What digital skills does your team need to be successful?

Discover the essential digital skills needed for project success in today's technology driven world.

As organisations use technology to increase their productivity and efficiency, existing employees need support to enhance their skill set and keep up with new ways of working. The competition to secure digital talent is fierce, and it’s predicted that there will be one million unfilled IT jobs by 2020. It’s no surprise then that last year a Deloitte survey found that 75% of Executives said that digital recruitment remains a challenge for them. The impact of skills shortages results in inflated salaries, temporary workers and ultimately the risk of project delays and even failure.

Grayce Head of People, Gemma Phipps says, “Across our client portfolio, we’ve seen a significant increase in the adoption of digitalised solutions, the majority of which are being delivered using Agile practices. As a result of organisations going digital, there’s an increase in demand for data and analytic skills, as well as the need for people who understand cyber and information security threats.”

To truly transform their service and gain the advantage on competitors, organisations need a strong team to bring a digital strategy to fruition. With the digital skills gap predicted to cost the UK economy £141bn in GDP growth, it’s clear that building an effective digital team is critical to success. Grayce Digital Director, Lee Egerton says “From a technology perspective I’m starting to see build speed and complexity reduce, which is starting to impact the resourcing strategies in technology. Having armies of contractor IT and Developer resources will become a thing of the past as development becomes truly Agile over the coming years. Remember, it only took a team of 12 developers to build Instagram and it had one million users just two months after it was launched.”

As organisations try to embed their digital strategy, we look at some of the most in demand technical and soft skills you need for a high performing digital team.

Adaptability

Every transformation project will have its setbacks, so your team must be highly adaptable to bounce back when faced with problems. This often means being comfortable operating in an Agile environment, working to deliver projects iteratively. An Agile digital team will be able to flex their approach and self-manage project challenges.

Digital literacy

Digital literacy is essential today. The emerging workforce has a lot to offer in this space as first-generation digital natives. Harnessing this talent, and developing them is vital for organisations looking to maintain the pace of digital change. Expertise in a particular software or programming language can be extremely beneficial, but as the half-life of a technical skill is currently two and a half years, it’s important to recognise that digital literacy requires continuous improvement to remain relevant.

Digital security

With the volume of data that businesses produce, store and use across multiple online platforms, the risk of cyber-attacks is higher than ever. To protect customer data and their reputation, organisations need talent with hard skills in data analysis to protect their business from security breaches. This involves identifying emerging threat patterns using analytic tools, and providing incident response, along with delivering cyber security awareness training to the wider business.

Creativity

Creativity is often assumed to only be a key skill for the likes of designers and writers. But a creative Data Analyst, for instance, can create narratives and tell stories with data that translate their findings into a digestible format for a range of stakeholders. Being creative means thinking outside the box, going beyond traditional processes to imagine new solutions to organisations’ challenges. Creative thinkers will keep pushing your project forward by providing new insights and drawing inspiration from current digital trends.

Communication

Digital transformation involves the whole organisation. And communication is key to making real, lasting change. Lee Egerton says, “Digital Transformation isn't just about technology but about people and cultural change. Empowerment of individuals working within programmes is critical to their success.” That’s why it’s vital to ensure your digital team have strong communication skills. From Managing Directors to CFOs, your digital team need to be able to explain complex processes to stakeholders across the business with ease and confidence.

Today’s emerging workforce are well-equipped to support your digital transformation projects. Their inherent understanding of technology is bolstered by the Grayce Development Programme. Over three years, Grayce Analysts gain the accredited qualifications, training and career-coaching to support the full breadth of your digital needs. We provide a low cost, low risk way to solve organisations’ resource challenges with some of the brightest graduate talent in the market. As well as addressing short term capacity challenges, Grayce help to build organisations’ capability with clear talent pipelines.

Grayce have been partnered with public and private sector organisations since 2013. Our growing Analyst Community are supporting cutting-edge change programmes in banking, cybersecurity, law, insurance, IT, retail - and much more. Working on industry-leading projects nationwide, our Analysts add value from day one and bring the adaptability that’s vital in the fast-paced world of digital transformation.

Find out about how Grayce are supporting digital transformation