One of the big takeaways from last week’s Southern Africa Esri User Conference 2019 was how geospatial professionals are well-placed for the age of digital disruption and how they can ensure their continuing role in a technologically transforming world.
Keynote speaker Aki Anastasiou shook the comfort zones of many delegates with his talk of top companies affected by digital disruption and tales of smart fridges and dustbins, robots looking after the elderly, and manipulated videos from AI-based technology, DeepFake.
Statements such as, by 2030, 30% of new revenue will come from services that don’t exist, and, by 2025 more than half of all current workplace tasks will be performed by machines as opposed to 29% today, didn’t help.
In the end, Anastasiou’s message was that in order to handle all this change successfully, people and companies need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Discomfort, he says, leads to engagement and change… and people hiding out in comfort zones miss out on opportunities to grow.
James Higgins, the director of international business development at Esri Inc., shook those comfort zones a little more with his talk on how digital transformation is accelerating everything, changing our civilisation, changing how we think, reshaping our existence and rapidly changing our world.
Importantly, he emphasised that the Southern Africa Esri User Conference delegates were already participating in this digital transformation. By sharing data, apps and geographic knowledge, geospatial professionals and technologists are contributing to the building of a global geospatial infrastructure. Higgins described this infrastructure as a global nervous system, supporting individuals and organisations, and aiding global understanding and collaborative action.
Gary Lane from SiMINE gave the delegates further hope about their role in a changing world. There is going to be a big skills mismatch by 2030, he said, with a big demand for digital skills, and greatly lessened opportunities for skilled and semi-skilled workers. Being Esri users, delegates at the conference were somewhat comforted as they have digital skills.
However, in his talk about the Human 2.0 Hotfix Patch for Industry 4.0., Lane emphasised the need for additional skills over and above digital skills.
Systems thinking skills and capabilities and data based decision-making are going to be an essential part of the world’s future, he said. People with cross-functional experience, people who have facilitation skills, people who are agile and adaptable to change – are going to be in demand.
The message was clear: Geospatial professionals and technologists who develop these skills over and above their GIS skills will be in even more demand.
The closing words from Esri South Africa’s Patrick McKivergan added a further element to this message, “A lot of people don’t understand spatial information. Go out there and take advantage of the fact that you can see what others can’t.”
It will be interesting to see who takes these words to heart and what they achieve.
Clare van Zwieten's Blog 