Automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning are buzz words that sound cool, but the C-suite needs to value skill-set transformation as they introduce new tech to the workplace. No matter how advanced the hardware and software, humans are still the backbone of any successful business.

“You can have a common digital vision for your company, for your infrastructure, but at the end of the day you’ve got to have the workforce to make that real,” said Charles Atkins (pictured, right), vice president and chief learning executive of education services at Dell Technologies Inc.

“Because the technology has morphed incredibly quickly …  if learning doesn’t happen continuously … individuals and [chief officers] themselves are not going to be able to keep up,” added Sophie Barratt (pictured, left), senior director of strategy and go-to-market, education services, at Dell.

Atkins and Barratt spoke with Lisa Martin (@LuccaZara), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and guest host Keith Townsend (@CTOAdvisor), principal at The CTO Advisor, during the Dell Technologies World event in Las Vegas. They discussed the skills transformation that parallels a business’s digital transformation, as well as how Dell EMC’s new certifications aim to help workers master the skills of the future. (* Disclosure below.)

The goal is a self-motivated, multi-skilled workforce

Dell EMC’s “Realizing 2030″ research study found that top executives identify lack of workforce readiness as one of the top three barriers to digital progress. To overcome this, Dell EMC recently announced four certification programs that cover topics such as information systems as a service solutions, hyperconverged infrastructure, multicloud administration, and infrastructure security.

“I expect both [companies] and employees internally to go out there and just be curious,” Atkins said, emphasizing that skills transformation is a two-way street. While employees have the responsibility to keep their skill set sharp, management must support them in order to successfully transition from a traditional to a digital workplace.

“I think it comes back [to] that reciprocity between the environment in which you’re working and creating that safe space or learning culture where you are empowered to take ownership of your own development in your own career,” Barratt said.

“The workforce of the future is having those individuals really multi-faceted, multi-skilled, all across not only Dell EMC products and technology, but also all the strategic aligned businesses,” Atkins concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Dell Technologies World 2018 event. (* Disclosure: Dell Technologies Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Dell EMC nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE