• Home
  • News
  • How digital skills development is transforming the workforce in Qatar
How digital skills development is transforming the workforce in Qatar featured image

How digital skills development is transforming the workforce in Qatar

By Khawar Iqbal, Director, Digital Society at Ministry of Transport and Communications, and Frederick Van Gysegem, Partner at Roland Berger

We live in a time when all aspects of our lives are undergoing a digital transformation, from education to entertainment – and perhaps most prominently at work.

Digital technologies are contributing more and more to the socio-economic development of countries worldwide. But to fully exploit their transformative potential, digital skills must be cultivated at all levels – from the local to the national.

Meeting this challenge involves qualifying and quantifying digital skills gaps in each country. The experience of Qatar may be instructive to other nations facing similar challenges.  

The vision

The State of Qatar is striving to improve the quality of life of its citizens by building a collaborative information and communication technology (ICT) ecosystem. In this context, digital skills development is key to driving the adoption of digital technologies in several areas.

Designing an effective national digital skills strategy involves setting the right goals to address specific needs.

To this end, the State of Qatar applied a “human intelligence planning and optimization approach” developed by consultancy Roland Berger, which prompts policymakers and organizational leaders to answer critical questions about the future labour market.

Specifically, project leaders undertook four key steps:

  1. Set a baseline by analysing the current state of the workforce
  2. Run forecasting models to project workforce demand and supply over a certain time frame
  3. Conduct a gap analysis to assess the mismatch between demand for and supply of the workforce, including critical digital skills, on a year-to-year basis
  4. Set recommendations by identifying skill development needs in the workforce at a granular level.

The results of this process are meant to help leaders better understand what digital skills will be needed in the future.

Overcoming challenges

Another vital aspect of an effective national digital skills strategy is a solid understanding of the critical challenges faced by the workforce.

For example, Qatar is highly dependent on an influx of expatriate workers. Its national digital skills strategy must therefore reflect the dynamics of a multinational labour market. 

Human talent development must also keep pace with economic transformation. The shift from traditional to technology-driven, solution-oriented business models in sectors such as healthcare, education, or logistics will see the emergence of completely new job profiles requiring advanced digital skillsets.

Critically, Qatar is expected to see emerging skill gaps over the next 10 years in highly-skilled job profiles in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), especially in the environmental, energy and manufacturing sectors.

The analysis by the State of Qatar also revealed a need to develop skills in data science, robotics, and cybersecurity, as well as a need for improvement in the use of administrative software and collaborative platforms.

The way forward

In response to these challenges, several initiatives have been launched in Qatar to raise awareness and actively support digital skills development within the current and future workforce. 

One such initiative is the Common Digital Skills Framework which sets a national standard for digital skills needed within the Qatari workforce.

Another initiative is the Tasmu Center of Excellence, which aims to reduce the digital skills gap in the Qatari labour market by training youth, among other strategic objectives.  

In addition to these initiatives, service providers in the field of skills development and education need to rethink their role in a lifelong learning pathway. Adapted from the article ‘Tasmu Smart Qatar – Digital skills as a pillar for transformation’ by Khawar Iqbal and Frederick Van Gysegem.

Read the full article in Digital Skills Insights 2021.

Image credit: FS-Stock via Adobe Stock

Related content