Defining the 4IR within SA context

What is the fourth industrial revolution? I am sure it’s a buzz word that you have been hearing everywhere whether in articles, press, videos or even from your favourite thought leaders.

Although the word is saturated everywhere do you really understand the term and perhaps even aware of how it will personally affect the way you work forever?

??Let’s start with a basic definition:

?The fourth industrial revolution is an environment in which disruptive technologies and trends such as robotics, virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI) which will change the way we live and work.

?It will not only change what we do but also who we are.

?It will affect our identity and all the issues associated with it such as:

1?? The time? we devote to work and leisure:

It will free up a lot more time for use to focus our attention to more creativity to our tasks releasing some of the work drudgery from repetitive tasks that could easily be automated

2?? The manner we develop our careers:

We will be forced to up-skill and develop ourselves and our careers at a faster pace due to the disruptive pace at which technology develops

3?? Cultivate our skills, meet people, and nurture relationship

The manner in which we cultivate will change where self-education will be the predominant way in which we learn a skill and more emphasis will be placed on human collaboration which is why a strong social capital will be essential for the progress of your career.

4?? Transformation of jobs

We will see occupational categories overlapping with one another to form new roles. A great example is within the HR space where IT and HR have merged to form a new division in HR called= Human Resource Information systems.

So, what kind of jobs will be most likely be affected by the 4IR? 

??Jobs that emphasize on human characteristics such as creativity and empathy are going to be hard to replace and will be less affected.

??Whilst jobs requiring physical and manual skills are likely to be the hardest hit by automation????

?? But remember that the countries and people who will thrive in this revolution are those that are prepared for the 4IR

? The importance of having a growth mindset will allow you to see the positive in technological advancement such as:

??Digitization having the potential to uncover new value, create and redesign more jobs than those being lost and boost growth significantly.

 ??However, for countries like South Africa that are less prepared, digitization may bring more job losses than gains.

“According research conducted by Accenture if South Africa can double the pace at which its workforce acquires skills relevant for human-machine collaboration, it can reduce the number of jobs at risk from 20 percent (3.5 million jobs) in 2025 to just 14 percent (2.5 million jobs).”

??3.5 MILLION JOBS WILL BE AT RISK IN THE NEXT 5 YEARS PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE!

?We  are facing a huge problem with the education system currently in South Africa where our children are being taught outdated concepts and skills in high school and university that are not even relevant for the current world of work!

So how on earth can you expect them to be ready and competent for the future world of work???

?Something must change we need to take self-initiative to be drivers of our own development through self-education so we can be relevant and kept abreast with these agile work environments.

?We must be cognizant and analyse past behavior on how human dealt with technology in the past.

?The challenge we have faced in the past with technology was the fact technology was used to drive cost reductions, in the time of the industrialization period where factories where just being built and capitalists were focused on high profit margin the human workers needs were placed last, huge cost reductions were driven at the expense of replacing human worker

?But now the value of human-machine collaboration has become increasingly apparent and more appreciated especially in the society we live in today.

So, you must be curious and still want the question answered: “Are machines going to take over?”

Let’s remind ourselves of the following:

1?? Machines do not consume things. 

2?? Machines do not buy things

3?? And labour is still a major economic growth driver.

4?? Jobs remain the primary mechanism of distributing income and providing humans with access to the economy.

5?? This is especially true in emerging markets—like South Africa—where poverty remains a problem, rates of unemployment are high, and the social security blanket is thin.

 We cannot afford to solely rely on technology to drive our economy we need to allows keep the human element at the epicenter of all of this technological disruption rather work collaboratively with technology and upskill ourselves through self- education so that we are able to effectively function in these agile work environment will determine our success as the professionals of the future.