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Why We Need Digital Skills

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Basic digital skills and competencies and why do today’s learners need them?

We’re now in the age of the 4th industrial revolution, which primarily marks the implementation of smart technologies, these changes are happening faster than ever. In some cases, new industries have developed entirely; an obvious example is the software industry. But even in sectors that have existed for centuries, including industries as diverse as farming and finance, technology is now widely used to streamline processes and better adapt to an increasingly interconnected world. In this context, today’s graduates not only need to have a sound understanding of their subject area but also how to apply this knowledge in digital contexts.

 

What are digital competencies?

In a world that’s more digital than ever, a good understanding of technology is obviously key. A report from the European Commission showed that 93% of European workplaces across all sectors use computers and 94% use broadband internet. This means that almost every job requires basic digital skills such as being able to use the internet to find information, communicate with colleagues and customers, buy goods and services and so on.

 

However, the importance of digital skills for learners goes beyond just understanding how to use various software and hardware. After all, it’s likely that they’ll be obsolete in 5 years or even less. Arguably even more important are attitudes that allow workers to embrace digital technology and associated changes throughout their careers, such as creativity, collaboration and flexibility.

 

How can today’s learners develop their digital skills?

It can be tempting to think that many millennial and gen-z students already understand digital tools and possess the necessary attitudes to be successful in today’s workforce. While this may be the case for some, we should remember that not every student has the same digital access opportunities and that others may be very used to technology for entertainment, but less knowledgeable about workforce competencies. Regardless of comfort level, students benefit from being able to practise and develop their skills in a range of contexts.

Institutions can support students in developing and refining digital competencies in several ways. Attitudes such as creativity, collaboration and flexibility can be supported through group work, projects, interviews, and presentations. These activities give learners an opportunity to participate in scenarios similar to those that they’ll encounter in the workplace or in everyday life.

 

How do we bridge the digital divide?

As government and businesses continue to make their services “digital by default” there is an increased need and urgency to ensure that everyone has access to and the ability to use the Internet. Being digitally competent is now a necessary part of modern life and no one can afford to be left behind.

Regardless of age or ability, we believe going online has digital and social inclusion benefits for everyone. Bridging the digital divide would improve digital literacy, digital skills, social mobility, economic equality, and economic growth.

 

For more information on how we can help please get in touch: hello@2icglobal-com.stackstaging.com

 

Expanding Our Organisational Digital Capability

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Digi Skills is an employability and digital training agency that supports those that have low digital skills or those that are furthest from the job market. As a business, we work within our communities to upskill those that are entering into employment, changing jobs, or simply wanting to upskill themselves to be more connected and educated. Our aim is to reduce the digital divide by giving everyone the chance to learn new digital skills.

What we do:

We have been extremely successful at delivering digital training workshops and 1-1 support to over 5000 people on over 100 different topics over the last 7 years. These workshops include:

  • How To Get Online
  • Online Safety & Scam Awareness
  • Careers – Creating a Digital CV and Cover Letter
  • Video Interviews and Video Calling
  • How To Work From Home
  • How To Build A Business
  • Staying Organised With Emails And Calendars
  • Improving Your Health Online
  • Managing Your Money
  • Using Public Services

 

Over the last two years, we have seen the demand for our services sore as Covid19 changed the digital landscape forever. This included how people apply for jobs, how and where we work, and how we can safely stay connected to our friends, family, and work colleagues.

 

Why we needed to increase our digital capability:

As an organisation we needed to be able to strategically engage with past and future attendees and offer further support & digital skills training. We knew that our learners wanted more support and we wanted to be able to help them, and follow their journey. We also wanted our organisation to be more sustainable, increase our organisation’s digital capability and improve our own use of technology. Good Things foundation helped make this a reality.

With the support from the BT Digital Capability fund and Good Things Foundation we were able to develop, test and deliver an idea to make our organisation become more effective and efficient for our learners and staff. This included:

  • Creating a centralised platform and introducing a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system
  • Create a social media strategy for retargeting previous learners with updated information and new courses available for further learning
  • Execute a marketing strategy with selected user groups. Educate and inform our community on further signposting and courses available

 

This project helped us re-engage previous learners and support our staff to understand the previous learner’s goals and future ambitions. This also helped reduce administration time and improve the customer/learner journey. We were also able to effectively recruit new learners via social media advertising and email campaigns by strategically creating tailored messages that would spark the interest of each user group and demographic. We were also able to inform our volunteers and digital champions of events and workshops that were available in their area so they could inform those that may not be connected online YET!

 

What we achieved together:

We achieved amazing results with some learners getting new jobs, older adults getting online for the first time, some even learning how to use a tablet and send an email for the first time. School kids getting an injection of inspiration to open their eyes to a world of possibility and other diverse groups learning how to video call their families that live all over the world. Reducing the administration time and working smarter as an organisation allowed us to expand and win new business and also have a bigger impact within the community.

 

What’s Next:

Moving forward we hope to build on the great work that Good Things Foundation has helped us create and expand our digital skills resources, support, and digital capability. If anyone Northern Ireland area needs support with digital skills training as an individual, community group, or business please feel free to get in touch.

 

What Is Digital Transformation, And Why It’s Important For Your Business?

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What is Digital Transformation? 

Digital transformation marks a radical rethinking of how an organisation uses technology, people and processes to fundamentally change business performance. The result is an elemental change as to how a business should operate and how they can continue to deliver value to customers. As well as that it can also be described as a shift in how organisations think, and can lead to letting go of traditional well-known business practices and introducing new streamlined, efficient, adaptable and accessible practices.  There are a variety of other definitions for Digital Transformation of course. Agile Elephant highlights the ways businesses will need to rearrange current practices, different ways of thinking, leadership, and why there is a need to incite innovation and improve all forms of customer and employee experience. 

COVID19 has also disrupted the working environment and presented new challenges for employers. Digital Transformation however has helped overcome these obstacles and bring new processes that will improve on outdated ones leading to more efficiency in businesses. Remote working is also a huge change instigated by the outbreak, but it has the potential with the right investment of technology to help businesses become more agile and provide employees with other flexible options.

 

Why is Digital Transformation Important?      

Undertaking Digital Transformation for a business is necessary to survive and thrive in a constantly changing digital landscape.  Businesses are taking this on board and are making it one of their top their priorities, it is no longer a suggestion for the future or one to sit on the back-burner. It is predicted that global spending on the practices for Digital Transformation will be $1.97 Trillion, that is according to the IDC. They also predict that digital transformation investment will steadily build with a compound growth rate of 16.7% between 2017 and 2022.       

Further predictions also mean that by the end 2020, digital strategy will and should delegate a capital budget of at least 10% of your business. This indicates the need to develop, and digital transformation as a vital investment. When it comes to digital investment, companies are planning to increase their investments by up to 75% during the period of the next 12-18 months. There is also a huge focus on data visualisation and machine learning.  

The vital move for businesses now is speed, as companies all seem to be at different places in the digital transformation process. IT Leaders must work fast to prove that digital transformation will lead to increased efficiency for the whole company. 

 

Digital Transformation Frameworks    

The level of Digital Transformation required will vary within each organisation. However there are some recurring themes within current frameworks and case studies. These are frameworks that all businesses should research further as they begin the process of transformation. Factors that are often mentioned include but are not limited to:

  • Strategic Objectives
  • Operational Excellence
  • Operations Architecture
  • Business Case Development
  • Solution Selection

Making Digital Transformation a Reality: Connecting CEO Vision ...

Successful organisations operate with a clear business direction, using a vision, roadmap and framework that define the way forward. Without these crucial strategic instruments, businesses would focus only on solving today’s problems and fail to create continuous value. But does your organisation have a clear digital strategy? The answer, most likely, is “no.” This has created an untenable situation for many companies, considering that IT is increasingly interwoven into the very fabric of most businesses, markets and societies.  

New digital solutions offer an opportunity to improve how organisations compete and create a foundation for outperforming rivals near and far. A white paper from Cognizant introduces a framework that organisations can use to develop a digital vision and build new business models based on digital opportunities. They have provided examples of organisations that have disrupted their industries by rethinking their approach to doing business, and recommended various approaches to jump-starting your organisation’s digital journey. 

 

Leading a Business Transformation  

In order for a business to continue to deliver exceptional customer experience and exceed expectations, CIO’s are now working alongside key executives and making new beneficial decisions. These are changes that include re-skilling employees, starting up innovation labs and beginning experimentation’s with new technologies. 

When embarking on implementing digital solutions within your business the key question to ask should be; what are the intended business results you want to attain and what experience do you want your customers to have? From here it begins with these outcomes, the business models you are pursuing and basically working backwards from that point.  It is imperative to understand your customer journey map and lifecycle.

Source Picture: Campaign Monitor 

Customer Journey Mapping Will Improve Your Company's Bottom Line ...

3 Top tips  to help Transform your business:

Have a set list of objectives: Define a clear strategy and plan. Find out what you want your business, employees and customers to experience. Where are the pain points or bottles necks with your business and how can you introduce technology to solve these problems. 

Welcome an adaptive design approach: Adaption is a huge part now of the digital transformation process with focused KPIs now outdated. Being adaptive in design will allow for CIOs to make changes quickly. Successful transformations are a result of being adaptive. Business leaders who reported success were those who were likely to look at monthly changes to their overall strategy. 

Adopt agile execution. Encourage risk taking, enabling even lower-level employees to make decisions, fail fast and learn.  

 

Key Digital Transformation Roles  

While emerging tech and revamped processes are crucial, it is also important that you have the right staff staff in place to lead your business through the transition.  

Software engineers, cloud computing specialists and product managers remain key roles for companies seeking to roll out new products and services. DevOps leaders galvanize software development by merging development with operations, enabling companies to continuously iterate software to speed delivery.

Also, in high demand are data scientists and architects as companies want to extract trends and insights from a vast array of data. Digital transformation also lean increasingly on machine learning and artificial intelligence.

IT departments are also in need of a variety of expert roles when executing a digital transformation plan for a business. These roles include UX designers, digital trainers, writers, business analysts and workplace technology managers. For further insight into knowing who your key players are check out: 4 critical roles for digital transformation

 

What next…

Digital transformation has revolutionised and changed operations in all the key areas of businesses. Traditional business practices will become outdated and will need to be replaced with new efficient practices that will improve ways of thinking and experiences. This kind of transformation is important as businesses that do not adapt to this new transformation could be putting themselves at a disadvantage.  

If you would like to find out more information on digital transformation and how it could impact your business or career, please get in touch with one of our digital experts. 

 

Free Digital Skills Summer Camp – Girls aged 15-19

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Belfast I.T Girls – Digital Skills Summer Camp

What will you do?

  • Develop your creative, social and business skills
  • Learn how to develop Games
  • Develop websites using HTML5 & CSS3
  • Create digital content
  • Meet, chat and learn from females in the IT & Digital industries
  • …and more!
This 1 week programme is FREE and open to girls aged 15-19

If you are interested you’ll need to book a ticket below to attend. Should there be no tickets available please add yourself to the waiting list and you will be contacted if a place frees up.

Mon 6th August - Friday 10th August 2018
Belfast Metropolitan College
Titanic Quarter Campus
9.30am - 4.30pm

IT Jobs in Digital Transformation & Innovation

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IT Jobs in Digital Transformation and Innovation

Sinead Dillon, Principal Consultant at Fujitsu shares her journey!

Despite keen childhood interest in computing, at school Sinead Dillon was initially drawn towards a career in business or banking. She studied for an accountancy degree at Ulster University and completed her chartered management accountancy qualifications while at the Kerry Group food company.

Her transition into IT began when she moved into a role that combined accounting with financial systems support, and later joined global technology company Fujitsu as a financial systems implementation consultant. She then bolstered her practical on-the-job experience with a Master’s degree in Computing and Information Systems.

Today, Sinead is Principal Consultant for digital transformation and innovation at Fujitsu in Belfast.

“My role is focused on addressing customers’ needs, the role of digital in the business and, how our solutions can adapt to fit customer requirements across Northern Ireland, as well as looking at how new technology and innovative products can help to deliver services.”

Describing herself as “a people person” Sinead explains that “working with different people and collaborating with different teams and organisations was very attractive to me, and in a business context I enjoy problem solving and delivering services.”

Over the years, she has moved from ERP implementations to project management and business development, and now works at the heart of Fujitsu’s innovation and digital transformation programme for business across NI. Sinead recognises that digital transformation is changing the world of work through emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, automation and robotics.

“A robotic device as a virtual assistant can allow certain rote and repetitive jobs to be performed highly efficiently in reduced time and improved accuracy. With the human-machine partnership, the  robot automates part of a job while human understanding brings creativity and a wider understanding of the business to the role. The bottom line with Artificial Intelligence is that we want to use it to improve our decision making, efficiency and accuracy.”

Sinead has a passion for encouraging more women to consider a career in IT and technology. She admits that the gender diversity in Fujitsu still has room to improve and the tech sector has been slow to evolve since she joined it more than a decade ago.

“Some job roles within the sector are more attractive to women. At the moment we’re still low in the number of people who are software developers, business analysts and infrastructure solution engineers. It is changing, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement to shift the dial up.”

As an organisation, Fujitsu is tackling diversity head on. A Women’s Business Network has been established and the company’s Gender Goals for 2020 have a vision of making Fujitsu in the UK and Ireland “the place where women come to succeed”. On top of that, the company has a number of mentoring and outreach schemes, an association with the EveryWoman network to access their resources and learning opportunities, as well as a key partnership with Women In Business NI whereby Fujitsu’s female technologists can act as role models, indeed Sinead recently welcomed over 300 delegates to Women in Business’s inaugural ‘Women in Tech’ conference in Belfast. https://syncni.com/event/women-in-tech-conference-2018/1092

Offering advice to those looking to pursue a career in IT, Sinead said:

“As you go through different roles, you learn a lot of new skills and adapt to the challenges that come. Skills are transferable, so be mindful that today’s job will help you in a different one tomorrow. Life-long and continual learning is key. You need to keep interested and keep active in the ever-changing sector.

“There’s a big demand for people who are curious, creative, innovative and can problem-solve. And while the age-old requirements to be hard-working, motivated and focused are probably not on trend, they are still essential!

“So if you have a flair for IT, are a people person, can be adaptable, and bring your own personality and curiosity to the job, you’re in the right industry.”

Sinead also coaches and enjoys mentoring a number of women and young leaders.

“It’s very much a learning experience both for me and the mentee or coachee. It gives an opportunity to get insights into different sectors that I’m not as aware of, to understand people’s challenges and talk about how to address them.

“The key thing is recognising personal successes, and of course the business successes, and making sure that the person achieves what it is they want to achieve. I enjoy the other end where people are happy, and they have overcome a challenge, though through the engagement they may evolve and realise that they won’t end up quite where they originally thought they would be at the outset. So there’s an additional satisfaction when people realise where they really want to be.

“When I talk to young people I advocate that IT is an exciting career with a lot of opportunities. There are so many different pathways that they you can go down and a wide variety of roles.  It’s not all purely about coding – that’s just one area – and there’s a variety which can suit individual personal tastes and preferences. It’s very much an open end.

“The skills that they can obtain now, at school and college, will be invaluable for their career: problem solving, creativity, innovation. Bring that all into the IT world and you’ll have a very exciting career in a world that is continually developing and adapting.”

If you are considering a change of career,  you can check out some of our IT Jobs now. 

 

 

  • Sync NI

Apple Delays Release of HomePod Smart Speaker!

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Apple delays release of HomePod smart speaker, giving Google and Amazon a head start in Christmas sales this holiday season!

Apple has given Amazon and Google an even bigger head start in the race to get smart speakers into your home.

The tech titan said it’s pushed back the launch of its first smart speaker, the HomePod, from sometime in December (no specific date was ever offered) to “early 2018” so it can finish work on the device.

Missing the critical holiday season is a blow to Apple. The company loses the opportunity to sell the HomePod to shoppers in a more buying mood and help it break into the young smart speaker market. The delay comes as both Amazon and Google roll out aggressive discounts during Black Friday and beyond for their respective family of smart speakers, potentially cutting down on prospective HomePod customers.

For consumers, it means one less choice, even if the £349 HomePod represents a much more expensive option than the Echo Dot or Google Home Mini, both about £50.

Apple is likely being careful since it can ill afford a slip-up in this market.

“The only thing worse than this delay is introducing it and selling under a million and making no dent in the market,” said Michael R. Levin, of Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. “That would be really embarrassing.”

apple-wwdc-2017-homepod-speaker-3973
Say hello to Apple’s HomePod smart speaker

Apple declined to offer more information for this story beyond their latest statement.

So how much does this delay hurt Apple?

From a financial perspective, it’s going to be a hiccup because Apple makes most of its money from its iPhone lineup. The HomePod fits as an ancillary business similar to the Apple Watch or AirPods, which aren’t nearly as important.

The bigger concern is the loss of a key opportunity to get into your home. Apple is already late to this field, ceding ground to Amazon, Google and speaker makers like Sonos, Sony and Lenovo (many of which use Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant).

Amazon, which popularized the smart speaker category with the launch of its Echo in late 2014, has already sold 20 million smart speakers in the US, taking 73 percent of that market. Google, which launched the Google Home last year, takes up the other 27 percent, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners said this month.

If you’re investing in one or a set of smart speakers from one company, you’re less likely to mix and match brands.

There’s still hope for Apple, which is known for coming into an already developed market and quickly taking over, such as with the iPhone for smartphones or the Apple Watch for wearables. The company famously has a rabid fan base willing to buy many — if not all — of its products. If the HomePod ends up being successful anyway, no one will remember this monthslong delay.

Yet Amazon and Google have already shown up with second- and third-generation products, and started developing app ecosystems and partnerships with smart home equipment makers. The HomePod was a first step toward matching these efforts, and now catching up to competitors could be harder.

Apple also hasn’t proven there’s a sizeable market for a high-priced smart speaker, with the most popular device in the field so far being the £50 Echo Dot. (The Google Home Max is even more expensive, at £399, and already available for sale.)

Check out some of our latest featured Jobs, they may not be working with Apple, but it could be the next best thing!

 

  • TECH ADVISOR

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