This article was written in collaboration with Gloat, an AI-powered talent marketplace and AMS technology partner.

“Where do we start?” 

It’s the question that launches every talent transformation initiative—and the answer isn’t always simple. Should your organization make bold, strategic leaps, or focus on specific areas like hiring, talent management, or building out a talent marketplace? 

The truth is, implementing skills-based strategies looks different at every company. The right starting point depends on your business priorities, workforce challenges, and long-term goals. But no matter where you begin, one thing is clear: a skills-first strategy is not just about HR transformation—it’s about enabling business agility, resilience, and growth in a rapidly evolving world of work. 

Pick the right use case, then build your case for change 

For some organizations, the journey begins with skills-based hiring—using smarter assessments and matching tools to ensure candidates align with role requirements. Others may launch a talent marketplace to unlock internal mobility or embed skills intelligence into their learning strategy to power targeted upskilling at scale. 

Regardless of the entry point, the most successful efforts start by identifying use cases that solve a specific, measurable business challenge, like reducing attrition, closing critical skill gaps, or preparing for digital transformation. From there, the next step is building a compelling business case for change. That means linking outcomes to enterprise objectives, identifying metrics that matter to leadership, and securing the cross-functional buy-in needed to move from pilot to enterprise-wide impact. 

Take for example, a Financial Services client that AMS and Gloat both work with. As demand for wealth management services surged across the APAC region, the traditional model of hiring externally couldn’t keep pace. Instead of competing for a limited talent pool, this organization launched a Wealth Management Accelerator program. By identifying employees with adjacent skills and providing targeted development, the client was able to rapidly upskill hundreds of employees into wealth management roles and save millions in hiring costs in just one year. It’s a perfect example of how skills-based strategies can unlock capacity and solve for real business needs fast. 

This mirrors the broader region. 2024 data from LinkedIn shows APAC companies are doubling down on internal mobility and upskilling, with a 6% rise in internal moves and career development now a top learning priority. (LinkedIn. Global Talent Trends Report. October 2024)

Set up for scale: governance, expertise, and change management 

Skills initiatives often start small—but they can’t stay that way if you want to move the needle. Scaling successfully requires more than intent; it demands strong infrastructure. 

That includes clearly defined workstreams, a cross-functional team of subject matter experts, and effective program governance. It also requires a dedicated change and adoption strategy that considers every stakeholder, from HR to employees to frontline managers. Integrating skills across the talent lifecycle may sound logical, but in practice, it disrupts traditional ways of working. That’s why it’s essential to align your change strategy with business rhythms and focus on creating value early and often. 

Choose the right technology partner 

Your technology partner isn’t just a vendor—they’re a strategic enabler of transformation. That’s why it’s critical to choose a partner that’s built for flexibility, scale, and long-term alignment. 

Look for platforms that combine a robust skills ontology with AI-powered intelligence, enabling real-time visibility into the skills your workforce currently has, and the skills you’ll need next. Ask how the platform supports multiple use cases beyond mobility, such as workforce planning, work orchestration, and AI-readiness. 

At Gloat, we believe skills data is the connective tissue that will shape the future of work. As AI agents become part of how work gets done, organizations will need to dynamically assign tasks, allocate human and machine capabilities, and continuously adapt. That future requires more than static taxonomies. It demands work intelligence: a system that connects skills, work, and workers in real time to optimize how value is delivered across the business. 

Don’t forget the humans 

No matter how advanced your technology is, transformation won’t happen without people. Business leaders and people managers need to be aligned, empowered, and ready to act on the insights that skills data provides. 

As AI becomes embedded in workflows, employees will need support navigating new roles, evolving responsibilities, and blended teams of humans and machines. That shift puts skills data at the center of workforce enablement by revealing adjacent capabilities, surfacing opportunities for reskilling, and helping leaders reimagine how work gets done. 

In fact, a recent Amazon Web Services study found that 93% of workers in the Asia-Pacific region believe that gaining AI skills would positively impact their careers, through greater efficiency, better job satisfaction, and career acceleration.  

It’s a clear signal that workers are ready to adapt; now, it’s on organizations to provide the infrastructure and support to help them do so. 

Final thoughts 

53% of CEOs surveyed in an Asia Pacific study by PwC believed that their current business model would not survive the next decade if they do not undergo transformation. This was 14% higher than the global cohort, highlighting the urgent need for leaders in the APAC region to embrace reinvention, and fast. (Asia Pacific Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023, PwC).  

At AMS we believe that skills transformation is a critical element of future-proofing your workforce to deliver your business goals over the coming years. Finding an appropriately sized and achievable starting point is absolutely critical to starting your skills-first journey. The “right” starting point depends on your unique business context. Start with a focused use case tied to real outcomes. Build the business case. Align your people, processes, and systems. And partner with a platform that doesn’t just help you understand your skills—but helps you orchestrate work in a world where humans and AI will operate side by side. 

With the right foundation in place, you won’t just be tracking skills. You’ll be building a future-ready, skills-powered, and intelligently orchestrated workforce—ready for whatever comes next. 

Click here for more information on AMS skills consulting services and visit gloat.com for detail on their technology.

"Skills initiatives often start small—but they can’t stay that way if you want to move the needle."