A retraining in the digital professions?

Are we all going to have to retrain in the digital professions? One thing is certain, this epidemic has accelerated the "digitalization of the economy" in all sectors.

With this confinement, we all switched to the Internet. We even now do our food shopping online, which we thought was impossible. Before the epidemic, it was learnedly explained that food did not lend itself well to online commerce. Why ? Because before buying strawberries or tomatoes, we needed (they said) to see them, to touch them, to smell them. Well, containment blew it all up. Carrefour has just launched its online shopping service with Google.

But, yes, we have adopted new habits, and you said it, in all sectors. In cosmetics, L'Oréal saw its sales jump 53% on the internet. The web now accounts for 20% of sales. In fact, L'Oréal took advantage of this period of confinement to push its mobile application, Modiface. You enter your photo, and you can test different hair color or makeup. So you see, we will not go back. L'Oréal even thinks that the Internet will represent half of its sales.

Yes, but that means that shops will close and that the sales profession will disappear. 

Yes, the seller now, it's an algorithm that advises you. It is true that we will have to adapt to these new digital professions, which are constantly evolving. And so, let's say it, this is one more anxiety for the employees. According to a survey by the IT company Uipath, a third of French employees say they fear losing their jobs due to outdated skills. And, surprisingly enough, this figure rises to 60% among young people. As if young people were more aware than others of the difficulties of a constantly changing world of work, where nothing is ever taken for granted.

It’s terrible. We cannot live permanently in the stress of being overwhelmed by technology!

Yes, but be careful, you should not reverse the hierarchy. These software are at our service. These are just tools. Because what makes a company strong is its ability to innovate, to improve its offer with new services, to be creative. And for this we will always need men and women who exchange, who share - and this at all levels - to improve the procedures, the quality, the product. Hence the importance of seeing and exchanging. So you see, the machine is not going to completely replace the man. Because these new technologies are only tools, it is not an end in itself.