The rapid technological change which  the contemporary world experiences poses a number of opportunities and challenges for today’s professionals. Because of this, it is vital to the development and implementation of key technologies for its main business, contributing to the growth and profitability of the company as well as strengthening its license to operate.

In turn, innovation is an essential part of business development, because it generates new knowledge, creates value and increases the leadership of the major market players. Technology Strategy and Innovation operates proactively on the value chain, focusing on the production and development of new markets and applications.

These days, the leaders of major technology companies in Chile discussed at a breakfast held in PageGroup about the possibility of introducing new technological trends in their businesses, such as applications, cloud and big data, to name a few.

The truth is that for many are still light years away from being able to implement these technologies, considering that we will have to face one hand, the rejection of the users, who must adapt to new technological processes, as well as the State, which is not ready to give birth to new legal technology services, as in the case of virtual check.

Additionally, there are also other questions that are related to human capital. Are the technology models of our country trained to manage these trends? Is there a significant number of technology professionals who can satisfy the demand?

In Latin America, the numbers are alarming. It is estimated that by 2014 there will be a shortage of 70,000 professionals in the areas of technology. In turn, we see that compared to the demand for new areas of innovation for large corporations in Chile, the requirements point to focus searches on specialized professionals from more developed markets than ours, such as U.S., Spain or Brazil.

If we make an effort to work with the authorities to encourage new projects related to technological developments and to encourage educational institutions to participate actively in entrepreneurship programs, we will see these trends more closely, allowing local talent to be involved in their development and implementation.

Alfredo Araneda, is Manager Information Technology & E-Commerce of Michael Page Chile