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Toddlers everywhere are proficient at using
smart phones and tablet
computers. PCs are present in every classroom, from primary schools to sixth form colleges. These digital natives have an innate, inherent understanding of technology that ‘generation X’ and ‘baby boomers’ can only dream of.
Current estimates from the Office of National Statistics* put UK youth unemployment at a 17 year high of 2.62 million, meaning 21.9 per cent of under-25s are now out of work. The Prince’s Trust Youth Index* also found recently that one in four young people believes their future has been irrevocably damaged by the economic downturn. Adam Ripley, Chairman of business technology change consultancy, Certeco argues that the answer lies in embracing our army of ‘digital natives’.
T
he threat of a lost generation of young people should send shockwaves through any UK
business concerned about its survival. Fresh thinking and enthusiasm are core attributes of innovation and businesses need to innovate to survive. Failing to employ young people is seriously detrimental on a number of fronts, not least because the future success of our economy depends on it. This has never been a more pertinent issue. Generation Y and post generation Y, or “digital natives” as Forrester, the technology research company, has defined them, are the generations that have grown up with technology. Toddlers everywhere are proficient at using smart phones and tablet computers. PCs are present in every classroom, from primary schools to sixth form colleges. These digital natives have an innate, inherent understanding of technology that ‘generation X’ and ‘baby boomers’ can only dream of. And it is this knowledge that will help companies to understand its next generation customers and help them meet their needs. If this generation becomes a lost generation, future innovation is in jeopardy. There is no industry in need of innovation more than the banking sector. Customer patterns are changing banks’ business drivers. Generation Y and digital natives – the customers of tomorrow – are pushing for mobile and social networking innovation and banks are having to respond. To do that effectively, banks need to employ those digital natives who possess that future insight and use the inherent knowledge they have to understand what their ‘tomorrow customer’ needs and how they can respond to it. In order to help banks deliver their technology change
Adam Ripley, Chairman, Certeco
programmes and enable them to bring back technology and consultancy operations they may have offshored a number of years ago, Certeco has developed an Academy. The Academy recruits graduates and school
leavers, bright individuals who have the right aptitude and attitude and this innate knowledge of how to work with technology. The preconception that people who work in the technology industry need to be programmers or developers is a myth. The vast majority of people employed by the industry are people who understand business and have the right skill set to grasp how technology can effect change within organisations. Project management skills, good organisational skills, being proficient communicators – these are all attributes which will help graduates have a successful career in technology.
The Academy puts the recruits through their paces, ensures they are equipped with the right skills and training and then places them on client site, working in teams alongside experienced consultants who continue to mentor them and offer them guidance. The idea is that this experienced consultancy combined with the fresh thinking and inherent technological knowledge of the Academy members will prove to be invaluable to the banks we work with. And the signs are good. A recent project has meant that the Certeco Academy has grown to 25 people – almost a fifth of our entire workforce – and plans are afoot that could triple its size. We would encourage any business to look at an Academy model – or work with partners who have such a solution – to see how they can improve their innovation prospects and probably rein in their costs too. The future availability of business and technology savvy young people will be the lifeblood of UK plc and failure to support the engagement and training of these people in the technology industry will severely hamper the ability of the UK to grow and compete in its chosen markets. The ball is in our – UK business’s – court.
www.certeco.co.uk
*ONS figures from November 2012. *Prince’s Trust Youth Index released on 02 January 2013.
GRADUATE RECRUITER 21
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