According to Deloitte’s second annual Readiness Report titled, ‘Leadership in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Faces of progress’, certain geographies and especially businesses in India have demonstrated the right aptitude for success in Industry 4.0. The indicators of the positive outlook include the focused approach to upskilling their employees, linking customer satisfaction to societal impact and profits and above all, the ethical use of Industry 4.0 technologies. 

Also, the increasing autonomy given to employees is helping in building a culture of innovation in organizations, hence making them more prepared for Industry 4.0. 

65 percent of Indian executives believe they have permission from their leadership to fail and learn in the context of innovation, similar to global executives (India 65 percent, global 69 percent). 

While Indian executives feel that they are better prepared to face the turmoil of the changing and emerging industry, they are certain areas where they feel there is still a lot to be done. For instance, they are aware of the breadth of the skills gap. In fact, the gap this year has become more evident to leaders compared with last year, as is a sobering awareness that the current education system will be inadequate to meet the challenge.

Building the skills for Industry 4.0: Key priority for Indian executives

Last year, most leaders (86 percent) thought their organizations were doing everything they could to create a workforce for Industry 4.0. This year, as more recognize the growing skills gap, only 47 percent are as confident in their efforts. On the bright side, nearly twice as many leaders indicated that their organizations will strive to train existing employees rather than look to hire new ones.  

Indian executives are less confident about knowing which skillsets their workforce will need in the future (India 53 percent, global 63 percent), however, they are working to be more prepared. 72 percent of them say they will extensively train their current employees, compared to only 43 percent globally. 

Skill gap has been a challenge for organizations across industries and geographies since forever now and remains a national agenda for many nations. However, talent still struggles to cope with the changes and find the right job for them and organizations, on the other hand, continue to face challenges in filling the key roles. 

While many organizational and external roadblocks appear to be limiting the development of effective Industry 4.0 strategies, there are immense growth opportunities that will spring up once the businesses are ready with the necessary skillsets. Although how and when will they be equipped with these necessary skillsets still remains unknown.