TriMech Enterprise
Thought Leadership Interview - Workforce of the future - Severine Trouillet, Dassault Systèmes
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So the workforce of the future for us are the students that are going to come in the employment market. But I think it's important to remember that this is the way we frame the conversation with our stakeholders, our customers around the need for skills. So for us, business sustainability is the way forward. And it involves three different pillars. One is around products and services innovation. Business model transformation is the second pillar and the third pillar is around people. And whenever we discuss with some of our customers or stakeholders or for me, universities, the skills topic and the people topic always comes to mind. So it's very important we think, that we help prepare the workforce of the future, these generations that are coming onto the job market with the right skills. So for us, we know that 65% at least of the jobs that the students of today are going to occupy in the future don't exist yet. So anticipating these skills is key. But I think for us, the workforce of the future is also the workforce of today because you will need to find these skills in people that are already employed. And for us, making sure that companies can also invest in the learning of the workforce of today makes the workforce of the future. So for us, really the sustainability agenda for businesses, for their growth, for the environment, for sustainability in communities is very important. And what we see is that more and more people are saying they want to work with companies that have a purpose. So we see that the need for skills will also be very different. More and more people want to work with companies and in companies that really have sustainability of the heart of their purpose. So it requires leadership, it requires collaborative skills. So on top of the hard, more technical skills that people will need now to work in companies, we know that other topics will come to the fore. Problem solving creativity, which means that, you know, the skills of tomorrow are going to look very different from the skills of today, but also from a technical perspective, as does the system we recently published a report around the future of skills in manufacturing, and we realize that you have two different kind of skills that are coming to the fore now. You've got the piloting skills, which are the skills where talent is missing today. Topics such as system engineering, model based system engineering, as well as eco design collaboration. So these skills are going to be useful and need some investment now. And you also have more foundational skills like data science and all the skills that will be needed in the future. So for us, sustainability both for the growth of companies and the development of a sustainable workforce economy, society are going to mean a very different set of skills. And that's the system we are here to help to make sure that industry, but also universities and students and the workforce can hopefully a very active role in that. So it's key for companies to make sure that they have the pipeline of talent that is coming. There's this phenomenal outcome in the tsunami, the silver tsunami that many companies are going to have to deal with. A lot of people retiring and there will be a need to capture the knowledge and know how, but also the need to make sure that another pipeline is coming through and that talents are being developed and trained and encouraged to take leadership roles. So for companies, it is very important that the sustainability of this workshop, of this workforce is there and that they use technical and technological tools to make sure that they train their support and also that they anticipate the skills of tomorrow. I think there's a need today to make sure that people see the priorities that are coming up on their on their work in the workplace. I think for us, we see two clear priorities. The sustainability angle is key. A lot of companies will have to transform their business models. They have to think in a different way to make sure that what they do doesn't impact the planet, but also has a very positive impact on their communities. So sustainability is one. Another one is diversity and inclusion. A lot of companies are now realizing that to close the skills gap and to make sure they attract the right talent, they need to increase the pool of people that they are attracting to their companies and to their organizations. So diversity and inclusion will play a key role in the transformation of the workplace. And companies use this as a challenge, but also an opportunity because a lot of studies have proven that the more diverse your team is, the more successful and productivity is because you are bringing different talent, different perspectives, and you can better answer the questions or concerns of your own customers. And we see that as well in STEM because engineering, maths, technology and science all need to attract a more diverse audience to make sure that you create this pipeline. And a lot of companies, schools are realizing that there's a very exciting agenda around this that is diversity. And of course, the third pillar for us is the digital transformation of the automation that is coming really fast and that is profoundly changing the way people are going to do their job. So I think for people coming onto the job market right now, there's an opportunity to upskill, but also to make sure they become more creative and develop other types of competencies and that their job is more enjoyable in the future. So the way that companies can help close the skills gap is to work more collaboratively. But I would say that through a report we recently did with our Education Advisory Board, in Dassault system, we realized that the responsibility actually falls on several actors. So I mentioned companies, but you also have students. You also have stakeholders like governments that need to be really active as well as as universities and schools. So for us, for instance, industry and universities need to work together, for instance, by making sure that industrial professionals are coming into the classroom and are teaching industrial practice. Because whenever a student, a pupil is in contact with an employer with real life problems, it makes them much more employable in the future because they will have been confronted to real life problems. So this is one way we think that you can close the skill gap. Another one is to ensure that universities and industry co-create curricula because industry know what are the skills they need to anticipate. So they can work with professors and and university leadership teams to make sure that the curriculum that they are bringing to the students is current, is working around current and future industrial practices. So these are very important and they involved a lot of collaboration. And for us, a third way of closing the skills gap is also to ensure that students are working on project based learning and that they are solving real life problems for us, Technologies such as virtual technology that Dassault Systemes has been championing in the last 40 years is one clear way of doing that, because you can try in the virtual world and you won't be afraid of breaking anything because you can try simulate a project, manufacture a product in the virtual world before realizing it. In the real world. So for us, the 3D experience is a great way to make sure that students are confronted with cutting edge technology. But we also think it is going to revolutionize the way teaching is done in universities. In schools like in industry, some people are still working in silos and they are learning about one tool at a time and not connecting the dots. So for us, making sure that the 3D experience platform is being used for teaching in universities, in schools, make sure that you connect these dots, that you allow students to work more collaboratively because this is one area where all our virtual technology applications are gathered in one place, allowing you to follow your projects, collaborate with others, use design and documentation visualization without having to jump from one tool to another or from one application to another. So it teaches skills from a very early age around the skills that are needed for the future. And we have a lot of feedback from professors and universities across the world showing that it has completely transformed the way they are teaching their students from secondary schools to universities and making these students much more employable. But it also shows that these students are going to be able to influence industrial practices in the future because they are going to be much more employment ready. We recently did a survey showing that 80% of employers actually think that graduates that we see from universities are not workplace ready. So this is one of the key objectives for Dassault system to make sure that through the 3D Experience platform is deployed in universities to reverse that trend and to make sure graduates can really hit the ground running whenever they start in their new job, and also play the role of a change agent trying to make sure that they bring forward skills that we are that are going to help with digital transformation and sustainability in a much faster timeline.