Data Skills within UK Companies: Round Table Discussion
Introduction from the experts
- Devin Blewitt (DB), Chief Information Officer at ITonlinelearning [1]
- Robbie Bryant (RB), Head of Education and Development at Open Study College [2]
- Lauren Wakeling (LW), UK Manager at CoursesOnline [3]
Each company’s data usage will differ, given their respective size and business sectors. However, what are the essential digital skills that every business should possess?
DB: “As technology continues to evolve and the business landscape shifts into an increasingly digitized world, digital skills are becoming more fundamental than ever. Here is a list of the four most important skills business owners should be acquiring or trying to achieve within their workforce:
- Social media
Use this platform to encourage conversations and understand the relationship between your brand and your customers. - Analysis and reporting
Knowing your data allows you to make investments in the right areas, minimizing waste. - Search engine optimization (SEO)
Can customers find your website? How much work does it take to rank on page one for your search term? - content marketing
Building great blogs on questions from your customers or topics related to your brand can become a part of your SEO strategy to drive traffic to your website.
There are many advantages to be said about any digital skills; finding a good certification course will help you understand the full potential of each.”
RB: “As technological advancements continue to advance, so does the need and demand for data and digital skills in businesses. Efficient use of data is integral to businesses of all sizes; not only has data been proven to increase productivity, confidence in business decisions and high profits, but to stay competitive, data helps produce the best and most accurate results.
According to the official UK Business Data Survey 2022, 85% of all companies surveyed said they handle digital data – and with that comes the responsibility to ensure that the right skills are in place to perform this task. Essential skills include effective communication, the right handling of information and content, being safe and legal online, and problem solving – all the basic skills a company should have within its workforce.”
LW: “The modern workplace is becoming more and more digital, with employees spending more time than ever interacting through online channels and using more software in their day-to-day tasks. Especially for younger team members entering the workforce, so that they have a good knowledge of Microsoft Office software empowers employers able to have confidence in the capabilities of their staff, even when the role is completely remote.
Meanwhile, it is a must for a company of any size to provide your staff with thorough cybersecurity training. It’s an easy way to reduce the risk of hacks, phishing and data breaches, whether you run a small start-up that may be vulnerable to targeted attacks, or a large company that hackers could see as a goldmine for data and data breaches. financial exploitation.
Finally, data is becoming increasingly important in roles at all levels. Ensuring your team is competent when it comes to disseminating and understanding data can streamline your business and increase coherence across departments.”
For those companies that are struggling to recruit enough skilled employees, developing existing staff is a possible solution. How should a company decide who to train and what type of training is most appropriate?
DB: “Digital marketing is an exciting profession that requires specific knowledge, specific skills and a passion for digital. Some of the qualities a professional should have: being analytical, being creative, having excellent communication skills and being able to find the latest trends.
An online training that I recommend that covers these essential skills and is perfect for beginners is the Digital Marketing Institute Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing. This curriculum is reviewed biennially by an advisory board that includes members from Google, Facebook, HubSpot, and many others. This assessment ensures graduates have learned the most current and market-relevant digital marketing skills available.”
RB: “We are all aware that as the economy recovers from the global pandemic, the number of job openings is at an all-time high and continues to grow. As a result, this has put enormous pressure on employers to hire a sufficiently skilled workforce. recruiting, and this makes finding the right talent more difficult than ever before. Training and development from within has become key to the survival of companies, increasing knowledge and skills.
When it comes to skills and training, we believe that companies should invest as much as possible in their workforce; however, cost and time are often a barrier. Being tied to a classroom around set hours is no longer the only way to train. Open Study College has a B2B branch (business-to-business) and supports companies to train and retrain their staff in an affordable and flexible way.
While we know that training for employers may seem like a time-consuming and daunting task to implement, distance learning helps ease the difficult decision of deciding who to train and when is the most appropriate time for them to leave and complete this training. . Distance learning offers complete flexibility to staff, eliminating the need for ‘location’ to study. Employees can study anywhere, whether at home or on the train during their commute.”
LW: “The best approach to training is to involve employees as much as possible in deciding when to use learning. Ask your employees questions such as ‘What courses or training can help you do your job better?’ or “Where are the gaps in your skills that are holding you back?”
This can be a great way to unlock learning opportunities that can have an immediate impact. The key here is to understand that your end goal is to help both employees and your business, and that questions like these are designed to figure out where they can grow, and not be used as a way to identify flaws or shortcomings. to point.
Elsewhere, it’s a good idea to see opportunities for staff who are about to be promoted, or those who have shown dedication and long-term commitment to the company. When filling positions, or anticipating a departure or restructuring, look for employees who are only a few training sessions away from advancing to a higher position within your company.”
Data is a vast and varied field that is always advancing. How can professionals ensure that their knowledge and skills remain up-to-date?
DB: “Data is a hot topic and the demand for data professionals to help with data-driven business decision-making is growing. CompTIA has recognized this demand for skills and recently released the CompTIA Data+ certification, which aims to introduce key data knowledge. and reporting data are skills covered in this certification course and will validate your professional knowledge.”
RB: “Put simply, training and development! As an ever-evolving industry, data roles and data-driven strategy for businesses are emerging and to stay ahead of the curve, professionals will need to place a significant emphasis on continuously developing these. Keeping skills in these roles up-to-date allows companies to accurately extract data and use this information to plan, giving the competitive advantage to stay ahead of the curve.
Professionals have a number of resources at their fingertips, from free online webinars to more formal courses. Open Study College’s B2B solution offers over 700 knowledge-based courses and accredited qualifications, available in a variety of subjects and sectors. Our ethos is to make education accessible to all, which is why we provide tailor-made solutions that help businesses in the UK and beyond achieve real-world learning and development, with a focus on having zero impact on productivity.”
LW: “Training should always be linked to clear and measurable results within a company. This can be concrete, such as increasing web traffic, or abstract, such as an employee’s sense that they better understand the levers they can use to deliver results. Through milestones and Linking performance to training, and asking your employees to always ask themselves if there are new skills they can learn, often naturally shed light on new areas of learning to explore.
Partnering with an education provider who understands the learning path also allows you to follow a tailored and structured training path, which can focus on specific topics such as data or broader digital skills. Ultimately, a combination of employee engagement, goal setting and expert advice will be key to keeping up with the latest developments in the world of digital skills and data training.”
References:
[1] ITonlinelearning
[3] CoursesOnline