RiseUp with ServiceNow: How we’re creating a digital skills opportunity for all

In today’s world, every company is a tech company.  Take any industry—banking, manufacturing, retail—and you’ll see online systems, mobile apps, and automated processes in action. Factories use automated product lines to boost output. Consumers order goods and services at the click of a button. Almost everything relies on a large amount of data.  

This is a good thing, but with this shift to digital business comes new challenges.  To continue to benefit from this digital transformation, we need more people who understand it—people who can program the product line or analyse and interpret the data. Currently, we’re not meeting the demand for those people.  

At ServiceNow, we want to make sure anybody who wants ta tech job is given the support, resources, and training they need—regardless of their background or previous experience.   

As a large tech company, we’re uniquely positioned to do this.  I’m immensely proud of the launch of RiseUp with ServiceNow, a programme designed to upskill 1 million people around the world on the Now Platform by 2024. 
 

Understanding the digital skills gap   

 Addressing the skills shortage is something we’re all extremely passionate about at ServiceNow.  The Digital Economy and Society Index shows more than 70% of businesses in Europe lack staff with adequate digital skills. And the story is much the same across the globe.

According to IDC, 90% of organisations will experience a digital transformation-related IT skills shortage by 2025.¹  This isn’t just holding businesses back from making progress; it may cost them more than USD 6.5 trillion globally through 2025, IDC adds—”due to delayed product releases, reduced customer satisfaction, and loss of business.” 

Addressing the skills gap in UK and Europe 

 A significant portion of the tech industry’s potential talent pool has remained untapped—either due to socioeconomic factors prohibiting them from getting the formal education they need or because they’re unaware of the jobs available. 

In EMEA, we’re on a mission to help people join the digital economy and explore new career possibilities. There are various initiatives available as part of RiseUp with ServiceNow.  

Our Partner Placement Program provides a reliable and sustainable pipeline of talent available on demand to customers and partners. Several partners have already signed on, including FDM Group. 

We’ve also deployed the successful NextGen Programme across Europe. This initiative aims to help people with little to no tech education secure roles in the industry. 

A former participant, Waled Bajukhaif, shared about the benefits of the programme.  “What’s especially great about it is that there’s a nice balance of theory work and practical experience,” he said.

“Throughout the course, I was able to learn skills like automation, mobile application design, and how to build a functioning service portal. The practical element really makes a difference, because it means we head into the ‘real’ world of work prepared with actual experience, as opposed to just knowledge.”  

Soon after participating in the programme, Bajukhaif accepted a position at ServiceNow partner UP3 and has gone on to forge a successful career in the tech industry.  

This year marks the fifth year of the NextGen Programme in Germany, which collaborated with the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Martin Kauschinger, a teaching assistant at TUM, summarized what participants can expect from the programme:  

“We teach them that in a real-world company scenario, things are different. We have them working to corporate regulations, tight deadlines, and give them actual responsibility over it, just as an employer would in the real world.”  

Further, university partnerships, such as the one with the UK’s Northeastern University, continue to drive the collaboration between education and real-world experiences. In fact, the UK government’s Department of Education recently awarded a contract to ServiceNow and Northeastern University to skill another 250 participants through Skills Bootcamps, part of the government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee. 

The future of RiseUp with ServiceNow 

 RiseUp and its associated initiatives will supply candidates with the vital industry knowledge, practical digital skills, and hands-on experience they need to forge a successful career in the tech industry. It offers other benefits as well, such as in-house academies, partnerships with nonprofit and government agencies, and first-of-their-kind apprenticeships.  

Crucially, the programme welcomes and celebrates candidates from many different backgrounds and experiences. Through this, we believe we can play an even larger role in placing diverse talent within the industry and, ultimately, turning the skills gap into an opportunity for all.  

Find out more about the RiseUp with ServiceNow programme.

¹ IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Work 2022 Predictions, Doc # US47290521, October 2021

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