The right suite of integrated technologies will help large, complex organisations compete and win the war for workforce skills now and into the future.

The Australian education technology ecosystem is growing fast.

Made up of over 600 companies as recently as 2021 according to EduGrowth (and growing by 100% between 2014 and 2019), the sector employs about 13,000 people all working on solving problems across systems and administration, content and learning.

With content provider GO1 becoming a $1 billion tech unicorns in 2021, the workforce and skills segment is flourishing. It is helping organisations meet learning needs with everything from micro and digital credentials and online learning to digital content and extended reality.

The EdTech ecosystem could provide a new edge for L&D professionals as they skill workforces.

From workforce skills oversight and business intelligence to learning delivery and employee experience, digital transformation with education technology will help L&D not only stay on top of skills needs, but make more impact on their organisations.

As organisations move towards dynamic workforce learning programs, technology could be a powerful ally, helping individuals, teams and workforces unlock their potential and paving a way into the future of work in ways that benefit both themselves and their organisations.

Here are five ways technology will partner with L&D to support workforce skills management.

1. Identifying and mapping skills needs

Bringing together data from public and private sources and creating value from it with AI, predictive analytics and data visualisation, organisations will be able to use technologies and tools to support better understanding of the skills they have, the skills they are likely to need, and the gaps they have or will need to fill in their industries or geographies.

The creation of flexible development pathways through knowledge and skills milestones and roles, accessible digitally to learners in real-time, will boost learner engagement and proactivity and foster more clarity and ambition. Technologies like digital credentials can be deployed to acknowledge achievements and build learning culture brands.

2. Sourcing and obtaining necessary skills

Employers will use technology to reach, vet, recruit and onboard skills, or source internal candidates. From recruitment tools like JobAdder that support the efficient acquisition of a talent pipeline, to technologies that ensure candidates meet minimum cognitive or psychological standards or allow organisations to better understand prior learning and transferrable skills in mid-career candidates, organisations will equip themselves with an arsenal of technology allies for sourcing and obtaining skills. And they could be in new, emerging and unexpected places; for example, WithYouWithMe is turning veterans into job ready cyber defence talent in 100 hours with fast-tracked cyber security skills training.

3. Developing and delivering skills

Remote times have instigated a boom in online and blended learning. The future will see more engaging technologies in this space, helping organisations seamlessly embed engaging learning experiences into their employee’s flow of work, and allow reinforcement of learning through adaptive learning platforms.

For example, ReadyTech’s own Esher House, already used by most apprentices in Australia, allows L&D to undertake motivational assessments to predict which learners may need more support as well as tools to nudge them towards learning completion. Workforce collaboration tools will evolve to further build connection and learning outcomes.

4. Making skills data central and mobile

Technology will allow L&D to pull in and utilise data using a connected ecosystem of best-of-breed technologies and tools that speak to each other through interoperability and integration in the cloud. Creating unparalleled oversight over the continuous professional development status of their workforce, it will enable more informed, data-driven decisions through integration with intelligence systems like Australian BI platform Octopus BI. Powered by the ‘everywhere’ advantages of the cloud, organisations will also be able to ensure their workforce is free to access and engage in learning in mobile environments in ways that ensures employees can fit learning in and around work and life.

5. Powering workforce skills innovation

The workforce development and skills market is changing fast. By looking to technologies in other parts of the EdTech ecosystem and other markets, organisations can work with technology partners to supercharge the speed and impact of workforce skills management.

The future will see L&D and HR working closely with technology partners to curate an ecosystem of tools that can help them run more complex, holistic and effective L&D programs. Essentially acting as an extensible technology workforce for organisations enabled by the cloud, organisations will be plugged into world-class learning innovation so they can realise their vision.

Want to learn more about how we help employers manage workforce skills with next generation student management technology? Learn more about JR Plus here.