INSIGHT Digital Skills
“We always need to be looking for new ways to get better at what we do, so regardless of where the team
member is in their career, it’s vital that we’re open and honest about how we can help them to work more
effectively with the right technology.” Martin Calvert, Director - Blueclaw
DCMS Moves to fill Skills Gap
A wide ranging survey by Gov.uk has revealed the extent of the digital skills gap in today’s workforce but also
exposed the dismal outlook for the future. At the same time the DCMS has launched a scheme to develop the
nations’ AI skills. Is that enough?
Businesses have been
bemoaning the lack of
skills in the work force
for many years. In the
main this complaining has been
apocryphal but now Gov.uk has
put some actual gures down
on paper that supports the
authenticity of the digital skills
problem.
Gov.uk says that employers
struggle to ll about one-third
of vacancies due to a lack of
the right digital skills amongst
applicants and although
evidence suggests that the UK
does have a strong digitally
enabled workforce; there still
remains a digital skill shortage.
Currently the term ‘digital
skills’ covers a wide array of
skills and knowledge, making
it di cult to design methods to
address speci c needs. In order
to narrow the gap, it is crucial
that individuals possess the
basic ‘foundation’ for acquiring
digital skills that are needed in
our increasingly technological
society.
e Gov.uk data gathered
has been analysed by Reboot,
a digital online marketing
company, who discovered that
whilst more than half of the UK
uses the internet for work, 53%
of employees do not have the
essential digital skills needed
for work
Commenting on the
ndings Martin Calvert,
director at digital marketing
agencyBlueclaw,suggests
that the skills gap is visible in
di erent ways across di erent
generations:
“We work in a very technical
industry, with a lot of specialist
software and tools so we don’t
expect new team members to
know everything. Even so,
when bringing early-career
employees on board, there can
be some surprising gaps.
At the other end of the age
spectrum, we’ve worked with
some phenomenally experienced
professionals but sometimes
they need support to be pointed
towards the best tools and
technology available in 2019 -
even if they’re extremely savvy
and capable when using more
‘industry standard’ technologies
that have been established for
years.
We always need to be
looking for new ways to
get better at what we do, so
regardless of where the team
member is in their career, it’s
vital that we’re open and honest
about how we can help them to
work more e ectively with the
right technology. In that sense
the most important digital skills
is more of a trait - openness
to new ways of working, a
willingness to learn, and a
willingness to teach us too!”
AlanBryant, Strategy Lead
at Livity, a company that
uses youth culture to
‘design the future’ believes
the problem lies with the
labelling of such ‘digital
skills’:
“We are seeing a lack
of motivation to learn
speci c digital skills for
growing career areas
such as data analysis.
We have found part
of the problem here is
labelling these areas as ‘digital
skills’ which simply doesn’t
mean anything to a generation
who don’t di erentiate between
digital and non-digital life.”
Meanwhile, the Department
for Digital, Culture, Media and
Sport (DMCS) has announced
an £18.5 million to boost
diversity in AI tech roles and
innovation in online training
for adults. is includes up
to £13.5 million new funding
for an extra 2500 arti cial
intelligence and data science
conversion degrees, with 1000
scholarships for people from
Martin Calvert, director at digital
marketing agencyBlueclaw
underrepresented groups plus
£5 million government funding
to drive innovation in adult
online learning.
On the launch of the new
fund, Education Secretary
Damian Hinds said, “Arti cial
Intelligence and other new
technologies are transforming
the way we live and work and
have the potential to radically
improve online learning and
training, so more people can get
the skills they need.”
54 | Comms Business Magazine | November 2019 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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