New Statesman: Cognizant’s UK, Ireland and Nordics Head Writes About Developing the Services Economy in the UK

“The service sector has an equally important part to play in ensuring the UK’s international competitiveness,” writes Sanjiv Gossain. “The UK leads the world in many specialist and high-quality areas of manufacturing, but we also possess genuine excellence in the services sector. The UK has world leaders in media, marketing, publishing, entertainment, accountancy, law, technology, scientific research, business consulting and more. Those are all industries capable of providing knowledge and expertise at an economically significant level for global consumption, and helping to secure a sustainable recovery for the UK economy…And to laud our professional economy should not take away from those parts of the service economy that do not export.”

On how the UK should go about preserving and enhancing its success in services, he writes, “Service industries should take their cue from the manufacturing economy, where leaders have long called for a fundamental change in the skills and knowledge that young people take from their basic education.”

He avers that much of the UK’s education system is world-class but, if it is to sustain a world-class economy, then ongoing reforms will need to ensure a greater focus on science, technology, engineering, and math (otherwise known as STEM) skills. “STEM skills are now just as important for service workers as they are for those in manufacturing. The business world is now so reliant on technology that few processes can be properly understood without some knowledge of the enterprise systems and applications that make them possible.”

Gossain writes, “Successful businesses and successful economies are not just built on good management, but on good work, and good work comes from a workforce with skills and knowledge appropriate to the world in which it operates.”

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