PrintIT Reseller - issue 67

01732 759725 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE 20 The uptake of artificial intelligence by industry will drastically change the UK job market in the coming years, according to a new report from global recruiter Robert Walters and market analysis experts Vacancy Soft AI driving the next generation of jobs Ollie Sexton, Principal at Robert Walters said: “As businesses become ever more reliant on AI, there is an increasing amount of pressure on the processes of data capture and integration. As a result, we have seen an unprecedented number of roles being created with data skill-set at their core. “Our job force cannot afford to not get to grips with data and digitalisation. Since 2015 the volume of data created worldwide has more than doubled – increasing (on average) by 28 per cent year-on-year. Now is the perfect time to start honing UK talent for the next generation of AI-influenced jobs. If you look at the statistics in this report we can see that demand is already rife, what we are at risk of is a shortage of talent and skills.” Demand for data professionals IT professionals dedicated to data management appear to be the fastest growing area within large or global entities, with volumes increasing ten-fold in three years – an increase in vacancies of 160 per cent since 2015. More generally speaking, data roles across the board have increased by 80 per cent in the same period – with key areas of growth including data scientists and engineers. What has been the most interesting to see is the emergence of data scientist as a mainstream profession – with job vacancies increasing by 110 per cent year-on-year. The same trend can be seen with data engineers, averaging 86 per cent year-on-year job growth. Professional services hiring The rise of cybercrime has resulted in professional services - particularly within banking and financial services - hiring aggressively for information security professionals since 2016, however since then volumes have held steady. The AI takeover in commerce and industry has led way to a knock-on effect seen in the skyrocketing demand for data professionals. Within professional services, vacancies for data analysts (+19.5 per cent), data managers (+64.2 per cent), data scientist (+28.8 per cent), and data engineer (+62 per cent) have all increased year-on-year. The top industries investing in AI include agriculture, business support, customer experience, energy, healthcare, intellectual property, IT service management, manufacturing, technical support, retail and software development. Tom Chambers, Manager – Advanced Analytics and Engineering at Robert Walters said: “The uptake of AI across multiple industries is bringing about rapid change, but with that opportunity.” Chambers noted that retail, professional services and technology industries in particular are striving to develop digital products and services that are digitally engaging, secure and instantaneous for the customer. This he says is leading to huge waves of recruitment of professionals who are skilled in implementing, monitoring and gaining the desired output from facial recognition, check-out free retail and computer vision, among other automation technologies. “Similarly, experimental AI is making huge breakthroughs in the healthcare industry, with the power to replace the need for human, expert diagnoses,” he said. “What we are seeing is from those businesses that are prepared to invest heavily in AI and data analytics, is they are already outperforming their competitors – and so demand for talent in this area shows no signs of wavering,” Chambers concluded. www.robertwalters.co.uk Harnessing the Power of AI – The Demand for Future Skills is the first report to analyse the evolving hiring patterns for industries embracing AI. AI is having a significant impact on the labour market. As a result of early stage automation and digitisation, labour markets are already polarising and changing drastically. The uptake of artificial intelligence by industry will drastically change the UK job market in the coming years. According to a 2018 report by World Economic Forum, machines and algorithms in the workplace are expected to create 133 million new roles, but cause 75 million jobs to be displaced by 2020. The opportunity to be had for businesses leading the charge with AI is reshaping the existing workforce to develop more data-driven skill sets, and deploying talent that can engage with automated ways of working. The structural shift in the labour market can be attributed to the technological displacement of mid-skilled jobs. Data illustrates that employment growth has been greatest at the extreme ends of the spectrum (top and bottom 20 per cent) whilst in-between there has been a decline, resulting in a hollowing out of jobs for the middle-tier workforce – becoming known as the ‘automation paradox’. HARNESSING THE POWER OF AI THE DEMAND FOR FUTURE SKILLS GREATEST INCREASE IN DEMAND 64.2% INCREASE IN DEMAND DATA MANAGER 8 | HIRING TALENT IN AI