IT Topics Worth Talking About

This week the National Convergence Technology Center would like to share with you some IT articles we have been reading these last few months. What articles have you read that will impact your students and encourage their development for a workforce ready environment?

• Obtain a Google Certificate in six months and possibly pay less than the average cost of college books – Inc. Magazine discusses how Google’s new certificate, Google Career Certificates, will allow job seekers to attend school for six months, complete their certification and leap right into a “high-paying, high-growth” career. The program is similar to Google’s IT Support Professional Certificate program, which is the most popular certificate on Coursera, that was launched in 2018. Click here for more information.

• How smart is your organization’s customer service? AI is becoming the Driving Force of Personalized Customer Service – LinkedIn reports how AI is attracting more customers by getting to know them on a more personal level. Who needs a personal shopper at a store when you can go online and answer a questionnaire and receive clothes designed strictly with you in mind every month from Stitch Fix? This is just one example of the many companies that are allowing AI to create a more customer driven environment for their customers. Amazon spearheaded “data-driven, personalized shopping” by giving customers recommendations based on their online shopping history and now other companies or determined not to be left behind. Read more here.

• In-Demand jobs during the pandemic – More employers are finding it more economical to train their current staff so that they can hire from within, a trend that is encouraging more Learning and Development (L&D). At the onset of Covid-19, hiring went down while learning drastically increased causing companies to invest more in L&D. During the pandemic, companies decided to invest incoming workers rather than hire new workers. As a result, to meet the demand for new skills, companies have boosted their investment in Learning and Development budgets. However, there were spikes in customer service jobs and, of course, tech positions. Click here for more information and a list of the most in-demand jobs.

• AI may be able to recreate a lot of positions but not ALL positions are replaceable – The World Economic Forum looks at how the pandemic has propelled contactless technology into the forefront and how it will continue to increase and cause an increase in unemployment.  However, the WEF also named three abilities that cannot be “substituted by AI,” and they are hospitality, management and creativity. The Forum states that AI will recreate these abilities at basic levels. Therefore, individuals with these skills will need to develop in the following ways to prevent AI replacement:

• • Hospitality – Sensing or listening to a customer’s non-verbal communication and showing empathy.
  • Management – Helping colleagues and staff learn and grow professionally as well as counseling them when in distress due to interpersonal issues.
  • Creativity – Innovating within the organization; managing the organization and encouraging everyone to share their knowledge and ideas.

  If you would like to read the article in its entirety, click here.