Many sectors that used to provide a lot of IT jobs are shrinking. For example, the US manufacturing sector continues to contract, whether measured by employment or by the number of facilities where products are made.1 IT professionals may well wonder whether job growth with producers, rather than consumer-facing businesses, is a thing of the past.
Accenture research reveals grounds for a more optimistic view. It starts with the vast opportunity represented by the IIoT—the emerging universe of intelligent products, processes and services.
The IIoT spans industries representing 62 percent of GDP among G20 nations according to Oxford Economics,2 including manufacturers, utilities, mining companies, food and energy producers, and their business customers in transportation, logistics and healthcare. In an Accenture survey, 87 percent of executives said the Industrial Internet will help drive long-term job growth.3 It’s easy to understand their enthusiasm: IIoT products and services will contribute between $10.6 trillion and $14.2 trillion to global GDP by 2030, according to research by our colleagues at the Accenture Institute for High Performance.4
What does this mean for IT professionals? The IIoT service sector, home to the software services that will drive tomorrow’s smart industrial equipment, is creating whole new categories of jobs for those in IT. Companies will need technologists to write applications, connect and repair equipment, and integrate the information coursing through machinery, factories and supply chains.
Through our research on Industrial Internet pioneers, we have identified three job categories that will be in high demand in this emerging sector.
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