Business panel: ‘Technology to overhaul job landscape’

Robert Sillars, CEO, Sigma replies:

‘DID you know that an estimated 65% of children entering primary school will find themselves entering careers that don’t currently exist? It’s an astonishing thought and one that prompts us to question how as parents and educators we can prepare our children for a digital future.

As parents, we need to encourage our children to embrace technology in its most positive sense – as a tool that can equip them for the world of work. It’s also essential that the education system engages with technology as a tool to modernise and support learning.

“Traditional” careers such as law, finance and medicine will still exist in future and of course will require specific expertise, however those traditional professions will also be transformed by technology.

‘Many of the routine or data-based tasks in these specialist fields can now be performed by technology, and we are already seeing this in areas such as medical diagnostics, with excellent results. Far from taking the roles of people, technology is complementing the professional expertise of highly skilled individuals, freeing them to focus on more complex tasks that require the cognitive sophistication of real people.

‘On the positive side, by 2020 it is estimated that 1.5m. new jobs will be created globally as a result of digitalisation, which surely presents an opportunity for future generations. Our role is to provide advice and guidance to our children about their future careers – not limiting them to “known” professions, but allowing them to develop flexible skills that will allow them to adapt as their career choices become clear.’

. Fujitsu and Sigma want to build on their 20-year partnership to bring the best technologies to Guernsey, from our experience of implementing them around the world. We believe this will allow Guernsey to unlock a world of opportunity – today, tomorrow and beyond.

For further information visit opportunity.gg.