The day is not far when India too could have its own self employed millionaires born on the digital platforms
Digital platforms in the early days provided connects
between the employment providers and employment seekers.
Over the last few years, while we have seen the
proliferation of startups and millions of dollars being invested to back the
budding entrepreneurs who are conceiving dream enterprises on the strength of
digital access, a whole new opportunity is opening up for self employment and
freelancing also due to enhanced digital penetration. For those who possess
unique capabilities and skills and are looking to get away from the 9 to 5
option of being part of an organisation, self employment and freelancing are attractive
ways of earning their livelihood.
With digital technologies maturing and IP,
confidentiality, identify management, security and payment features also
becoming more robust large and small corporates are willing to consider the
services of individuals who could be connected via secure digital platforms.
According to a study conducted by Mckinsey Global Institute, by 2020, digital
technology will enable 200 million who are inactive or employed part time to
gain additional hours through freelance platforms. The study also mentions
about the increase in the adoption rates of online platforms for talent access
that could reduce the cost of recruiting talent and of human resources
generally by as much as 7%. Freelance working and flexible resourcing would be
important factors that would contribute to this cost reduction. In the wake of
India gearing up for the digital age, with majority of the people being able to
access the digital platform through mobile phones or other devices, corporates
would benefit by beginning to plan for leveraging this platform to access
talent and services in new formats. This could lead to several new
opportunities for individuals to rethink their careers and capabilities and
result in attractive self employment opportunities for those interested.
Businesses are now realising the possibility of
flexibility in hiring specialists as and when they are required and
further it is not required for people to be in the same place to work together.
Collaborative and mobile working are becoming increasingly acceptable ways of
getting access to the right talent on demand and also keeping the companies
trim and lean. Companies are encouraging employees to hire co-workers or
additional resources online as the recruitment time for such workers is one
tenth the time that is taken for onboarding regular workers. Those seeking to
pursue their second careers and employment after retirement can take advantage
of their network and the digital connections to identify the demand and the
needs that could be addressed by them. Women who are looking for flexibility in
their work hours are able to undertake assignments which suit them best and
thus have an opportunity to market their home made products or market their
services.
It has been found that creative domain is one of the
fields which has thrown upon the boundaries of work for those possessing skills
in fields such as content writing, editing of video, graphic work, game
testing, translation, animation and music. Other professions with strong
technical skills in domains such as such as legal, software, product and
engineering design, accounting, secretarial, statutory filings also lend
themselves to self employment.
Professionals can decide their pace and time of work,
type of projects they wish to undertake based on their interest areas and
decide their own vacation time.
India is in the midst of building a momentum for
getting the youth of the country skilled to make them employable by the
industry. The Skill India Mission is aiming to create skills with 500 million
youth by the year 2022 and various schemes are being rolled out in this
direction. However the policy makers as well as individuals who are undergoing
skills training continue to face challenges concerning their employability. The
direct correlation between skills and jobs is still elusive due to factors such
as time of the year when the vacancies need to be filled, the opportunities
available with different industries, location preferences, compensation offered
and role preferences of individuals.
Being a large country, with diverse interests and
complex constructs related to migration to locations where jobs are available,
even with the databases despite the best of intentions, it is not an easy task
to match the demand supply gap. Creating awareness of opportunities for
self employment and acquiring world class skills would go a long way in
addressing this problem as the country expands its digital reach and enables
the youth to build small enterprises that service local customers.
Traditional forms of self employment or
entrepreneurship face limitations of customers in terms of the geographies that
they can address, complexities of businesses and lack of experience may also be
hurdles to find suitable opportunities. Self employment has been often
embraced by those who have acquired skills through previous experience.
Additionally, as there are associated risks of not
finding customers who would assure long term income, this route is not favoured
by many, specially by those who are at the start of their careers. However,
with the digital age, not only are the opportunities for self employment
expanding, the definition and contours of self employment are also changing
which makes it a compelling reason to consider the avenues available through
the digital platform. Acquisition of customers, referrals through testimonials and
satisfied customers, demonstration of capabilities, establishing proof of
concept, brand building and creating new markets which can be serviced for
niche customer needs without the associated overheads are relatively easier
specially if the value proposition is found to be superior.
Self employment need not necessarily mean earning
potential would be lesser than the traditional format of 9 to 5 working for an
organisation. As per US Census Bureau 30,174 ‘non employer’ firms were
listed in 2013 as those with only the owners and no employees with
each of them managing to generate more than $1 million revenue. Many of these
companies have benefitted with digital automation and hiring independent
contractors keeping their costs and overhead management low.
The day is not far when India too could have its own
self employed millionaires born on the digital platforms with the combination
of outstanding skills and customer connect through innovative propositions
through the digital platform.
Source
| Financial Express | 22 June 2015
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