86% of Singapore's public sector make changes to workforce to implement emerging technologies: Accenture report

THE majority of Singapore's public sector (86 per cent) made significant structural changes to their workforce in order to implement emerging technologies, according to a new report from Accenture. This was more than double the global average of 40 per cent.

According to the report, Emerging Technologies in Public Service, the need for attracting technically proficient employees is becoming even more urgent as the existing workforce continues to age. Eight in 10 respondents globally said that implementing emerging technologies will improve job satisfaction and can aid staff retention.

Accenture said that hiring and developing people with the necessary skills, including the need for emerging technology specialists, is one of the top three challenges across all industries and countries today.

Nearly 60 per cent of respondents across nine countries surveyed, including Singapore, said that being able to implement projects using emerging technologies would require significant investment in reskilling existing staff. The report showed that research and development staff are most likely in place to deliver value from these projects, but public service agencies need to hire data scientists, software engineers and digital developers and designers from one of the most competitive job pools.

In Singapore, survey respondents identified hiring needs almost equally among Internet of Things (21 per cent), video analytics (29 per cent) and biometrics/identity analytics (21 per cent). In comparison to other countries, Finland identified biometrics/identity analytics professionals as its greatest need. Norway rated natural language processing and generation specialists its highest priority (40 per cent).