What is the Importance of Digital Skills in the Workplace?

In a world where almost everyone seems to work online, the lack of digital skills among employees makes up a surprising 52%, according to Lloyds Bank’s report.

So what are the employee digital skills the companies are lacking?

In this article, we’ll define digital skills, describe the most demanded ones, and share tips on improving one’s digital portfolio.

Let’s get started!

What are digital skills?

Most people refer to digital skills in IT and data mining spheres. Yet, effective communication and problem-solving belong to this category as well.

Generally, digital skills are defined as the ability to use and generate information-related products, transfer data, communicate, and collaborate using different devices, networks, and applications.

Most working people master digital literacy to some degree, yet the need to improve employee confidence levels increases exponentially.

What digital skills are valued most?

Communication

When Ray Tomlinson sent his first e-mail in 1971 to ease communication between office colleagues, he had no idea of the eventual outcomes. Later, he said: “I had no notion whatsoever of what the ultimate impact would be.” Since then, the domain of electronic mail has transferred into a real art. That includes mastering the technical specifications of e-mailing, like sorting, e-mail management, scheduling, operating with different e-mail software, etc.

Software management

Nowadays, an employee should be able to differentiate between different types of data, like texts, tables, images, presentations, etc., and work with the corresponding software, starting from the essentials of the Office Suit.

Data storage and safety

According to Chuck Brooks from Forbes, at least 61% SMBs suffer data loss through cyber attacks, and during lockdowns, 40% of small businesses were affected by security breaches and had to go offline for at least eight hours.

Given the situation, employees must possess knowledge of digital security and safe data and device management. This includes regular security software updates, password management, connection, firewall protection, and more.

For remote workers, security is even more critical. If you address companies like MLSDev – DevOps outsourcing services, you expect the highest level of data safety. This is achieved through regular security system updates and non-stop employee training on best security practices.

Research

An employee of today is expected to be constantly self-educating and improving skills on personal initiative. This is possible only through fluency in information research and using different search tools.

Device management

Working in the digital environment requires using different devices and knowing how to keep them up and working. An employee should have a general notion of a network, including routers, servers, connections, and networking.

Since many HR companies provide the candidate search with the help of HR algorithms, it is also recommended to include the computer hardware and telephony equipment you know in your resume.

Planning and reporting

There are numerous tools for planning your daily activity. These may be calendars provided by software like Microsoft Outlook or project management systems like Jira or Trello. Since many teams use this software to coordinate their work on the same project, a failure of one team member may bring a general project failure.

Therefore, planning and reporting belong to essential digital skills each employee should possess.

Summing up

Work in a digital environment presupposes mastery of numerous tools, like e-mails, participation in video calls, messaging in chats and groups, sharing information via dashboards and spreadsheets, as well as screen sharing during calls and conferences.

These skills are essential for everyone engaged in digital cooperation, whether you are an employee or a business owner hiring a dedicated development team to develop software for your business. If you want to expand your business digitally, read the following: https://mlsdev.com/services/dedicated-development-team.

Author’s bio: Anastasiia Lastovetska is a technology writer at MLSDev, a software development company that builds web & mobile app solutions from scratch. She researches the area of technology to create great content about app development, UX/UI design, tech & business consulting.