business and private world that is run by one type of computer programme or another, employees will be required to demonstrate the skill of maintaining, managing and upgrading these programmes, which means that they will need to demonstrate the knowledge that techies of today demonstrate.

Yes, a future skill that any employee will be required to demonstrate is the understanding and use of a programme that their job ultimately requires. Furthermore, the maintenance and continual upgrading of this programme will be the responsibility of the employee to ensure that their job remains as efficient as possible – at least until that function is fully–automated, the programme has the ability to self improve, and the need for a human interface is negated.

The trend towards this symbiotic human-programme business function is more advanced in some careers than in others, but what is clear is that as functions of a business become more programme driven, there is a slow move to incorporate this function into the IT department rather than keep the function within the department in which the need for the programme emanated. This has lead to an ever-increasing Information Technology department that includes technical and programme developers that are required to become specialists on consulting interfaces, marketing and communication requirements or financial procedures. Managers within these traditionally non-tech departments are seeking to increase their operational efficiency and so identify how a programme / online tool will increase productivity. The standard process is then for this requirement to be briefed into the research and development department, which in many cases is seen as an extension of the IT department
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This makes, in part, sense because (a) the technical proficiency of those within the iT department are already aligned to programme solutions, and (b) should the programme be developed, it will require the IT system backbone to be deployed and maintained within the organisation. However, as this trend continues, and the IT or programme requirements become more complex, it is inevitable that the IT department and the IT requirement will become so large that it becomes a key stakeholder in every single department. This would essentially mean that all other business departments will fall under the control of the IT department, or that every department would need to include employees that are proficient at the skill that IT departments or programmers currently have.

In short, there will come a day when your CV will require you to include programming and coding as a core skill, and your CV will need to also include a portfolio of codes and programmes that you have developed to overcome a challenge within your particular field. Only through the demonstration that you recognise that your job will require you to constantly innovate, to drive increased efficiency and profitability within your department will you be considered as a suitable candidate that can contribute towards the collective corporate objective – which is to eventually make the need for any human interface redundant.