Technology Continues to Accelerate - ManpowerGroup

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Future Forces:

Technology Continues to Accelerate

The exponential growth of technology is transforming how we interact, live and work. Advances in digital technologies are creating new products and services like location marketing and wearable technology. Looking ahead, innovation around biotechnologies, materials, mathematics, neurosciences and energy will continue to impact and disrupt many industries to simultaneously create and displace jobs. Collaborative technologies are changing how the world does business. Mobile platforms, video conferencing and tools like Google+, Dropbox and Skype make it easy for people to communicate and collaborate socially and professionally. This collective “co” has fueled the growth of online communities and economic forms like crowdsourcing and collaborative consumption, (in which participants share access to products or services), and web-based training Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs). As technology continues to evolve, industries and business will be reshaped by disintermediation which removes the need for intermediaries or “middle men.”

Widespread access to the creation and consumption of information has expanded individual influence and dramatically increased consumer sophistication and expectations. Consumers’ expectations of expanded choice make it increasingly important for business to offer one-size-fitsone solutions. The ease with which individuals are able to access technology and data, means they no longer have to rely on employers for access to markets, knowledge sharing and information. Given the rise in individual choice and consumer confidence, it is more important than ever for businesses seeking specific skill sets to accurately value and develop their human capital.

TECHNOLOGY AMPLIFIES THE INDIVIDUAL VOICE

Technological innovation and the increased speed of automation have the potential to increase productivity and reduce demand for some jobs. While automation has replaced workers in many sectors over the past several decades, technology has also created many new jobs. According to a McKinsey Global Institute study of more than 4,800 companies, as companies adopt Internet and digital technologies, 2.6 jobs are created for every job lost.1 Technology empowers individuals As noted last year, widespread access to the Internet has expanded the influence of individuals and groups. Advanced by platforms like Facebook, Viadeo, LinkedIn, XING and Twitter, this amplification of messaging makes it easy for individuals and groups to quickly reach a large audience and impact a brand or social and political issues.

The Individual Voice

Source: McKinsey Global Institute analysis. http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_ tech_telecoms_internet/disruptive_technologies

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