The Ambition: Highly Skilled Workforce and Advanced AI by 2035
The UK Government’s new Industrial Strategy and its dedicated sector plan for Professional and Business Services (PBS) is a bold and welcome move. It sets an ambitious target: to make the UK the world’s most trusted advisor to global industry by 2035. As ProFinda’s UK Commercial Director, this plan resonates deeply with me, as it hinges on a central theme we’ve championed for years: the power of a skills-first approach.
The government’s plan rightly identifies that to achieve its vision, the PBS sector must become more dynamic, productive, and innovative. The core of this transformation rests on two critical pillars: a highly skilled workforce and the widespread adoption of advanced technology, especially AI. The sector, which contributed £300 billion to the UK economy in 2024, is now at a critical inflection point, with new technologies offering an opportunity to fundamentally reshape how firms operate. The plan even commits over £150 million to fund transformative programs to further encourage PBS innovation and technology adoption.
This is a clear wake-up call. The strategy isn’t just a roadmap for the government; it’s a direct challenge to every professional services firm in the UK.
From Strategy to Reality: The Missing Piece
While the government’s plan lays out a powerful vision, the challenge lies in its execution. How do firms move from a high-level strategy to a practical, day-to-day reality? The government’s own research points to the key obstacle: a significant gap in technology adoption between larger firms and SMEs. The article highlights that while businesses recognise the potential of AI and digital technologies, they are often uncertain about where to start and which solutions are proven and secure.
This is where the rubber meets the road. Simply having a skilled workforce isn’t enough if you can’t efficiently find, deploy, and develop that talent. Many firms still rely on outdated, manual systems like spreadsheets, leading to a host of problems. The plan acknowledges that skills shortages are a major issue, particularly in specialist areas like digital, AI, climate transition, and cybersecurity. This is more than just a skills gap, it’s a visibility gap. If you can’t see the skills and aspirations of your entire workforce, how can you possibly align them with the needs of the business? You can’t. Valuable time is wasted searching for talent, while a skills-first approach could solve that challenge instantly. The government plan also states that investment in staff training has dropped, despite the increasing need to upskill and reskill in these key areas.
The government is looking for a solution that accelerates technology adoption and provides a common framework for skills. This is exactly what we have built.
The ProFinda Solution: Becoming an "AI Maker"
The Industrial Strategy’s goal is to make the UK an “AI maker, not just an AI taker” in delivering modern PBS. This is where ProFinda’s AI-powered platform directly addresses the challenges outlined in the government’s strategy. Our solution empowers firms to:
- Unlock Hidden Skills: We move beyond job titles to create a living, breathing skills ontology that gives you a complete picture of your entire workforce’s capabilities. The government plan mentions that skills shortages are in specialist areas for specific roles. Our platform allows you to deploy the right talent to the right projects, ensuring you deliver on the promise of “high knowledge intensity” and “efficiency” that the government highlights.
- Close the Technology Gap: Our platform provides a single source of truth for all your people data, making it easy for firms of any size to adopt a sophisticated, skills-first approach. We ensure that firms are not just “AI takers” but “AI makers,” using technology to transform how they operate. The government even plans to launch an “AI Skills Hub” to address AI skills-related barriers within PBS firms, connecting them with curated training and best practices. This aligns perfectly with what we do every day.
- Support Strategic Workforce Planning: The plan highlights the importance of workforce planning and addressing skills gaps. Our platform provides the data and insights needed for firms to proactively identify skill strengths and weaknesses, aligning their talent supply with future business demand. The government also plans to introduce a new “Jobs and Careers Service” that will enable everyone to access support with an enhanced focus on skills and careers.
The government has committed significant resources and attention to this area, and they have appointed an “AI Champion” for the PBS sector to drive adoption. This is a clear signal that the time for action is now. As the government, industry councils, and academic institutions work together to build a more dynamic PBS sector, it is up to individual firms to take the steps necessary to turn this ambition into a reality. The UK’s industrial strategy isn’t just about economic policy; it’s about building a future-ready, resilient, workforce.
