Digital transformation: Top 5 skills you need to succeed
Digital transformation is the future of business. Digital transformation can involve many things, whether it's process automation, a new website, improved user experience or a migration to the cloud. Digital transformation projects are about driving fundamental change across customer experience, tech and business culture
But what skills do you need to achieve successful, company-wide change? Equipping yourself with a few key skills will give your company a much greater chance of success.
1. Digital fluency
First and foremost, workers need to possess a basic level of digital fluency in order to successfully implement digital transformation. Depending on the industry, digital fluency can range from a basic knowledge of Microsoft Suite to an understanding of cloud computing.
2. Data analytics
Often, companies fall prey to an abundance of data, and struggle to analyse and draw conclusions from data sets. Data analysis expertise – encompassing data visualization and cleaning, as well as technical skills such as MATLAB, Python and R – are of paramount importance to process data and use it in a way that's both permissible and productive.
3. Digital marketing
Today, marketing is dominantly digital. So expertise in areas such as search engine optimization, email campaigns and social media will allow companies to successfully garner and utilize customer feedback, promote their product and, most importantly, take customers on the digital transformation journey with them.
4. Cybersecurity
As the digital transformation process accelerates, companies should cover potential risk areas by hiring those with cybersecurity skills. The potential in this investment is reflected in the discrepancy between cybersecurity supply and demand.
5. Leadership
It has been noted multiple times that the largest barrier to digital transformation is company culture. Company culture can be extremely difficult to change; however, the efficacy of a cultural revamp will largely be determined by company leaders. In order to create change as significant as the shift required for digital transformation, company leaders need to possess a multitude of 'soft' skills, such as expertise in communication, influence, empathy and strategic thinking.