Digital transformation is an innovation that organisations have been conscious of for a number of years. Business owners have been the first to recognize the primary advantage of digital technology ever since computers began making their way into offices – the speed.
However, the variety of different implementations of digital transformation is overwhelming in the 21st century. Speed is no longer the only advantage, as digital technology's convenience, strength, flexibility and versatility impact everything from interactivity to accessibility.
As technology evolves at an unprecedented speed, digital transformation is propelling businesses ahead. It is the workforce with core skills that will be set up to take advantage of these technologies to gain a competitive edge.
Now, let’s discuss what companies can do and what kind of skills are required to boost efficiency and profits?
1. Digital Literacy
It seems like this should go without saying, but the basics should never be taken for granted by businesses.
It's not such a stretch to assume that some potential employees lack complete digital literacy. Many people may know how to use social media for simple messages, but they may not be familiar with advanced tasks on those platforms for more than that.
Your company may also want someone to navigate the entire Microsoft Office Suite or more oriented programs such as Photoshop or Illustrator, or use tools such as Google Analytics for analytics. It is not prudent to take it for granted that, with little to no effort, anyone in your business can use these programs interchangeably.
New tools, algorithms, languages for computing and online standards are always being created. So, always make sure that your employees remain on top of these digital trends.
2. Data and Digital Security
More than ever, security is a growing concern and a critical field in which to have or improve function, especially with the news that Facebook suffered a breach that compromised the private data of millions of users.
Physical security is a relatively easy job of "hardening" a device with security cameras, strong locks, and security guards, of course. But how do you protect your data, or consumer data, more importantly? If your own information is seized and you are the target of a data hostage threat, where you have to pay a ransom to have access to your own data and get it returned, do you know what to do? Do you know if people have already broken into your system and are tracking your activity, or are they even copying private data or confidential research material?
One of the main rising issues of many companies around the world is digital security. However it is a complicated discipline that requires both technical skill and the instinct to predict and plan defenses to combat the unconventional methods of incoming attacks. Digital protection should not be overlooked or left as an afterthought in the hands of untrained personnel. It should be one of any company's primary concerns, especially those dealing with private customer details, such as credit card numbers, bank accounts, or numbers of social security.
Always make sure everyone in your company is familiar with information security, or else you risk leaving your customers and your company vulnerable to a serious breach and theft of data. Your company stores a lot of information online or in digital databases, and you are not only protecting your customers but your image and the future of your company in defending this information.
3. Digital Marketing
In every modern marketing department, digital marketing is an incredibly valuable skill to have. We still live in a real world that responds to older media, such as billboards, giant building side-displays, radio ads, bus or subway posters, and television commercials. However, we now have a digital world to contend with as well. We connect as much with social media and digital content on our phones and desktop or laptop computers in this new culture as we do with materials in the physical world.
Marketing teams must now be able to explore the immersive and analytical possibilities that educate and engage with the market through the use of digital media. The one-way, passive experience which marketing used to be for an audience has been overhauled by digital transformation.
Digitally savvy marketers who are able to recognize and take advantage of the level of interaction generated by digital marketing have the best chance of having an impact on customers. All major channels of promotion are social media, video creation, email marketing and content marketing, and will need a well-rounded skill set to make the most of it.
4. Data Analysis
As the old saying goes,' knowledge is power,' and massive amounts of actionable data are one of the greatest gifts that digital technology brings to business. But that's only if the company can understand the information you have available and make use of it.
After all, if your company is not sure who your demographic target is, where they want to shop, what resources they use to study and browse, then how are you going to know where your marketing and innovative dollars should be directed? If your teams are unable to find the analytics tools or read the data they generate, how can your company know that its funding is worth the campaign?
Data can be an important tool to help a company recognize areas of weakness or build on strengths, but only if a company has the expertise of personnel to identify software, analyze information, and formulate useful insights that can then be acted upon. Each organization needs to be open to looking at the large quantities of data now available from regular operations, both from clients and consumers, as well as internally.
Businesses can benefit from the experience of workers who through new policies and strategies, can interpret critical data, draw concrete conclusions, and bring the data into effect. The processing of knowledge may not be a glamorous job, but it is highly important.
5. Machine Learning
In all sectors of industry, automation is one of the fastest growing fields. Vehicles for logistics businesses are learning to drive themselves. In order to ease the burden on human work, software is now taking up simple accounting tasks, Besides, even chatbots are now tackling low-level queries and complaints for customer service.
By machine learning, all of this is made possible. An excellent place to start is to understand the processes behind machine learning or even be able to recognize ways in which automation could enhance the operations of your business.
The sector of machine learning values the ability to build software, consume new data, deduce what is useful, and then apply the useful knowledge to future actions. Machine learning is important in order to make the most of automation in hardware, software and business activities.
Businesses should work on improving the skills to develop software for machine learning, acquiring employees who can do that or collaborating with companies specialized in this increasingly growing business field.
Digital transformation is changing in many ways, the way brands do business, some expected, and some unexpected, While knowing where to start and progress can be a challenge, having the skills of the employees in mind as a core part of the process is key.
All teams need some level of digital knowledge, from digital marketing to social customer support to machine learning to analytics, in order to meet the needs of a growing company in the digital world.