Although it is well known that industries are facing an acute shortage of skilled workforce, overcoming the challenges of the skill gap requires a thoughtfully planned and targeted approach that carefully addresses this problem from all aspects.

Skills have become an essential trait for an individual to be employable in any industry. With the growing skill gap faced by industries, the importance of operations technology (OT) and skill development trainings in solving the industrial skill gap has increased considerably. A study conducted by Deloitte predicts that within the next decade, around 4.6 million manufacturing jobs will be created and as many as 2.4 million of those vacancies are likely to remain unfilled due to the shortage of relevant skills. However, what is more shocking is the fact that this challenge is further exacerbated by swift pace in technological advancements.

Today’s new labor force is expected to possess a predefined set of technical skills or qualities that are significantly different from those required in the past. Sadly, this is the prime reason behind the abundance of vacancies available, particularly in the manufacturing industries and is not merely due to the shortage of workforce in the quantitative sense. The requirement that skilled employees had deep knowledge of specific applications and processes was essential in the past. However, specialization has become more complex and qualifications have become more and more complicated as of late.

At one point of time, workers had just the basic knowledge of individual machines, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) designing and programming, panel wiring, troubleshooting and so on. Their skillset was very specific that revolved around specific elements of a process or a machine. For instance, in the case of a bottle filling plant, if any of the numerous procedures or operations go wrong, it may result in numerous breakages and downtime. Hence, it is very essential to ensure that the machines and processes are running smoothly and flawlessly. Due to this, the workers skills have to be fine-tuned to meet the precise aspect of production.

Due to the outset of technological advancements of late, the machines and processes that ran predominantly on proprietary systems have completely changed in their architecture and protocols from what they used to be. New technologies are regularly being leveraged in the manufacturing and production industries. Consequently, these industries require individuals with more comprehensive skillset than what they possessed in the past. Having the ability to build a system that’s operational but also integrated with everything else must be part of their skill set.

IT skillset and Industrial Demands

Digital transformation requires many advanced skills related to IT. Due to this, individuals entering the manufacturing industries will need to hold a three to four-year degree in streams like computer science, electronics or mathematics. Although the availability of such graduates in the job-market is surplus, candidates with skills that are pertinent to manufacturing are hard to find among them. Nonetheless, finding candidates who are keen on pursuing careers in manufacturing is also challenging.

It is less likely that manufacturing will be a first option for career choices among young graduates due to a general lack of enthusiasm for it among them. Additionally, even though the core methodologies and procedures used are the same, applying software skills, programming and data analytics in a real-time manufacturing environment can remarkably vary from other fields. Moreover, the initial remuneration offered in this industry may not be as attractive as the ones offered in other fields. However, with time and with relevant experience in the field, individuals are very likely to earn attractive figures.

Schools, colleges and universities impart theoretical knowledge to the students. However, without the appropriate practical knowledge, the individuals may struggle to cope up since there is a significant difference between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge gained through hands-on experience. At the end of the day, it all comes down to specific, hands-on experience that is needed to properly educate the employees of any organization. In a wider perspective, it is noteworthy to substantiate that learning the basics, being in the environment, having sufficient hands-on experience and understanding how people handle situations within a given frame or field is something that cannot be simply taught in a basic classroom.

Operations Technology (OT) skillset and Industrial Demands

Because of the above listed realities, an increasing number of industrial organizations have arrived at the realization that skill development and operations technology (OT) trainings must be pursued with the same zeal as IT training and education projects.

Not only can maintaining OT expertise help IT personnel make better use of data, but it also ensures that basic, day-to-day activities like maintenance can continue to be performed on legacy assets. Because they will need to service a mix of old and new equipment, this is especially crucial for organisations who are doing gradual automation improvements rather than a wholesale asset replacement.

As per to the observations made by Cox, the looming OT skills gap is more severe than the IT skills gap in many ways, as applicants are scarce and less attention is being paid to the issue. significant number of baby boomers will be retiring in the near future, which could create major business disruptions. The main issue is that a large number of people who are familiar with OT are approaching retirement. This is a big concern that companies need to address, if not, could lead to a catastrophic problem in the future. Cox also alerts that companies that are investing in and adopting new technologies would need to have clear ideas and proper plans to get the old stuff into a newer framework. Failure to do so may backfire if something gets broken and is unable to get fixed on time., which could undoubtedly result in considerable downtime and unwanted, unnecessary expenses.

SMEClabs Solution

More internships and apprenticeship-style training should be offered in addition to classroom learning to overcome the IT skills gap in manufacturing. Many contemporary college students pursuing IT-related professions do not regard manufacturing as their preferred career path. This will require cultural changes as well as an institutional adjustment.

Students should also be encouraged to engage in individual study and side projects that prepare them for careers in the manufacturing industry. With the rise of open-source communities and online platforms like Github, it has come to light for students pursuing IT-related employment to include this type of extracurricular work to their resumes.

Depending on the specific sector of manufacturing, the skills required to work there differ. So, manufacturers should provide students and candidates with a competitive advantage in the job market by highlighting this aspect of their industry as a way to demonstrate the skills necessary to work in different industries.

This is particularly the area where SMEClabs comes into play, by offering quality approved skill development and OT trainings relevant to the concerned industry. With over 170 industry-specific training programs spread across eight industries such as Automation, Oil & Gas, Building Management System (BMS), Civil, Embedded System, Mechanical-Electrical-Plumbing (MEP), Networking & IT and Financial Technology (FinTech), the training programs are designed and crafted in accordance with international standards by some of the pioneers in various fields. The numerous accolades, accreditations and certifications bestowed on SMEClabs by organizations both nationally and internationally speak about the quality of the training content along with the utmost dedication and sincerity of the training faculty. Come witness the latest and the best skill development and OT trainings from SMEClabs.

To keep company operations running and consumers satisfied over the last year, businesses have forced to embrace technology, and specifically automation.

Almost every organisation had to quickly create new processes and solutions in order to deal with the pandemic’s immediate concerns.

Even though the tendency existed before the year 2020, it accelerated at an extraordinary rate in the previous year, which is expected to continue in the future. Every business owner today recognises the advantages of sophisticated IT infrastructure and process automation.
In terms of the workforce, the reverse may also be considered to be true, since new technologies are obliterating some employment.

The Benefits of Automation and Technology for Businesses

New technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA) are now part of a well-thought-out corporate plan. Increased productivity, greater rates of production, improved service quality, and effective material usage are just a few of the benefits of these technologies.

New technologies exist that potentially disrupt practically every process in a corporation, depending on the type of business. Companies who had previously adopted new technology were able to adjust rapidly, whilst those that dragged their feet had a high learning curve to surmount.

Automation and technology are disrupting operations like:

Administration — Organizations may use remote access solutions and cloud infrastructure to keep workers productive from anywhere.

Analytics – AI and machine learning technologies build predictive models that firms use to assess operations, anticipate accurately, and automate supply chains.

Customer service – AI bots may record, converse, and engage with customers while route requests to the appropriate department to improve customer service.

Data collecting — By capturing data from bills, orders, or service requests, RPA may automate repetitive processes.

Manufacturing – Manufacturers may cut their personnel while improving production volumes thanks to robots and remote operations.

Companies must also improve their cybersecurity skills by utilising AI to assist filter out event notifications.

Impact of Automation and Technology on the Labour Force

The enhanced skills may jeopardise the job security of some people. Automation has the ability to replace middle-skilled humans in any situation where labour is predictable and procedures are organised.

Manufacturing, lodging, food services, and retail are among the industries with the most automation potential. It might account for up to 51% of work activity in the United States. Analysts anticipated that by 2018, automation and developing technologies will have shrunk
the workforce by up to 10%, but the good news is that it will also generate 3% new employment.

While blue- and white-collar occupations may be in jeopardy, it does generate a desire for “new collar” jobs in which non-traditional schooling aids businesses in their technological adoption. Vocational schools, software boot camps, technical certifications, and on-the-job
mentorships or internships are all options for new collar job training. In other words, these personnel are up to speed on all the newest innovations in automation and technology, and they can help a company’s operations run more smoothly.

Accelerate the adoption of automation and emerging technologies in your company.

Many technology service providers can assist businesses, private corporations, and government agencies in accelerating their technological adoption. Any firm may install new technologies that boost productivity, speed up job execution, and improve security throughout their operations with the help of a team of technologists, engineers, and IT specialists.

In today’s world, computer has become an integral part of all sectors. As technology has evolved communication has evolved greatly. Communication has evolved over the years, from carvings on rocks to more complex forms. This leads to the evolution of computer networks. Computer networks is a group of computers linked to each other which enables one computer to communicate with another computer. Computer networks are everywhere they are in our office, they are in our home. At home, we might have multiple devices like laptops, Alexa, or other devices which are connected to a network. in the office, you often see networks, your computers connected through a switch or any other device like a router, and they form a network. So many, many networks exist.

Elements of Network:

To understand more about networks, we need to understand the elements of the networks. There are four major elements that tells how a network works.

1) Protocol or set of rules which tells how the messages are sent, how they should be directed and received.

2) Packets, frames that describe the message from one device to other.

3) A medium that transport these frames or packets from one device to other.

4) Devices on the network that communicate with each other.

Converged networks:

The world of network is growing day by day. We are finding more and more ways to use computer networks.  Communication over networks today is not just limited to transmitting static data, rather new applications such as teleconferencing, video, news, and other multimedia applications can be found on computer networks.

How does it work?

Fault tolerance and scalability – this means that networks should be able to recover from downtime or other faults and should be able to expand as needed.

Quality of service – this is a measurement instituted in networks to ensure that the services provided in a converged network work optimally. For example, communication would be poor, if a network had only video and not audio when a business executive is in a video conference call. To ensure quality of service, different services are given different priorities. Security – the network should be safe from intrusions from unauthorized access. This would ensure that communication is effective and confidentiality, integrity and availability of information is maintained.

Develop CISCO skills that helps you grow more

Cisco skills and certifications are some of the most sought-after for professionals who work in technology. Networks and organizational infrastructures are evolving into complex solutions intended to support increasingly sophisticated business functions. Learn to set up and manage the systems that serve as the backbone of your organization’s day-to-day operations and communications.

As the world’s largest and most trusted Authorized Cisco Learning Solutions partner, Global Knowledge can help you develop your skills, prepare for certification and help your organization build best-in-class Cisco solutions.

There are many certifications and paths one can take in Cisco’s career program. That said, its two main paths cover network operation and network design. A typical Cisco networking certification ladder begins with the entry-level CCENT credential, moves up to the CCNA, onto the CCNP. The Cisco Career Certification program also includes several specializations. These certifications acknowledge a professional’s skills in a specific Cisco technology, such as data center application services, voicemail and messaging or rich media

Future Scope:

Networking is evergreen, it is only going to get bigger and more complex. In the current technological trend, networking devices play a crucial role in enabling organization IT infrastructure services. There are many different standard IT network devices like Router, Firewall, Web Application Firewall, Proxy, LoadBalacner, etc. Network engineers have always been in a state of constant change. If you take a look back to days when cloud computing never existed, you’ll remember that people used dialed-up internet which is no longer in use. Over the years, with the change in technologies, network engineers have adapted themselves pretty well. This may the reason why network engineering will modify but will never uproot its engineers.

Job Opportunity:

The role of a network engineer is very important, the main role being played by the network admin, whose duties include conducting operations and maintaining the entire infrastructure of the connected devices, and troubleshooting network problems. Network admins seem to enjoy their job because there is very little that they have to do in regards to distressing complex systems. Network engineers and those pursuing the same through after graduation courses are always up to expanding their knowledge and understanding of the platform, software applications, networks, and various other facts of a networking career. As you know every company has IT Infracture even small scale or large scale these companies would need a networking engineer/administrator whose duties be maintaining entire servers & connected systems. Finally, if computers exist then the job also will exist.

What is Accounting Software?

Accounting Software is used by accounting professionals to process financial transactions like accounts receivable and payable, invoicing, tax compliance, general ledger, cash flow analysis, trial balance, income and expense statements, balance sheets, payroll among others.

With the reports generated, an organisation can get a glimpse of how they are performing financially and create future budgets. Accounting Software enables the efficient and fast processing of financial transactions. Automation of processes leads to a reduction of staff costs who would previously be engaged in manual processing of data. There is also a reduction in human accounting error. Records are automatically kept up to date.

Why is Accounting Software important in business accounting?

Business accounting involves a wide range of activities in order to capture a business’s entire financial picture. Done manually, it’s complex and time-consuming work. But accounting software has helped simplify these processes, giving business owners more time to focus on the administration and execution of their strategies.

What are the benefits of Accounting Software?

• Reduced operational costs through the elimination of outsourcing of bookkeeping.
• Simple and fast data entry capabilities.
• Better decision-making process through the acquisition of timely and informatics financial reports.
•  Improved productivity by reduction of approved process.
• Time saving and low cost.

Features of Accounting Software

From basic features that keep track of the money coming in and going out of your business, to other advanced features that give you more control, accounting software offers a multitude of features that help simplify accounting tasks. The features of accounting software can vary depending on vendors.

Accounts payable

Keeping track of your expenses and how much money you owe is crucial for your business. Your accounting software should offer features like purchase orders, bills, vendor credits, and expenses to make the payables side of your business operations as smooth as possible.

Accounts receivable

Keeping track of your income and how much money you receive from your debtors to business. Your accounting software should offer features like sales orders, invoices, customer credits, and income to make the receivables side of your business operations as smooth as possible.

Banking

Every accounting software should offer you some link to your bank, so you can make payments and import your bank statements to your accounting system. Some software goes beyond these basic functions to offer features like automatic bank feeds, transaction matching, and banking reconciliation.

Reporting

Accounting without analyzing the numbers is fruitless. All accounting software provides financial reports to analyze the numbers and make business decisions for the future. A few accounting software options go further and support functionalities like report sharing, scheduling, and customization.

Inventory

Inventory tracking is essential for goods-based businesses. From tracking stock on hand, to sending notifications when you are running out of stock, to making inventory adjustments, accounting software with inventory tracking can help streamline your business operations.

How to pick the right Accounting Software for your business?

When picking an accounting software for your business, you need to understand your business requirements and the features you need. Here are a few things you should look for in your accounting tool.

Top Accounting Software available in India

Tally Prime

Tally Prime is a complete business management software solution preferred by over a million enterprises across 140 countries. It offers comprehensive capabilities to manage all your critical business requirements such as,

• Accounting & Finance
• Inventory Management
• Purchase & Sales cycle
• Payroll Management
• Banking

What are the jobs after tally?

• Tally Jobs. Admin Executive.
• Accounts Executive.
• Audit Executive.
• Financial Analyst.
• Account Manager.
• Senior Accountant.

QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks is an accounting software package developed and marketed by Intuit. QuickBooks products are geared mainly toward small and medium-sized businesses and offer on-premises accounting applications as well as cloud-based versions that accept business payments, manage and pay bills, and payroll functions.

• Easily creates and manages invoices
• Professional estimates
• Instant access to critical information and reports
• Consolidated customer and supplier data
• Track sales and expenses
• Get your Company Snapshot
• Handle foreign currencies

What job can I get with QuickBooks?

• Full-time, part-time, freelance, and contract work
• job titles such as Bookkeeper, Certified Public Accountant – CPA, and Senior Software Consultant

Peachtree / Sage 50 Cloud accounting

Sage 50cloud Accounting, formerly Peachtree, is the classic software that simplifies your everyday accounting tasks and provides the insights to run your business more efficiently. Peachtree accounting software, now known as Sage 50cloud, offers:

• A desktop installation for performance and security.
• Robust functionality for accuracy, compliance, and control.
• Intuitive interface for easy adoption and use.

Where can I work after accounting?

• Accountant.
• Financial Controller.
• Internal Control Analyst.
• Financial Analyst.
• Financial Planning/Budget Coordinator.

Conclusion

So here we are concluding that, an Accounting Software plays an important role in any kind of business like oil and gas, automation, construction, IT sector, etc..

INTRODUCTION

The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is the centre of any organization. It deals with the important tasks of managing and integrating business processes in real-time. In 2019, Gartner, a global research and consulting firm, said that ERP programs are one of the largest phases in business software spending. It was predicted to have a combined annual growth rate of 7.1 percent from 2018 to 2022.

The ERP marketplace has been undergoing a generational technology shift driven by using the advent of cloud computing. Cloud-based ERPs emerged by the mid-2000s because of the perceived blessings of moving away from handling on-premise ERPs, especially in dealing with upgrades and maintenance processes.

CLOUD-BASED ERP

Сlоud  ERР  is  Sоftwаre аs  а  Serviсe  thаt  enable companies tо  ассess  Enterрrise  Resоurсe  Рlаnning  (ERР)  sоftwаre  оver  the  Internet.  The main selling point of Сlоud  ERР  is  lоwer  uрfrоnt  соsts,  beсаuse  соmрuting  resоurсes  аre  rented  by  the  mоnth  rаther  thаn  рurсhаsed  оutright  аnd  mаintаined  оn  рremises.  Сlоud  ERР  аlsо  gives  соmраnies  ассess  tо  their  business-сritiсаl  аррliсаtiоns  аt  аny  time  frоm  аny  lосаtiоn.

Basically, cloud computing is all about renting processing system resources and storage instead of purchasing and keeping it on-premises. Tt can come as a wonder to some, but this isn’t always a brand-new idea. in the 1970s, carrier companies used big mainframes to run packages and provide facts storage for other corporations that would hire the one’s computer resources and storage area. This becomes called “time-sharing”.

Time-sharing become high-priced and fell out of style once the rate of computers dropped and businesses should find the money to buy and hold their systems. For the last few decades, organizations had been buying, putting in, and keeping their hardware and software programs in their very own centres.

Fortunately, new technologies had been added, along with substantial internet availability, low price of mobile gadgets, expansion of computing strength, and big storage availability. technology has progressed to the point that very high-functioning applications can competently and securely run remotely on computer hardware hosted remotely. This eliminates the need for individual groups to address hardware problems and allows their personnel to work anywhere at any time.

CLOUD-BASED ERP TYPES

Licensing options: Subscription or Perpetual

Subscription: The organization pays a yearly or month-to-month charge to utilize the product permit. Upgrades are generally included in the membership cost.

Buy (or Perpetual): These terms allude to when an organization buys a product license. The organization pays to claim the license and pays a yearly support expense for updates.

Deployment choices: On-Premises, Hosted, or SaaS

On-Premises (or In House):

The organization is answerable for the foundation (equipment, framework programming, correspondence equipment, programming on client gadgets, and so on) and the sending of the application programming (execution, support, redesigning, and so on)

Hosted: The organization or facilitating supplier purchases a license for the product. The facilitating supplier oversees most, if not all, of the foundation and programming organization as depicted previously. The facilitating supplier can be a separate organization or a division of the actual organization. Facilitating is one method for revaluating IT activities. 

Programming as a Service (SaaS):

This strategy for sending is a both programming license and delivery model in which programming is authorized on a membership premise and facilitated by the product supplier, just for a solitary value that is normally a decent sum. Much of the time the product supplier utilizes a Public Cloud for facilitating.

Private Cloud

Private cloud is exclusive and kept up with by the organization or a facilitating supplier. In light of business necessities or guidelines, some of the time this might be the only choice

Public Cloud

The public cloud is owned by organizations, like Microsoft, IBM, or Amazon. They give all the equipment, load adjusting, reinforcement, and security.

Hybrid cloud

Hybrid cloud is a mixed methodology with a blend of on-premises, private cloud, and outsider, public cloud administrations.

Multi- occupancy Multi-occupancy is the place where the Cloud programming supplier has a single version of programming on a server and serves different clients at the same time.

Single-occupancy

Single-occupancy is the place where every client has their application and information base.

Cost Savings

It is accepted that multi-occupancy lessens the expense for the product supplier, which is valid for cloud applications that are immediately bought and downloaded like Pandora, Facebook, and so on.

For Cloud ERP, the expense investment funds are immaterial when contrasted with giving the server equipment, working framework, and data set; advancement of the exceptionally modern ERP programs; deals and promoting required; and ongoing help.

Adaptability is diminished when you share a similar program with numerous others. The effect might be loss of control in:

•          Customization and fitting

•          Schedule of Upgrades

MERITS OF CLOUD-BASED ERP

•          Higher performance compared to legacy ERP

•          Lower Operating cost

•          Able to receive real-time analytics

•          Flexible access

•          24/7 service support

•          Geographical accessibility

•          Scalability

DEMERITS OF CLOUD-BASED ERP

•          Data security issues

•          Limitation on customization

•          Long term cost may be high

•          Lack of ownership

•          Connectivity issues

JOB OPPORTUNITY FOR CLOUD-BASED ERP

ERP is an essential part of a business or a company, large or small, global or local.  Last year because of this pandemic and work-from-home trend, the ERP software market grew considerably over the last two years. In the future, more companies will try to implement cloud-based ERP. A 2020 study by the leading think tank found that 40% of Manufacturing organizations will implement AI-based cloud ERP for inventory management, logistics, and production scheduling. According to research by Forrester, the market for personalized ERP solutions would reach 15 billion US dollars by 2022. As the growth of cloud-based ERP is not stopping any time soon, the job market for cloud-based ERP will also have a significant jump.

SMEC FINTECH

SMEC FINTECH, an initiative of SMEClabs Established in early 2001 as the R&D and training hub of SMEC Automation Pvt. Ltd. – an ISO 9001:2015 certified company based in Kochi, Kerala is at the forefront of empowering thousands of job aspirants in the fields of ERP systems. SMEC FINTECH job-oriented training up-to-date courses will increase the chances of securing their desired jobs. SMEC FINTECH has Postgraduate diploma courses in the most popular ERP systems used by the MNC’s in India and across the globe.

You may very familiar with concepts such as the smart home. In order not to fall behind, we embark on a small prototype before the larger rollout. That’s when these problems appear, such as huge costs, difficulty to synchronize devices, security for data. These immediate issues are hindering the adoption of IoT strengths in device management. One solution is a wireless sensor network. That can help us turn large areas into “smart”.

Wireless sensor nodes are combination (network) of different sensors connected in different models in order to monitor sensing data such as pressure, temperature, weight and go on. In factories there are lot of sensors are used for some examples like sensing the condition of motors, checking manufacturing quantities. These sensors are then connected to transmit data over the network, for data analysis or making decisions according to that. Some of the sensor network configurations are

There are two main types of sensor nodes, battery-powered or natural-powered, most of which use solar energy. The sensor nodes can only travel a few tens of meters, so the network nodes will forward the data from the sensors to the gateway from the cloud. Since it is a wireless sensor network, they will be communicated over the internet. Data in this network is transmitted in many steps to reach the destination.

Benefits of WSNs

• Easy to install
• Optimal Cost
• Easy maintenance
• Security
• High flexibility and scalability

Security

IoT devices that are quickly connected to an IoT network bring great benefits. One of their obstacles is security. The easy connection makes IoT devices vulnerable to attacks, especially when they carry a lot of important information from private security information to confidential information of agencies and organizations.

Wireless sensor networks can be considered an effective method for IoT security. Here is an explanation for this statement.

Smart sensor buttons

Nowadays, sensor buttons are designed more and more intelligently, able to perform more sophisticated operations. They can encrypt data and disable data access when attacked

Benefits from 5G networks

The evolving wireless network allows data to be transmitted quickly and with low latency. Any network attack can be quickly recognized and the system disables the attacked node with the rest of the nodes making the risk of data loss no longer possible.

Combined with many other security methods

Security is vital, so IoT devices or cloud providers are increasingly perfecting their security capabilities. As a result, security and wireless sensor networks become more secure, multi-layered security.

It is not possible to confirm that wireless sensor networks completely eliminate the risk of IoT devices from being attacked, but they are really an effective security method, with low maintenance costs but outstanding efficiency.