It is estimated that in Latin America and the Caribbean another 2.5 million digital talents will be needed in the next five years, according to a recent study on digital talent commissioned by Huawei and carried out by the IDC consultancy.
The report released at an event the week before notes that information technology (IT) spending in the region is slightly above world average growth and much higher than GDP growth in the region, and is expected to have a higher trend to around 10.2% by 2026.
Business IT spending in the region is expected to grow 12.6% in 2023, and companies in Latin America are expected to continue to struggle with the lack of skilled labor in sectors related to information and communication technologies ( ICT), the report says.
Tech roles have remained comparatively stable despite rising unemployment and economic downturn amid the Covid-19 pandemic
“The demand for digital talent has been growing steadily in recent years, creating a gap between supply and demand,” said Cesar Funes, vice president of public affairs for Huawei Latin America and the Caribbean.“On top of that, there is often the serious problem of a mismatch between supply and demand in terms of skills,” he added, citing the rapidly changing landscape of digital technologies.
Experts and young people working in the industry or participating in digital talent programs discussed the state of regional digital talent and challenges in a panel held in conjunction with the launch of the report.
The study highlighted three channels to help companies grow the digital talent pool, such as ongoing training, professional development and the use of the latest technologies from business partners.
In particular, the IDC report suggests that companies do more to drive AI and machine learning-based automation in the cloud, which improves the resilience of digital businesses and enables better customer experience.He also suggests freeing up essential labor for more creativity-oriented work while placing more emphasis on IT automation, thereby increasing workforce productivity.
Joint efforts
During the event, Carlos Nazareth Marins, director of Inatel, Brazil, said that the emergence of large language models such as ChatGPT and Pangu – a large AI model developed by Huawei – is expected to have an impact on digital education. “It is a reality that AI will be part of our lives. We need to change the learning methodology. Artificial Intelligence is a good tool for the future. That is the big challenge for us.” said.
Experts and young talent at the event said these breakthroughs require joint efforts among stakeholders such as policymakers, the private sector, as well as schools and universities.“What we do know is that ChatGPT will change the way our future generations gain knowledge and skills, and it will definitely change the way education will be delivered,” said ShauWa Yu Tan, public relations manager for Huawei Mexico who is involved in digital talent programs.
