Staying competent through developing digital skills
uTILIZING tools is very important now that we have incorporated modern skills into our everyday lives. With the emerging technology that has been changing businesses and organizations, obtaining digital skills is a must. Companies have been challenged to prepare their employees to be equipped with the necessary skills to stay competent and efficient.
Digital transformation
TO remain competitive in today’s world, gaining robust digital skills is now a requirement for businesses.
We have been shifting to remote work or hybrid work modes and this has exposed employees to digital skills they never ought to learn while in office, or at least they never bothered to do so. According to reports, revenue growth, market share and customer satisfaction have all increased.
The basics of digital processes, data encoding and interpretation of data, how digitization can impact businesses are some of the things an employee must do to close the digital skill gap. This also includes building awareness around technology with the proper use of tools and applications. In the context of their job role, the employee is expected to have knowledge and understanding of technology, no matter what level they are at.
Investing in digital literacy
LEADERS play a critical role in digital upskilling in the organization. Working with business leaders to help employees speak the “language of data” fluently, data education strategy would be helpful.
Helping employees learn the basics is the start. Organizations realize the value of investing in digital literacy. Data fluency includes the tools and systems to create and analyze data. It also promotes faster and more confident decision-making for the company to access the relevance of data to research and visualization of ideas.
In order to embrace an analytics mindset and a data-driven culture in the company, understanding the context of data and analysis is needed to deliver meaningful business insights through the following:
■ Assessing current skill gaps, identifying talent development needs for specific roles and functions through data analysis;
■ Understanding the challenges that employees experience on the job to create trainings that address needs; and,
■ Meeting with employees to grasp a better understanding of how digital skills can be properly utilized to overcome challenges, to improve inadequacy of skill development and to provide better business outcomes.
Designing relevant skills training to optimize success
PRODUCTIVITY enhancement and problem-solving are what individuals need to stay competitive as these will help them excel in their field.
upskilling allows the Learning and Development team to personalize training to specific job roles and functions. The training content must be easily understood and grasped by learners for immediate practice of the skills they are about to obtain.
Moreover, skills should be connected to performance management like data analytics, coding or machine learning. Monitoring progress and recommending training are done by managers when necessary and evaluation of employees based on how they know their skills is part of regular performance reviews.
Employees would stay motivated to learn and develop the necessary skills through skills development. This would enable them to engage in the process of learning and would also allow them to explore different key roles and responsibilities outside of their job description. In line with this, employees would develop a career that is holistic, significantly increasing employee engagement.
Optimizing workflows, building efficient business processes and understanding data to expand business growth are only some of the few advantages of digital upskilling. It will allow employees to stay knowledgeable with a digital mindset to innovate solutions and reach greater heights in the business world.
The excerpt was taken from the KPMG Thought Leadership publication: “Upskilling for a modern world” (kpmg.us).
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