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Essential digital skills for your employees

06 May 2022. 13:04
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  • SME maturity
    High
    Topic
    1. Tools
    Scope to digitize
    1. Business processes

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Find out what skills SME employees should have to meet the challenges of digitalisation. 

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Competencias digitales esenciales para tus empleados
Descripción

Teleworking, distance learning, e-shopping, among other factors, have served to strengthen the use of new technologies in society. The digitalisation of everyday life has accelerated society's digital skills in a short period of time. According to Telefónica's Digital Society in Spain report, almost 50% of the population admits that they have become much more proficient with technology and digital tools in the last year.  

This digitalisation also affects each of the parts involved in the evolution of any SME or large company. In this sense, digital transformation is synonymous with growth, quality employment, sustainability and inclusion. The world is constantly changing and technology helps us to adapt. As a result, digital skills are a key factor for the present and future of companies.  

 

What are digital skills?  

They are a set of skills that facilitate the use of digital devices and applications to access and better manage information. Among the functions of digital skills are the ability to exchange digital content, communicate and collaborate, and provide solutions to problems in order to achieve effective and creative development at work and in social activities in general.   

Digital competences are not only about learning and developing technological skills, but also involve the acquisition of knowledge, values and attitudes about new technologies in order to make the most of them. They also include the correct use of the data obtained through their use.  

These skills are essential for modernising processes within SMEs and improving relations with customers, who are becoming increasingly digital. In this sense, digital competences allow us to:  

  • Continuous improvement in our business competitiveness.  

  • Facilitate the incorporation of technological advances that help us to increase productivity.  

  • Optimise time and costs in the development of projects.  

  • Reduce the risk of suffering a cyber-attack.  

  • Improve work effectiveness and efficiency.  

Currently, there are many digital competences that cover different disciplines. However, we will tell you which ones are essential to boost the digital transformation of your SME.  

  1. Digital communication  

Communication in digital environments is essential for interacting with colleagues, participating in events and conversations, being present in collaborative spaces of interest and on social media, as well as maintaining contact with professionals and clients. Within these competences, the following activities stand out:  

  • Sending and receiving emails.  

  • Create, manage and disseminate content for blogs.  

  • Planning and effective measurement of publications on social media.  

  • Defining a digital communication strategy.  

 

  1. Information management  

This consists of identifying, locating, retrieving, storing, organising and analysing digital information in a practical and effective way. This helps to generate knowledge, develop business intelligence, enable innovation and improve the efficiency of business processes.   

 

  1. Cybersecurity  

Although cyber security can be a complex field, company employees should have at least a basic understanding of how to protect business activity. It is essential that all employees have the skills to help prevent potential cyber-attacks.  

 

  

 

  1. Software management  

Controlling programmes for content creation and editing, data analysis or business management is essential to work in a company that is in the midst of a digital transformation process. In fact, when this competence is not integrated into employees' skills, time may be wasted on simple tasks such as creating, editing or managing documents. Within these competencies, the following activities stand out:  

  • Using word processors.  

  • Making optimal use of spreadsheets.  

  • Use of cloud-based project management applications and solutions.  

 

  1. Big data  

The fact that the members of an SME have the ability to obtain information relevant to the brand and process large amounts of data, brings special value to the business when making future decisions. In addition, companies that integrate big data into their processes are able to identify problems more efficiently.  

 

As you will have seen in this post, digital skills are key to strengthening the decision-making skills of teams, as well as for the innovation and development of companies. In fact, they are so important that the acquisition and development of these skills is a priority for the Spanish Government. This is why they have launched the National Digital Skills Plan with an investment of 3.75 billion. In turn, this Plan is part of the measures used within the Spain Digital Agenda 2025.  

If you want to know more about these measures, we recommend you read this post or visit the España Digital 2025 website.  

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