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  • Toolkit: how to get ahead on digital skills

Toolkit: how to get ahead on digital skills

Learn how other CBI members are addressing Digital Skills challenges and access the exclusive advice, guidance and good practice the CBI has developed to support your business

27 Feb 2023, 1 min read
Digital Skills Toolkit

THE CASE FOR BUSINESS

Two thirds of businesses already have digital skills vacancies, and less than one third are confident they will be able to access the digital skills they need to fill them.

We have seen, particularly over the period during and since the pandemic, how embracing digital ways of working transforms businesses and how they operate. It can be as simple as using social media marketing to reach new customers, through to paying for services and utilising AI to be more productive. The current tight labour market has made it harder to fill labour and skills shortages. In a time when hiring is difficult, there is a greater need for firms to capitalise on technology to boost productivity to meet demand.

  • of businesses say that a lack of digital skills would affect the profitability of their business

  • failing to close the digital skills gap could cost the UK up to £141 billion in GDP growth by 2028

  • individuals will require a higher level of basic digital skills to undertake their existing roles by 2030.

Who is this toolkit for?

This toolkit is designed for businesses of all sectors and sizes. This resource may be especially useful for HR Directors and Chief Learning Officers, but also senior business leaders and hiring managers who are experiencing digital skills gaps and want to find solutions.

  • GETTING STARTED

    Defining ‘digital skills’.

    ‘Digital skills’ is a broad term, ranging from the basics (like navigating the internet) to advanced (like being able to engineer and use AI).

    Digital skills are about enabling people to use the broad range of technological innovations in an efficient and effective way at all levels and are an increasing priority for businesses. Digital transformation (the adoption of digital technology by an organisation to digitise non-digital products, services or operations), is increasingly necessary for companies to stay competitive and enable growth.

    Therefore, people with Technical skills such as such as data analysis, software development, and cloud computing are at a premium.

    YOUR STARTER FOR 10

    A good place to start is to benchmark the current digital and technical skills within your business, identifying the gaps and then developing the right recruitment and development plan to address them.

    Not sure where to start on your digital skills journey? Read on to learn how other businesses have approached the challenge.

    Read some simple steps from the World Economic Forum on using digital skills to help your business to thrive over the long term.

     

  • LEARN

    Learn from other businesses that are taking steps to close their digital skills gaps.


    Don’t underestimate the basics. It is important that adults have the digital skills they need to fully participate in modern society and thrive in traditionally non-digital roles.

    Read

    MAG Airports’ 365 Campaign aimed to ensure their whole workforce was ready and able to increase productivity, consistency and collegiality in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdowns.

    Thirteen Group have looked to foster a culture of self-help to empower employees to digitally upskill.

    The Weir Group, a mining technology business are on a journey to increase the digital fitness of their workforce

    Independent training provider, First Intuition, is on a mission to digitally upskill the accounting profession.

    Discover

    What Virgin Media O2 has to say on why digital upskilling plays such a vital role in the UK’s future growth.

    Accenture’s take on how digitisation could unlock the UK’s productivity potential.

  • TAKE ACTION

    UK businesses are lagging behind other countries when it comes to investing in training.


    Collaborating with the education sector, including further and higher education and independent training providers, is a great way to ensure fast and effective digital skills training for your people.

    Learn

    Government launched its Skills Toolkit in 2020 with the aim of helping the nation to upskill during the COVID Pandemic.

    Training providers are developing government part-funded digital skills bootcamps to help upskill your staff.

    Find out more about the government’s Skills for Life campaign.

    Read about the Open University’s collaboration with a financial services software developer to deliver a bespoke degree apprenticeship programme.    

    Discover why the University of Birmingham believe that preparing students for the jobs of the future starts at primary school

    Find out how investing in apprenticeships helped IBM to close its digital skills gap and boost retention. 

    Watch

    The CBI’s SME webinar on myth-busting digital transformation.

    The CBI@10 webinar on how a D&I approach can help solve labour shortages in technology for example by embracing neurodiverse talent.


    There are a range of private sector initiatives which deliver digital skills, for example…

    Amazon provides Web Services Bootcamps: AWS Digital Training and Cloud Practitioner Essentials.

    Google offers a range of free and certified courses on Digital Garage.

    Microsoft has an Apprenticeship Network and Microsoft Connector aims to help organisations to find tech talent and people to find apprenticeship and digital bootcamp opportunities.

    Lloyds Bank offers a range of free online digital skills training, ranging from support and guidance through to on-demand learning and online webinars.

    Intel’s Digital Readiness Programs provide digital learning opportunities and resources for education providers.

    Forage UK is a virtual work experience platform aiming to help anyone pivot into a tech career.

    Collaboration is key to ensuring that every business is empowered to digitally upskill and reskill its workforce

    Explore

    The new CBI Cyber Cluster Demonstrator and find out how to get involved.

    UST has been collaborating with the education system and capitalising on local and regional partnership opportunities.

    The CBI has signed up to the FutureDotNow coalition, a campaign focused on motivating people and businesses across the UK to boost their essential digital skills.  

    Regional partnerships and initiatives are a great way to ensure an even distribution of digital skills across the country

    Read

    Digital Collective’s ambition is to have trained circa 50k people in entry level coding skills in the Northeast by 2025.

    The CBI held a roundtable in the Southwest of England to better understand the regional digital skills landscape and how businesses can take a skills-first approach to hiring talent.

  • SHARE YOUR STORY

    Showcase how your business is closing the digital skills gap.


    Profile     where your business is at the cutting edge.  

    Demonstrate your expertise as a reliable source of information, opinions and insights. 

    Help others to follow your lead, start their journey and adopt best practice.

    Move the agenda forward on a range of important issues, shaping an external environment that works for your business. 

    Give back to your sector or industry.

    Contact Victoria to share your story or to feed into the CBI’s wider digital skills policy work.


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