Digital Literacy Consultant

In the past year I’ve worked on a number of consultancies in the areas of Digital Literacy and the aquisition of Digital skills. This is a particularly hot topic as the government, development and private sectors grapple with the idea of how to take advantage of the impending arrival of Industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0 and Digital Literacy

The arrival of Industry 4.0 means that globally we will be taking a different approach in how we develop product and services, how they are delivered and how they are consumed. This, in theory anyway, means that we will be more effective and more efficient in how we produce and consume, giving rise for new growth areas and new ways to benefit all.

However, as a consequence of this new approach and use of new technologies such as AI, Robotics, Big Data and so on, the workforce will need to initially upskill and then continually develop and improve their digital skills. What we have seen so far, is that this has challenging keeping up with the pace of technology and change in developed countries. For those less developed countries the challenge will be even greater and comes with the fear of digital exclusion. So the fear that “a robot will make me redundant” is perhaps not one of science fiction, but fact. Even those knowledge workers, traditionally more secure in their roles, should not rest on their laurels. Here AI and big data is also making inroads into making better decisions and creating well structured outputs than their human counterparts.

So what does a Digital Literacy consultant actually do ?

My primary role is to understand how government, the development sector, NGO’s and the private sector need to adapt to take advantage of the continual change. This spans such things as government policy, key development initiatives, social transformation and inclusion, and boosting economic growth. Often this also takes into consideration education, demographics, human capital and entrepreneurship.

Typical assignments look at a regional, national or sectoral segments to determine threats and opportunities and how best to manage the transformation to a future goal. Often these studies will investigate:

• Education and youth, both from a formal and xxx perspective
• Demographics, birth rates and growth of the elderly population
• Employment and needs of employers
• Industry trends
• Policy change and intervention
• Digital Skills, Digital Literacy and links to traditional Literacy and Numeracy
• Development of skills frameworks
• Urban and rural contexts, underrepresented communities, inclusion
• Entrepreneurship and startups
• Industry 4.0, the Gig Economy, eCommerce and Digital Skills
• Employment and Entrepreneurship opportunities for women

Whilst much of my work has focussed on the ASEAN region in the past five years, this is a global issue and I have a broadening level of skills in Africa, Europe and the CAREC countries.