Digital transformation is the future of business. A 2020 study by Mordor Intelligence valued digital transformation at $263 billion and is expected to reach $767 billion by 2026. Digital transformation can involve many things, whether it be it process automation, a new website, an improved user experience, or a move to the cloud. But what skills do you need to achieve successful company-wide change?
1. Digital Fluency
First of all, workers need to have a basic level of digital proficiency in order to successfully implement digital transformation. Depending on the industry, digital fluency can range from Microsoft Suite basics to understanding cloud computing.
The need for this skill is company-wide; Harvard Business School professor Tsedel Neeley points out that digital fluency follows a fundamental tenet of linguistics. “I often refer to the 30% rule; borrowed from language research, when applied to digital fluency, it dictates that the entire company needs to achieve, at least 30% to effectively move into a new digital direction.”
Of course, the need for digital proficiency only grows at the executive levels. The impetus lies with company leaders to own and encourage digital mastery. Digitally savvy leaders will be better equipped to bridge the gap between executives and employees – be it regarding the perception of digital changes or simply the reality. of the caliber of data architecture – which often contributes to the failure of digital transformation.
2. Data analysis
Often, companies fall prey to an abundance of data and struggle to analyze and draw conclusions from data sets. Expert knowledge in data analysis – including data visualization and cleaning, as well as technical skills such as MATLAB, Python, and R – is of paramount importance for data processing and its use in an authorized and efficient manner.
The utility of data analytics skills in today’s economy is easy to track: The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected strong growth, predicting that the data science sector will grow by about 28 % through 2026 – much higher than average. This growth is underpinned by historical data: A Fortune report showed a global job market value of $231.43 billion for data analytics, marking a whopping 10, 6% compared to 2020 figures.
3. Digital Marketing
There is no point in streamlining company processes and creating an improved product through digital transformation if the final product cannot effectively reach the consumer base. Marketing skills are essential in attracting your customer base and ensuring the financial success of your product. Today, marketing is mostly digital – so expertise in areas like search engine optimization, email campaigns and social media will allow companies to attract and use successfully respond to customers, promote their products, and most importantly, take customers on their digital transformation journey with them. After all, after the digital transformation, users also need to be educated on how best to reap the benefits of the new product.
Around the world, companies are well aware of the importance of marketing in the digital age. According to emarketer.com, spending on digital marketing, especially in the advertising sector, has grown 17% to $333 billion globally by 2021.
4. Cybersecurity
An indispensable component of digital transformation is network security. According to research and marketing firm ThoughtLab, the average number of cyberattacks has increased by 15.1% in 2021, compared with 2022. The consequences are more severe: Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reports that ransomware victims spent nearly $700 million to pay their attackers in 2020.
As digital transformation accelerates, companies should cover potential risk areas by hiring people with cybersecurity skills. The potential in this investment is reflected in the gap between supply and demand for cybersecurity. Cybersecurity Ventures, a research firm on the global cyber economy, predicts there will be 3.5 million unfilled cybersecurity jobs by the middle of this decade, and US Bureau of Labor Statistics It is expected that the demand for security analysts will increase by 33% by 2030.
5. Leadership
It has been noted many times that the biggest barrier to digital transformation is company culture. Company culture can heavily influence employee perceptions of change, and a non-reactive culture that can lead to spending millions of dollars to achieve a transformation will be broken.
Company culture can be extremely difficult to change; however, the effectiveness of a culture reshuffle will largely be determined by company leaders. To create change as important as the one needed for digital transformation, company leaders need to possess a multitude of ‘soft’ skills, such as expertise in communication, influence, , empathy and strategic thinking. A good leader will be able to leverage the company’s core values to drive digital transformation.
Remember, digital transformation is a vast, expensive, and all-encompassing process – so it will require a strong leadership presence and investment to make it happen.
