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Businesses must help solve digital skills crisis

A report by the Commons Science and Technology Committee has revealed that 12.5 million adults in the UK don’t have the necessary basic digital skills required to succeed in today’s modern working environment. MPs have warned that the digital skills crisis will impact the UK’s ability to compete globally as productivity will drop, costing the country £63 million in lost income.

As businesses continue to implement their digital strategies, it’s imperative that workforces have the required skills to make full use of today’s technology. The report reveals the alarming stat that nearly six million UK adults have never even used the internet which, to many of us, is second nature. If the current skills crisis isn’t resolved, the UK will soon slip behind countries that can take advantage of the growing number of digital opportunities.

For smaller businesses in particular, technology provides a way to level the playing field against more established counterparts. The plethora of software and cloud-based applications is ever-growing and, despite being developed with ease of use in mind, companies must take responsibility in ensuring that employees have the required basic digital skills to use them. The need to keep up with digital trends is now a fact of life and, with such a strong correlation between technology and productivity, businesses can’t bury their heads in the sand. Even basic training will empower employees to utilise new tools, driving both company performance and the UK’s digital economy.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Erwan Kernevez .