Money talks.
To paraphrase a familiar saying, ‘show me your budget, and I’ll show you what you value’. The allocation of strategic funding sets up the symbiotic relationship between financial resources and organizational goals. Organizations need both the long-term strategic vision and the immediate allocation of resources to achieve that vision for the future.
When organizational planning take place within the broader context of environmental scanning, the future is determined by actions in the present. We can see an example of strategic forecasting through funding when we look to the 2017 Canadian federal budget announcements.
As part of these announcements, the federal government allocated $125 million to develop and promote Canada as a world leader in digital innovation.
Click here to read a summary of the funding announcement.
Click here to read the impact of the announcement on industry.
From a Human Resources strategic planning perspective, this is a big deal.
The environment of the workplace being shaped now, through both funding and resource allocations is based in the digital world. This means that the workforce will need to understand and develop a proactive approach to artificial intelligence and digital infrastructures. The traditional approach to who performs the work and what work is performed is changing as we continue to deploy digital innovations in Canadian workplaces.
The breadth and scope of the implementation of artificial intelligence and digital knowledge in those workplaces will determine who is part of the workforce of the future. Based on these funding announcements, it looks like the money might be on the robots.
Discussion Questions:
- What are the pros and cons of creating jobs that will be needed in the ‘fintech’ industry?
- As a Human Resources practitioner, how can you plan for the creation of jobs that are based in artificial intelligence?
- Why does Canada need to be part of a push for digital innovation?