Enterprises are at a critical juncture: adopt and adapt technology to meet the 24×7 demands of customers, employees, and partners—or risk becoming obsolete. One of the primary shifts in responding to such demands is cloud computing.
As part of our Udacity Thought Leader webinar series, our very own Lalit Singh, COO at Udacity, sat down with Rahul Tripathi, the CTO and VP of Customer Success at Nutanix to discuss the challenges facing companies looking to embrace the cloud while remaining relevant in today’s competitive market. The conversation anchored on how the cloud is the foundational enabler of digital transformation and offers the scale and speed needed for businesses to grow.
When it comes to transforming the infrastructure of a business, both modernization and automation play crucial roles. For organizations looking to bridge the digital skills gap and attract talent, it’s important to move from outdated to next-generation systems that facilitate innovation. Hear Rahul stress how technical skills and soft skills are critical for any business looking to stay competitive and transform into digital enterprises.
Watch as they discuss:
What a modern enterprise cloud strategy looks like
Why digital transformation requires the right blend of business, IT and soft skills
How organizations can take steps to bridge their hiring and training strategies
Udacity had the unique opportunity to have two of our thought leaders on a panel discussion on training data for machine learning entitled AI-AI-Oh! during SXSW 2019. The discussion triggered an exchange of viewpoints among the expert panelists which ranged from how the data is being used in various industries, how much training data you need to apply machine learning, and practical tips for the audience to consider.
You can listen to the entirety of our panel discussion here.
The discussion started with the framing of machine learning. Machine learning (ML) is about teaching computers how to learn from data to make decisions or predictions. For true machine learning, the computer must be able to learn to identify patterns without being explicitly programmed to.
An easy example of a machine learning algorithm is an on-demand music streaming service. For the service to make a decision about which new songs or artists to recommend to a listener, machine learning algorithms associate the listener’s preferences with other listeners who have similar musical taste.
Machine learning fuels all sorts of automated tasks and spans across multiple industries, from data security firms hunting down malware to finance professionals looking out for favorable trades. They’re designed to work like virtual personal assistants, and they work quite well.
Machine learning serves a mechanical function the same way a flashlight, a car, or a television does. When something is capable of “machine learning”, it means it’s performing a function with the data given to it, and gets progressively better at that function. It’s like if you had a flashlight that turned on whenever you said “it’s dark”, so it would recognize different phrases containing the word “dark”.
In machine learning projects, we need a training data set. It is the actual data set used to train the model for performing various actions.
ML relies heavily on data; without data, it is impossible for an “AI” to learn. It is the most crucial aspect that makes algorithm training possible. The panelists discuss three different types of training data including:
Client services data – data generated from customers. “At HubSpot, we gather user-generated training data for ML that informs everything from email send time optimization to audience targeting,” stated Hector Urdiales.
User generated data – data created by users on their own without being prompted. “We train data based on patterns,” said Rob McGrorty.
Simulated data – sensor data that self-driving cars, for example, collect in the real world. “A test vehicle’s cameras might record video of pedestrians crossing the street at night. Software developers can use that video every time they update their self-driving software, to verify that the software still detects the pedestrians correctly,” explains David Silver.
Essentially, training data is the textbook that will teach your AI to do its assigned task, and will be used over and over again to fine-tune its predictions and improve its success rate. Your AI will use training data in several different ways, all with the aim of improving the accuracy of its predictions.
Quite simply, without training data there is no AI. The cleanliness, relevance and quality of your data has a direct impact on whether your AI will achieve its goals.
Be sure to listen to this informative panel discussion and learn more about training data and practical use cases.
The future of work won’t be about college degrees. It’ll be about skills.
That’s the new global reality shaping the job market. Highest performing organizations are reinvesting in their talent to fuel profits and business growth. By investing in training and development efforts, companies can enable their well-rounded employees to perfect their set of skills to succeed in their jobs.
The reality is that employers are looking for more than knowledge — they want skills, top-tier tech companies such as Google, Apple, and IBM have gone public “offering well-paying jobs to those with nontraditional education.” For these and many other companies, a solid, skills-centered non-formal education is all that separates ambitious students from top-paying jobs. A formal education is no longer the best path to launching a successful career.
The skills gap is widening and companies are struggling to find the right talent. A recent Gartner research supports this premise by highlighting that companies need to shift from external hiring strategies towards their current workforces and apply risk mitigation strategies for critical talent shortages. According to Gartner, most organizations are undergoing a digital transformation that directly impacts how they do business, yet 70 percent of employees have not mastered the skills they need for their jobs today, and 80 percent of employees do not have the skills needed for their current and future roles.
Re-skilling was also hot topic in this year’s Davos event. According to a World Economic Forum report released just ahead of the event, a total of 1.4 million US workers might lose their jobs over the next decade as a result of new technological changes and inadequate skills compete effectively. However, the report found, it will be possible to transition 95 percent of at-risk workers into positions that have similar skills and higher wages through re-skilling. The report further indicates that the rapid evolution of machines and algorithms in the workplace could create 133 million new roles in place of 75 million that will be displaced between now and 2022.
Too often, college degrees have been thought of as lifelong stamps of professional competency, perpetuating the notion that work — and the knowledge it requires — is static. The shift to a skills-based economy enables individuals to compete for employment based on what they can do for a company. At the same time it gives companies a tremendous opportunity to more efficiently integrate continual learning into work routines and implement reskilling and upskilling initiatives.
Here at Udacity we are working with global companies to help them:
Launch an upskilling initiative across their company (communicate the mission, how employees can get involved, what is expected of them, duration and how success is measured)
Develop flexible learning journeys to help employees reach the next level and prepare for tomorrow
Encourage our stakeholder(s) to invest in frequent, regular communications about the employee experience
Work collectively to employ incentives, learning models, leadership communications, and other motivational campaigns to drive completion rate of upskilling programs.
Udacity for Enterprise provides tailored, end-to-end learning paths for your company and entire workforce. We’ll help companies choose the right learning path for their workforce and help their high-performing employees continue to gain the right skills to excel and innovate.
Last week, we held our Bridging the AI Skills Gap webinar featuring Varun Ganapathi, head of our AI and Data Engineering and Mat Leonard, Product lead for our School of Artificial Intelligence.
The conversation centered on five key areas:
AI vs Machine learning vs Deep learning
How companies are using these technologies today?
Skills gap and talent shortage
Common use cases and outcomes
How to overcome the skills gap
AI, machine learning, and deep learning are easily confused and overlap with each other. The panel did a good job of breaking down the definitions:
AI means getting a computer to mimic human behavior in some way. Machine learning is a subset of AI, and it consists of the techniques that enable computers to figure things out from the data and deliver AI applications. Deep learning, meanwhile, is a subset of machine learning that enables computers to solve more complex problems.
“AI is any technology that enables a system to demonstrate human-like intelligence,” explained Varun Ganapathi. “Machine Learning (ML) is one type of AI that uses mathematical models trained on data to make decisions. As more data becomes available, ML models can make better decisions.”
Today, different AI technologies are finding a place in various industries. For instance, Banking and Financial Services companies are using chatbots or virtual assistants to help customers with routine tasks like scheduling payments, automate most frequently asked questions. Predictive Analytics’ to reduce the risk of loan defaulters. Machine learning to identify patterns of transactions that might indicate fraudulent activity.
The expanding applications for AI continues to create a shortage of qualified workers in the field. AI is moving fast and enterprises need talent today. However, not just any talent. What once was a shortage of coding and software engineering expertise has now evolved into an overall shortage of skills in machine learning, robotics and algorithmic engineering.
“If you’re considering working in AI as a data scientist or machine learning engineer you need to find a good starting point, and it starts with knowing Python, C++, and learning mainstream deep learning libraries like TensorFlow or PyTorch,“ said Mat Leonard, Product Lead at Udacity’s School of Artificial Intelligence.
AI and machine learning are driving innovation and transformation. They are embedded in how we sift through large volumes of data and content and how we interact, connect, and buy today. They are the engines underlying many of our products and services.
Hear more from Varun and Mat about steps your organization can take to embrace AI and close the skills gap. Listen now.
Digital transformation has further raised the need for change of the telco business model. Traditional telcos are almost indistinguishable—same services, different day—resulting in stagnant growth. Customers are constantly shopping around for what’s next, thanks to competition from born-digital market entrants and a growing demand for new services and immersive experiences. In an age of unprecedented disruption where brands cater to customers, telcos must adapt quickly or risk losing even long-time loyalists.
Enter Turkcell. Turkcell is a mobile phone service provider based in Turkey that also operates around nearby countries, with a total of 50 million subscribers, making it the third largest in Europe. In addition, they are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company has invested in building its own digital apps and services, reaching 110 downloads, 3 million of which are from outside of Turkey. The carrier’s current portfolio covers a communications platform dubbed BiP, music platform fizy, TV platform TV+, local search engine Yaani, secure login service Fast Login and digital payments company Paycell. The company has expanded its digital portfolio an embraced the needs of its consumers.
Turkcell needed to move rapidly in a market being transformed by digitalization and needed to make sure its employees were reskilled to handle the changes it was instituting on the technology side.
Turkcell Digital Masters Program
The company invested in the future of its workforce and created the Turkcell Digital Masters Program. Employed by Turkcell Academy and in partnership with Udacity, Turkcell Digital Masters trained employees in data analysis, machine learning, artificial intelligence, data entry, programming and business analysis. During the 9-month period, 1,088 Turkcell employees prepared a total of 4,878 projects, dedicating 10 hours a week to the program.
Just this past Friday, November 30, 2018 Turkcell held their graduation ceremony where they announced 751 new Udacity graduates from programs spanning from Data Foundations to Artificial Intelligence.
Udacity and Turkcell have been working together since 2017. The collaboration and passion has resulted in:
1,500 applications to the Udacity Nanodegree program
1,088 enrolled employees
751 Udacity graduates (500 attended the in-person ceremony)
4,878 total projects completed
19 news articles reached a distribution of 2.3M people
We wanted to congratulate all the new graduates! Udacity is proud to be working with Turkcell to help them transform their workforce.
I had the privilege of attending the Forbes CMO Summit 2018 a few weeks back. It was a veritable who’s who in the world of marketing, including (in no particular order) CMO’s from Hallmark, PepsiCo, Cadillac, Visa, Microsoft, Wendy’s, Ebay, Salesforce and more.
The overall theme was Champions of Change: CMOs at the Center of Business, Tech and Cultural Innovation. During my career in marketing, which if you must know spans several decades, the role of marketing has changed dramatically. Tools and concepts have changed, the audience is more sophisticated, with lofty expectations, and our organizations are now at the center of it all, owning everything from top of the funnel to revenue to up-sell, renewals and churn. But at the heart of it, we still need to connect one on one with people. Or as Forbes summed up the conference, “data is king, but the heart rules”.
Here are my top 5 takeaways that can be applied to every role in every organization:
1.) Be authentic – It’s easy to get caught up in the crazy that is our daily lives, both at work and home. It’s also very easy to fall into the spell of doing just enough, cutting corners, and in some cases, even being lazy (or as someone once put it, “having the minimum amount of flare”). But to truly be successful, productive (and happy), you really need to be present, be yourself, and be authentic – even if that scares you. Lindsey Foy, CMO of Hallmark, articulated this in her talk at the Summit, which is similar to her Ted talk here. It’s well worth the 17 minutes to watch.
2.) People first, not customers first – This is true for B2B, as well as the obvious B2C. In order to truly engage with buyers, you need to establish rapport and trust and then build on that relationship. Treat people as citizens of your company.
3.) Ask the question “how can I/we add value to that person’s life?”. – By doing this you are focusing on the needs of your customers. I can’t tell you how many sales calls I’ve been on where the person tells me what their solution/features/benefits are without asking me about my needs. But this is also true of marketing collateral I see (and sometimes create). In other words, too focused on what it is versus what value it will bring, not just to the company, but to the end users or consumers of the product or solution.
4.) Live the brand. Become the story. – When I was at Oracle, we had a saying, “eat your own dog food.” Sounds trite, but for me it was meaningful. We used our own software to do our job. We had specific insight to its features, how to use it, what worked, and what didn’t work. We actually ended up creating a case study on it. Can’t get any more “live the brand, become the story” than that. But by doing this, it helped us develop the right content and programs to attract them. And let’s face it, if you’re not working for a company you believe in, you’re probably not going to be happy.
5.) Create the right environment for the above to happen seamlessly – Above all else, as leaders, we need to create the kind of environment for 1-4 to exist and thrive.
It’s not often we take the time out of our busy schedule to participate in events like this. Turning the laptop off, putting away the phone, cancelling all meetings and truly being present. For me, this was a great reminder of why I went into marketing in the first place. These takeaways and concepts aren’t new. They are not groundbreaking. They are just reminders of the ways we might have strayed and how to get back on the right path (whatever that may be for you).
So to summarize – be authentic, value customers, and live your brand. Super easy, right?!? Now go forth and be a champion of change.
Written by: Christina Del Villar, Global Head of Marketing, Enterprise at Udacity
Christina is passionate about seeing companies transform, grow and scale, leveraging technology. With over 20 years of executive-level growth marketing experience at Fortune 100 companies and over 10 startups, she has a successful history of building teams that execute innovative go-to-market roadmaps and strategy. Christina loves working with companies that are going through a growth phase and she has the experience and industry perspective needed to take growing businesses to the next level. Her role at Webgility put Christina in a unique position to impact the e-tail industry with powerful e-commerce solutions. Her most recent role at Udacity, involves shifting the company focus from a B2C model to a B2B model. Christina also enjoys traveling, participating in endurance events, and working with various nonprofits, including Team Ronald McDonald House and Best Buddies.
As companies continue to try to innovate, digitize and transform their operations, the demand for technology talent has never been higher. Training talent for the future and building a stronger workforce, in many cases, requires traditional businesses to think and act more like a nimble startup. Companies today need to reskill the workforce, inject new talent, and enable them a new way of working. Without skilled staff, there can be no digital transformation.
The reality is business has transformed and evident all around us including small changes in everything from how food is made and delivered, to how financial transactions are conducted, to how products are made, operated, and sold result in fundamental changes to how we live and work. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies are poised for a monumental impact.
The New York Times estimates that there are only 10,000 people in the world right now with “the education, experience and talent needed” to develop the AI technologies that businesses are betting on to create a host of new economic opportunities. Speculative figures indicate that there are around 300,000 AI practitioners globally, but millions more roles available for people with these qualifications.
The critical issue for companies lies in the fact that AI expertise comes at a price—meaning that only those organizations with the necessary resources and clout are able to attract machine learning talent. This is reflected in booming annual salaries and startling industry recruitment efforts. There is still a pronounced shortage of AI talent. In fact, it is getting worse as more and more enterprises form their own AI groups and make AI part of their corporate strategy,” argues Gary Kazantsev, Bloomberg’s Head of Machine Learning. It’s clear that recruiting one or two AI experts—a challenge in itself—won’t be enough to make the technology an actionable success in 2018.
While skills and training initiatives play catch-up, ballooning salaries, scarce talent, and an aggressively competitive hiring landscape means that the race is already on between those who stand to gain the most from AI through the ability to adopt early on, and those who will be trailing behind in their dust. This is what the AI skills gap looks like—and right now, it’s a gap that is only widening. The growing disparity between the hiring power of companies and the present scarcity of AI talent has big implications, not only for determining the winners and losers of the AI revolution, but for the future of the workforce itself. This is no longer a ‘simple’ question of technology, but of skills, personnel, and strategy. As AI technologies become a reality, companies and their workforce must keep up—and they must do so quickly.
Read our whitepaper and find out how your company can bridge the AI talent gap. Download here.
Today’s businesses are undergoing a digital transformation. The Internet of Things (IoT) is making smart homes, smart factories, and smart cities possible. Autonomous vehicles are changing the transportation industry. Artificial intelligence and machine learning are enabling predictive approaches to decision making and driving business insights.
This digital transformation that is sweeping industries by storm would not be possible without data. Data is the enabler of new technologies and solutions. Data is where important and actionable business insights are derived. In a recent Udacity webinar titled “Shaping the Future of the Workforce,” the discussion centered on how Artificial and data science are the building blocks of digital transformation and there is a massive skills gap and substantial competition for talent surrounding those skill sets.
Regardless of the industry, companies are struggling to find qualified and experienced talent to not only help make sense of all the data but to use the data to be competitive. “How is your company going to deal with all this new information – as quick as your competition? There are key data job openings you need to fill and time is not on your side,” said Andrew Cartwright, Enterprise Sales Lead at Udacity.
Breakthroughs in machine learning, supported by the huge explosion of data are fueling the rapid rate of growth and development of artificial intelligence (AI) regardless of the industry. AI is at the forefront of a tidal wave of disruption. Employees today not only lack the right set of skills, but the ones they currently have are becoming obsolete over time. And, companies want to integrate AI strategies, but the don’t have the right talent with the right skills. In fact, there are less than 10,000 professionals in the world with the skills necessary to tackle AI. “Yet, we know the talent need for AI is over one million and we currently have over 100,000 students studying AI related fields. So, one of the biggest roadblocks in the active adoption of AI across industries is the sheer scarcity of appropriately skilled professionals,” Andrew Cartwright reiterated.
In order for organizations to bridge the talent gap the webinar stressed four key areas:
establish continuous workforce training,
derive proficiency in real-world skills beyond videos and online tests,
establish ongoing workforce assessment and calibration,
generate access to top-tier talent pool, internal and external
Academic institutions, companies, and online education providers are combining their efforts to find and foster talent. Organizations can enrich their staff through internal training, while at the same time creating the right conditions to accumulate and retain new talent.
The concept of lifelong learning is accordingly transforming from a discretionary aspiration to a career necessity. No longer is it a supplemental luxury to learn new skills, and no longer is learning new skills something you do only when you’re pursuing a significant career change. Being relevant, competitive, and in-demand in today’s fast-moving world requires an ongoing commitment to lifelong learning regardless of your role or career path.
At Udacity, we are committed to very similar objectives and strategies. Our industry partnerships are critical to the success of our approach, both in terms of establishing “a true 21st century curriculum,” and for developing a “clearer view on future skills and employee needs.” Our emphasis on learn-by-doing is fueled by our desire to help see every employee we teach be in-demand.
When you invest in the education of your employees, you give your company the gift of a long-term solution to your talent needs
(Originally posted on blog.udacity.com. Written by Christopher Watkins)
The following quote has been variously attributed to everyone from Lao Tzu to Maimonides to Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie:
“Give someone a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.”
Given its ubiquity throughout modern history, it’s clearly a resonant message, and part of its appeal has to do with its broad applicability—it’s germane to so many different use cases.
The quote is generally interpreted as a lesson about self-sufficiency, but it’s also sage advice when thinking about short-term “band-aids” vs. long-term solutions. Why solve something for a day, only to have the same problem again tomorrow? Why not embrace a long-term solution that eliminates the problem once and for all?
Hiring managers and recruiters confront this issue every day. After all, hiring is essentially an act of problem-solving—a company has a need, and the right hiring decision will solve for it. But what IS the right hiring decision? If you’re a company in need of talent, the solution is often right in front of you!
Let’s take the example of a company website.
Company X is a small company. They have a website, but it’s not very good, and it’s becoming a problem. They need a new site, but no one internally has the skills to do the work. What should Company X do? One solution is to hire someone from outside their organization to do the work. In theory, this makes sense, because professionals will know what to do, and how to do it. The challenges with this approach, however, are multi-fold. One obvious issue, is that there’s no real way to know whether the outside entity will do a good job. But the bigger question is, how can you know whether they’ll “get” you? A website isn’t just functional. It’s a symbol of brand identity. It communicates values as much as it provides services. So you want to work with someone who understands who you are as a company. Finding an outside entity that is both reliable, and that understands your brand, is difficult, and even if you DO find someone, they’re not yours for keeps. They do the work, then they’re off to the next client.
Hiring an outside entity often results in a “fed for a day” solution. If all goes well, you’ll get your new site, but as your company expands and evolves, you’ll be hungry again soon.
So what’s the alternative?
If you’re in a Company X kind of a situation, take a moment to look around you. What do you see? Chances are, what you see are dedicated, reliable, hardworking individuals who are committed to your company, and who most definitely “get” you. But at first glance, you might not be seeing the people who can build your new site.
Or are you?
Here at Udacity, we think you are! We think there are people at your company right now, who are just a Nanodegree program away from giving you exactly what you need. Don’t believe us? Poll your employees today. Find out whether someone at your company harbors an interest in web development. Chances are, there’s someone who’d jump at this kind of opportunity.
So, here’s a suggestion for companies in need of talent. Instead of investing in a one-time, short-term approach, invest in a Nanodegree program on behalf of one or more of your employees instead, and give your company the gift of a long-term solution to your talent needs.
Employees, this is an action item for you as well. If you’ve got a passion for something, and you think pursuing your passion can help your company, speak up! That’s what Kat Halo did. Her company hired someone else to do their marketing, but Kat knew she could do a better job. She took it upon herself to learn digital marketing with Udacity, and now, she’s doing marketing for her company!
There are a great many tangible benefits to hiring from within. A recent CareerBuilder article affirms that you’ll save money and see better performance, and Adam Foroughi, writing for Entrepreneur, notes the following:
Motivated employees work harder.
Opportunity, happy people = higher retention.
Internal hires adapt better to new roles.
And finally, as noted in a recent article from Inc., “Wharton research shows that external hires cost18 to 20 percent more than those promoted from within.”
In a world marked by rapid technological advancement, more and more companies all across the hiring landscape are embracing digital transformation initiatives, and this is leading them to look anew at the talent within their own ranks. At Udacity, our Enterprise team works directly with hundreds of different companies who are investing in their employees by proactively offering opportunities to reskill and upskill through our Nanodegree programs. If you’re not yet investing in the talent you already have, now’s a really good time to consider doing so!
Let’s now return to our quote:
“Give someone a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach someone to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime.”
The key lesson here lies in the distinction between “a day” and “a lifetime.” As a company, when it comes to making hiring decisions, you want to invest in a long-term solution that works for the long term, and that’s what investing in the development of existing employees is all about. When you need talent, you often need look no further than the people right in front of you.
Emerging areas, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, require special skill sets in high demand. Beyond traditional four-year degrees and time-intensive training programs, the alternative paths to developing those skills are limited. The learning required is not something that can be accomplished through a Netflix or YouTube-style exploration of a catalog of videos. Training in machine learning or AI requires deeper, more structured learning and commitment.
As AI moves beyond proof-of-concept and sandbox implementation, companies are looking to recruit top machine learning talent, cultivate AI skills across their workforce, and begin to use this amazing set of technologies for incredible outcomes. There’s just one problem. There’s still not enough AI experts out there to make this a reality – and a huge AI skills gap is opening up as a result. Continue reading “Enabling companies to bridge the Artificial Intelligence gap with Nanodegree programs”→
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