Indian digital workers best at embracing emerging technologies: Report

Nearly 67 per cent of digital workers in India are utilising emerging technologies such as machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) are increasing to increase efficacy at work, a new survey by Gartner said on Thursday.

The ‘Gartner 2019 Digital Workplace Survey' found that India is the most digitally dexterous country in the world -- followed by the UK and the US, due to having the largest Gen Z workforce along with the desire to learn new skills using digital technologies in the workplace.

"Seven out of 10 employees in India said that adoption of new digital technologies will create career opportunities and higher paying jobs," said Rashmi Choudhary, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"Technical professionals are firm believers of adopting new digital technologies in comparison to manual, skilled and semi-skilled manual workers," she added in a statement.

Twenty-seven percent of the digital workers in India are skilled experts in digital technology for work purposes, according to the report.

In terms of tools that employees use for real-time collaboration, digital workers in Singapore and India use real-time messaging and social media network tools more frequently than their counterparts in China, France, Germany, US, and the UK.

In India, 39 per cent of digital workers want to be trained one-the-job to keep their knowledge on AI, ML, IoT up to date, which is the highest among the survey respondents.

"Digital tools improve employee collaboration through crowdsourcing and cross-pollination, thereby improving the digital dexterity of workers," said Choudhary.

Forty-five percent of digital workers in India do not mind having their work habits tracked and monitored by digital technologies - the highest among the surveyed respondents.

"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 organization is mitigating the risk it entails by being monitored," Choudhary noted.

Workers in India are looking for employers who invest in skills upgrading to allow them to remain adaptable and versatile in their career, said the report.