Companies should offer employees re-skilling support, says top Salesforce exec

With rapid advancements in the adoption of technology across industries, there is an ever-increasing need of digital skills for workers. Over 95% of Indian workers already use digital skills in their day-to-day work, but less than half expand their horizons beyond digital administrative skills, showed the Salesforce Digital Skills survey 2023. Sanket Atal, Managing Director, Operations & Site Lead-Technology, Salesforce, spoke to BT about the digital skill gaps in India, the rapid transition towards a technology loaded world and how Salesforce is helping Indian businesses. Edited excerpts: 

BT: What is your outlook on the accelerating digital skills gap in India and across the globe? How can corporate India help? 

SA: The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation across industries, creating enormous opportunities for all organisations. This accelerated digital transformation has manifested in a widening gap between the demand for and supply of digital talent, leading to a war for the available pool. As this gap accelerates, re-skilling is becoming a priority for every organisation. With the continued shift toward a digital-first world, it’s essential for companies to offer support for upskilling and re-skilling. We are committed to addressing the training and re-skilling imperative—equipping people, seamlessly, with tools to take on jobs that the digitally transforming economy demands. 

BT: How is Salesforce addressing the skills gap in the country?  

SA: Our online learning platform, Trailhead, enables the creation of partnerships with leading education providers, and by delivering a raft of trailblazing apprenticeships, skilling, grants, and philanthropic programmes internationally. Globally, Trailhead has empowered nearly 3.5 million people to learn in-demand skills for the future of work. We recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. We support the skilling imperative via strategic partnerships and initiatives with over 700 universities in India including Bennett University, Manipal Global, Stratos, NASSCOM, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), NIIT, and more. 

Our virtual internship programme in partnership with the AICTE has supported over 46,000 students who have learned so much about Salesforce, its products and services, and the industry as a whole. Most recently, we collaborated with Bennett University, to equip students with the in-demand skills of a digital-first economy. This collaboration integrates industry-specific knowledge into the curriculum and provides avenues for students and faculty members to learn the digital skills needed for the future. We have partnered with Manipal Global to launch a skills initiative to build a talent pool of Trailhead certified professionals as the demand for Salesforce-equipped developers and users is growing rapidly. We also partnered with NASSCOM’s FutureSkills Prime Program, which leveraged Trailhead as part of Salesforce's OneIndiaTalent Program, aiming to skill 1,00,000 professionals, potential employees, and students in India by 2024. We also work closely with our partners that aim at skilling.  

BT: Which are the other industries you are collaborating with? 

SA: We have been bullish about collaborating with other industry players. We partnered with Eduvanz, a digital finance company that provides education loans, to deploy Salesforce to provide students with easy access to financing options throughout their learning journey. We have partnered have with Stratos, a talent solutions firm, to create a career acceleration platform for IT professionals within the Salesforce ecosystem. This unique collaboration aims to deliver a holistic talent solution catering to the increasing demand for Salesforce-certified developers and architects in India and across the globe. 

We also partnered with GiftAbled, an organisation that empowers people with disabilities, to help in empowering people with disabilities with Salesforce skills through the Salesforce Developer Catalyst Programme which provides trainees with in-demand digital skills through self-paced Trailhead content, soft skills training, and live training with a Salesforce Certified Instructor. With these partnerships, we hope to empower learners and educators, regardless of socioeconomic background or disability, to prepare for jobs of the future by providing innovative content, presentations, and training resources. 

BT: What is the road map for Salesforce’s skilling initiatives in India? 

SA: The most significant possibility we have right now is to train the workforce. Before the pandemic, there was a rising digital skills gap. The importance of digitization in rebuilding the economy and society, however, has widened the chasm. Businesses are constantly pivoting their talent strategies to cater to the evolving talent landscape in a digital-first world. While prior to the pandemic, the war for talent discussion was a priority in management discussions; today, it has become paramount to success. We believe that businesses are a powerful platform for change and equal access to skills training is a big part of our mission. We are committed to addressing the training and re-skilling imperative - equipping people with tools to take on jobs that the digitally transforming economy demands.