The world has been changed, it is up to organisations to get themselves ready to succeed – starting with closing the technology skills gap, says Jordan Morrow
It is no secret we live in a very digital and data centric world. It seems that each and every day a new technology is unveiled or you have a device that needs an update or Elon Musk is sending another rocket in the air.
The reality is, the world is completely digital at this point. When did you last review how many streaming services you are paying for? The world was already digital and then Covid-19 hit, causing businesses to close offices and digitally transform basically overnight. With this reality in front of us, it is no secret there are talent gaps within businesses and industries around the world. When we talk of a skills-gap, we are not only saying there is a skills-gap in the tech industries, but these positions and tech skills are needed across industries, business, countries, and the entire world.
According to a recent CIO survey conducted by KPMG, the current technology skills shortage is greater now than it was in 2008.
Let me repeat that: the current technology skills shortage is greater now than it was in 2008. We have been hearing over and over about the need for technology skills, we are seeing the rise in STEM education (science, technology, education, and mathematics). Yet, here we are in the year 2021 and we are seeing a large skills shortage than just 13 short years ago. How can this be? How is it we have been talking about these needed skills for this long and yet here we are, with an even great need for technology skills and not meeting expectations?
Well, it may help us to understand this shortage more and more through possible causes. One of the biggest is the rapid shift and evolution of industries to be more technology and digitally driven. We simply just aren’t keeping up with the needs of the industries. Another possible cause of this technology skills shortage is the lack of proper education in different fields required to succeed in the technology fields of today. We cannot send people into the workforce and expect them to keep up with demands if their backgrounds aren’t conducive to the growing demands of world economies. So, what are the most critical skills need for the future?
This topic of what skills are needed can be debated, but one common skill that pops up over and over through the analyst reports, news articles, etc., is data and analytic skills. Just turning back to the CIO survey conducted by KPMG, it says: ‘The lack of specific skills in areas deemed critical to future growth – like data analysts, AI experts, and cybersecurity specialists – is acute.’
Data and analytic skills have become not just a nice to have for organisations but a necessity. As organisations try to reach and become data driven organisations, unfortunately they are finding themselves with large scale problems with a lack of ROI on their data investments. Why is it we keep seeing organisations of all shapes and sizes investing millions and millions of dollars in data sourcing, data governance, data science, data visualisation, and more, but we continually see a lack of adoption and usage?
One key reason we see a lack of adoption and usage is because of the lack of data literacy skills. This term, data literacy, is one that popped up just a few years ago but now permeates throughout the world of data and analytics. At its core definition, data literacy is the ability to use data effectively. The use of data has many facets, it can be the ability to comprehend the data that sits in front of you. It may be the need to be able to simplify the data and visualise it. Another aspect of it is the ability to communicate with the data, more on this later. Now, what about the ability to analyse the data and find insights?
We see a large scale problem worldwide that shows individuals are not confident in their data literacy skills, which then of course translates to organisations not being able to achieve the ROI they intended to receive when they invested in all the data technology they thought was necessary for success. In fact, a survey conducted by the business intelligence firm Qlik showed roughly only one out of five people were confident in their data literacy skills.
How can we expect to make good on our investments when people aren’t comfortable even using data?
The reality is, organisations have been trying to solve this ROI problem by investing in tools and technology, while all the while the real issue and need was the individuals themselves. It isn’t about training individuals on how to use a tool. We can teach an individual all we want on how to point and click to build a chart or data visualisation, but what if they don’t know when and why they would use that visualisation? What if they don’t know how how to then analyse and get insights from the visualisation? Going beyond that, what if they don’t know how to make a data-informed decision? All these things contribute to an organisations gap in return on their data investments. What about data science, will that solve all of this? Of course not!! When we look at an organisation, you may need 1% of your organisation to be data scientists, but what about the other 99%? They won’t need those advance skills with data, but they will need to be data literate. Doing this can really help an organisation to succeed. We have been looking at individuals, what does this do for the organisation and economies in general?
It is no secret that data is a massive currency for both organisations of all shapes and sizes and for economies. Take a look at some of the biggest companies in the world right now: Amazon, Facebook, Google, Tesla, and so forth, all of these companies have certain things in common. One of those things is the ability to use data effectively for decisions. What do we do about all the other companies that exist that weren’t born and bread in the digital and data era? Can they hope to catch up and deal with this reality? The answer is an emphatic yes! We have seen examples of companies that have been around for decades that have turned into strong, data driven organisations. One shining example of this is Walmart.
What is needed for organisations to do this?
Organisations need to put stronger strategies in place to drive the reskilling and upskilling of their employees. We can’t just continue to sit by, buy technologies and then hope they solve the problem. Let me make it perfectly clear: technologies are not strategies. Technologies are there to support an organisations strategy. What we need is large scale organisation reskilling and upskilling initiatives, plus the change management to ensure the culture is on board. Start with the why behind the programs that are being put in place. Help the organisation to see the need for these new skills, the ability it gives individuals to market themselves and become more, and to help the organisation really come into a post-Pandemic world.
The world has been changed, it is up to organisations to get themselves ready to succeed. To do so, start with the employees and closing the technology skills gap. Doing so will be great success for organisations.
Jordan Morrow is known as the ‘Godfather of Data Literacy’, having helped pioneer the field by building one of the world’s first data literacy programs and driving thought leadership.
