One of the very few positive aspects of COVID's effects in 2020, was that traditional resistance to adopting Edtech in the classroom by schools & colleges around the world was broken. Institutional faculty and administrators had to quickly adapt to new pedagogies to facilitate effective online education of their students. I believe that some of these advanced methods of teaching will remain even after physical classrooms restart in 2021. The Government released a very forward-thinking National Education Policy which emphasised the need to move the education system away from exam-oriented rote learning and adapt to more interactive pedagogical methods which develop critical thinking and employability among graduates.
Dr Akhil Shahani, MD, Shahani Group and Ask. Careers
Robotic process automation (RPA) is expected to witness a vast adoption in India and across the globe. The pandemic has made it imperative to reduce our dependency on human-driven processes and RPA has been a critical enabler for automating repetitive tasks. Many sectors, including banking, insurance, Government, healthcare, and shared services, are already leveraging RPA to increase process efficiency and accuracy. In the near future, hyperautomation will take the centerstage by leveraging artificial intelligence, data analytics, and end-to-end process orchestration to deliver experiential automation.
Varun Goswami, Global Head, New Products COE, Newgen Software.
What a year 2020 has been. Most countries have undergone the first wave of pandemic and are experiencing the second or third wave. There are some that are waiting to see it shortly. However, even during such trying times, the tech space has undergone many amendments. Right from the talent opting for online skill enhancement programs to a surge in the digital world, our dependency on the tech industry has increased. This means that the opportunities and employability in the tech space is likely to witness an upward trend in the coming year. There has also been a change in the hiring space, companies have started relying on non-traditional methods of hiring. However, the hiring stakeholders still need to embrace these methods of recruitment. This is likely to be seen in the coming years.
Narayan Mahadevan, Founder, BridgeLabz
The significant disruption of the higher education industry during the pandemic has resulted in both negative and positive aftermaths. A paradigm shift in the learning structure has given birth to the potential of online learning modules. If we can overlook the obvious one-on-one interaction of the classroom mode, we notice how the pandemic has transformed the centuries-old chalk–talk teaching model to the one we see now – a technological revolution that has metamorphosed the modes of learning forever. Entrepreneurs across the world are bringing new-age tools and programs to help learners navigate through a simpler process of education that disseminates information in 15-minute modules to accommodate the limited attention span of Gen Z and Gen Alpha learners.
Shekhar Bhattacharjee, Founder, Dalham Learning
The pandemic resulted in a sudden shutdown, thus taking the expected growth of many businesses backward. While the festive season did bring a breath of relief in the country, especially for the blue-collar jobs, it may eventually die down. We expect the hiring will see a downward curve in the next 1-2 months. But, successful clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccine will reprogram people’s minds to get over the mental blockage.
Navneet Singh, Founder & CEO, Avsar HR Services
