Behold, the fourth industrial revolution

Unlike in the days of our foreparents, mobile phones and Internet connections are creating jobs, reducing business costs, facilitating research, extending financial networks, strengthening health systems, improving information flows, and increasing transparency and accountability.

In rural villages across Africa where good roads are still a dream, where land lines were never seen and where postal services remain foreign, mobile phones have created unprecedented access to information on prices, politics, market conditions, banking services, legal advice and medical care.

Today, in remote African villages, we receive information within minutes of events happening from any part of the world. The catchphrase “It’s a global village” has never been more real.

From the taxi drivers of Tana Delta to brick layers of Bungoma, to shop owners of Isiolo, entrepreneurs are using mobile phones to spur their businesses.

Innovative text platforms for farmers and pastoralists about prices and market conditions have profoundly changed previously helpless communities. Families living in any part of the world can cheaply send money to their kin in Africa, even to the outmost of locations. Many rural women are supporting their families through small businesses spinning off the revolution.

That said, there is a long way to go, especially for rural poor communities. The pace of technological growth makes it difficult to tell how the working environment will look like for children starting school now. Studies estimate that 65 per cent of children entering primary schools today will likely work in roles that don’t currently exist.

It is also estimated that by 2020, there will be nearly one and a half million open jobs worldwide in the tech sector. Tech skills are 20 of the top 25 most sought after skills by employers on LinkedIn, and all 10 of the fastest growing keywords in job listings.

INTERCONNECTED WORKSPACES

Our future workplace might not be an open plan office, but interconnected workspaces not tied to one place but many. They will be underpinned by virtual conferencing, complete and constant connection and portability.

Our working day will be fundamentally different. Home-working will no longer be defined as a Friday luxury, but a more efficient way to work, enabled by technology, taking the physical strain from megacities and regionalising work locations. This will herald the fourth industrial revolution.

The first industrial revolution used water and steam to mechanise production. The second used electric power to create mass production. The third uses electronics and information technology to automate production.

Now the fourth revolution, which started in the middle of the last century, is characterised by a convergence of technologies. 

When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the fourth is evolving at an exponential pace. It is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes announce the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.

This revolution has the promise of changing the quality of life for the better, owing to new products and services that increase efficiency and pleasure of our personal lives. Already, ordering a cab, booking a flight, sending money, selling or buying a product, making a payment, listening to music, attending online classes—any of these and more, can be done remotely.

Moving forward, it is simply not possible to weather the current technological revolution by waiting for the next generation’s workforce to become better prepared. Instead, it is critical that businesses take an active role in supporting their current workforces through re-training; that individuals take a proactive approach to their own lifelong learning and that governments create the enabling environment—rapidly and creatively—to assist these efforts.

Sam Wambugu is an informatics specialist; [email protected].