25% of global talent to become redundant in 3-5 yrs: study

India ranked third as potential innovation region in the study by Zinnov, a management consultancy

In the next 3-5 years, about 25% of current talent in organisations will become redundant, according to a report by management consultancy Zinnov. The 'Talent Outlook 2013' by the globalisation and market expansion advisory firm showed that specialised skill sets in user experience and mobility will see rising demand.

The survey found India to be the third preferred center for innovation after Silicon valley and other US cities. It said that the Silicon Valley continues to be an innovation hub, with 80% of respondents to the Zinnov survey indicating that their organisations’ headcount will increase the highest in this region.

India ranked third as potential innovation region, with organisations revealing that 15% of innovation is expected out of the country, followed by EMEA at 10%. The survey revealed that this year there would be a marginal growth in  China & India primarily due to the  cost and access to talent and most respondents indicated that China would no longer be on the priority list for most companies.

Pari Natarajan, CEO, Zinnov, said, "Data scientists and user experience designers will witness very high demand, while mobile application developers and cloud computing experts will witness moderate to high demand. Significantly, all these skills were non-existent a decade ago. Organizations are also expected to increase their focus on soft skill development across levels and functions."

 
According to the study, the headcount in India to increase by 13 % in 2013. It said that organizations are seeking talent with skills in the areas of engineering (50% of respondents indicated that it would be among the top 3 skills of the future), followed by analytics skills (40%) such as big data, predictive modelling, HR Analytics, and mobility (32%).
 
It said that the biggest talent challenges that organizations face are in the areas of niche hiring and skillset assessment, with 50% of respondents suggesting that these would be key focus areas for HR in 2013. According to the study, while dedicated statistical teams within HR departments can reduce challenges around skillset assessment, large volume data analysis and workforce planning, over half the organisations do not have such resources and just 20% are focused on it for 2013.

 
For this study, Zinnov surveyed individuals in various HR functions across 40 global organisations, with 83% employing over 1,000 technology professionals.