With largest Gen Z workforce, India most digitally dexterous country: Gartner

India is the most digitally dexterous country, as it has the largest Gen Z workforce and the desire to learn new skills using digital technologies, according to a report by technology research firm Gartner. People born between 1997 and 2012 are categorised as Gen Z.

India is followed by the US and the UK in the second and third spots, respectively, it said.

The Gartner 2019 Digital Workplace Survey, which was conducted from March through April last year, took into account the responses of 7,261 people from the US, France, Germany, the UK, China, India and Singapore.

In the survey, as much as 67% of digital workers in India said that emerging technologies such as machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) and internet of things (IoT) enhanced the effectiveness of their work. It showed that 27% of workers in the country are skilled experts in digital technology.

“Seven out of ten employees in India said that adoption of new digital technologies will create career opportunities and higher paying jobs. Technical professionals are firm believers of adopting new digital technologies in comparison to manual, skilled and semi-skilled manual workers,” Rashmi Choudhary, principal research analyst at Gartner, said.

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Digital workers in the country not only want formal training, which consists of classroom modules and workshops, but also sought on the job and just in time training to enhance their skills. Just in time training relies on providing information at the moment an employee needs it, instead of over longer sessions.

At 39%, the number of people who sought on-the-job training to update their knowledge on AI, ML and IoT was the highest in India.

Additionally, digital workers in Singapore and India used real-time messaging and social media network tools more frequently than their counterparts in other countries, it said.

In fact, 45% of those surveyed in India said they do not mind having their work habits tracked and monitored by digital technologies. This figure is the highest among the surveyed countries.

“Digital workers in India believe that an intelligent workplace contributes to increased focus on more meaningful, business-critical work. At the same time, they expect that their organisation is mitigating the risk it entails by being monitored,” Choudhary said.