Digital skills have become a must-have in every organisation. Digital skills are a set of skills that relate to digital technology, which includes computers, websites, tablet and smartphones and other platforms on the Internet.
In the last ten years, companies found a means of digitizing their operations by making use of artificial intelligence to ensure effective workflow.
In research carried out by McKinsey, roughly one-third of the U.S. workers will need a change of job by 2030 as a result of the spike in technological advancement. Every year, new inventions spring up many of which gain worldwide attention. In various sectors, a large number of managers and professionals need to have basic digital competence.
“In 20 or 30 years, you’ll be able to hold in your hand as much computing knowledge as exists now in the whole city, or even the whole world.” ~ Douglas Engelbart
With the rise in the need for digital skills, here are seven digital skills you need to learn this year.
1.Proficiency in Data Analysis
In the era of digital transformation, most companies are sitting on a workload of untapped data about their clients, work process and workforce. Employees who have the skills needed to extract and analyze useful information retrieved from your company’s database are required. This skill set would further integrate into more roles within teams.
Data analysis done well can give you insight into your business and customers. Presently, there are mainly four types of data analysis used by an organization.
- Diagnostic analysis: identifies patterns and give insights into definite problems.
- Descriptive analysis: When combined with other analysis it allows you to give meaningful insight into the past by gathering data from different sources
- Prescriptive analysis: This analysis requires the use of external information and historical data, makes use of machine learning, algorithms and business rules to determine necessary actions to take.
- Predictive analysis: This analysis combines the findings of diagnostic and descriptive analysis to detect exceptions and tendencies used to foretell future trends.
As technological tools continue to advance, the more there would be the need for proficiency in data analysis.
2. Social Media Marketing
A recent study has shown that we have over 2.7 billion social media users globally out of which 2.5 million are active through mobile devices, this reflects a 30% rise in mobile users in the space of a year. Knowing how to use social media effectively is an essential skill that every professional need.
There is a need to know the relationship that exists amongst brands, its influencers and customers to reach out in a way that would drive traffic to their website.
Creating good content can assist in building a relationship with potential customers. Phil Gerbyshank advises social marketers to ‘Put relationships first.’
3.Content marketing
Content comes in different forms like videos, infographics, blog posts, podcasts and social media updates.
You can’t deny the importance of content even if you have every other thing laid out like optimizing keywords and campaigns.
Customers can relate to the benefits of a product or service through contents on a website or social media handle.
Contents help to create brand awareness and establish brands as real individuals who have their customers at heart.
Therefore, you need to learn the importance of creating contents that are relevant to the keyword search.
4. Digital product management
Another essential and valuable digital skill to software development is Digital Product Management. The continuous growth in software as a service would push Product Management into being a more integral part of the tech sector.
5.Digital Design and Data Visualization
Digital services, websites and apps all have one thing in common which is a user’s interface thus creating a dynamic experience is needed, designers can visualize data that can assist the management in making business decisions. This skill is what is called data visualization. This skill is essential to be able to get useful insights from data. Designers use tools like Tableau and Power BI to visualize and analyze data.
6.Programming and web development
The core part of any digital service is coding. Bootstrap, PHP/JavaScript, Query, Angular, Code Igniter and MySQL are the core languages needed for web development and programming.
These skills according to LinkedIn are amongst the top ten demanded skills by employers as coding is essential for emerging technologies such as virtual reality and augmented reality (AR)
7. Network and information security
Cybersecurity is a major problem and would continue to be with the advancement of digital technologies. The need to ensure business data secured has become a top priority.
Knowing how to fight cyber crimes would, therefore, put you at the top of your game.
These skills are core in the digital space and to remain relevant, you have to learn relevant skills.
