Developing Digital Fluency in the Workplace
A short case for digital technologies learning for everyone
There are several broad definitions of what digital fluency means. To me;
Digital fluency is a combination of the cognitive, intellectual, and, technological competencies which enable an organization (or individual) to strategically learn, work, or play to improve the desired outcome.
Before I go any further, it is important to distinguish digital fluency with another more popular term, digital literacy. Digital fluency goes beyond literacy, which only refers to the acquisition of select technological skills. Digital Literacy is the foundation for Digital Fluency. To put it in perspective, if digital literacy is learning to use a wrench, hammer, and a drill, digital fluency is knowing when to use each tool to build a product of value.
In today’s world, approximately only 2% of new information is created in print format, this mostly originates from local news and in regions of severely underdeveloped economies. This means it is extremely crucial to have the skill to navigate the digital world. The remaining information created in a digital format is being created at a breakneck speed too. Here are some statistics which I find particularly pertinent to this topic, every minute:
- 512,000 tweets are tweeted on Twitter
- 41,666,667 messages are shared on WhatsApp
- 188,000,000 emails are sent worldwide
- $1,000,000 USD is spent online by consumers
Data has become somewhat of a digital currency in the 21st century thanks to the widespread availability of high-speed internet. Having the fluency to harness data and uncover insights from it has become extremely valuable in today’s hyper-competitive markets.
Perhaps no company understood this better, or at least sooner than Facebook. Facebook has a long history of leveraging extensive data storage and user surveillance enabling them to be able to tell more about users than their closest friends and family ever could. Facebook is a great example of the double-edged sword nature of a highly digitally fluent organization. On one hand, as a user, I love seeing a relevant ad for an affordable stylus pen for my iPad. On the other hand, the pervasive nature of the data collection means, as a user, I can be targeted for my political or religious beliefs. In a world of misinformation, I’m sure the reader would agree it is becoming increasingly harder to tell what’s real and not.
When it comes to building employee skills, one thing is common at highly effective and innovative organizations such as Apple, Nike, and Walmart. Senior leadership is actively building digital learning paths and encouraging employees to stay current with the skills needed to remain competitive with the market, even employees in non-technical roles.
Why then is it so important to push digital fluency within your organization? I’ll give a few reasons:
Employee Job Satisfaction
A study by UiPath, a leader in Robotic Process Automation technology (another technology which I highly encourage readers to learn), surveyed its employees and found a whopping 88% of workers say they would be more willing to continue working at a company that offered upskilling and reskilling opportunities. Highly driven and motivated employees enjoy growth opportunities.
Insourcing Analytics (reducing costs)
Analytics, specifically the term Data Analytics has seen an increase of 1280% in interest in the search term in the last decade. Data analytics, especially its early adopters, enables organizations to uncover business insights and make better decisions. An organization that values this but lack the workforce with the skillset to harness this power has to pay a premium for third parties to gather, analyze, and process data for them. Bringing this service in-house will greatly reduce operating costs.
Enriched Customer Experience
Customer experience and satisfaction is the #1 rewarding factor for any business, customers want solutions to their problems and quick turn around. Quicker delivery times, affordable products, improved user-friendliness, etc. Digital products and tools can enable gathering this data and break it down to improve customer satisfaction.
Better Decisions
When data, tools, and personnel with the right skill come together, businesses can make more informed decisions that improve productivity, marketing campaigns, and branding. Digital fluency helps in understanding market behavior which enables making improved business decisions.
These are just some of the many reasons, why every organization should build a plan to upskill its workforce with digital tools and digital literacy. Organizations that do not do this are not only likely to lose their best employees to the competition but lose market share as well.
