We've heard a lot in the past few years about the skills gap and employee training, and for good reason. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 75% of human resources professionals experiencing recruitment difficulties have found a lack of skills among candidates. In addition to looming skills gaps, a rising concern about information gaps also exists. In PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)'s "22nd Annual Global CEO Survey," one of the most compelling survey findings was that the gap between the data CEOs need and the data CEOs receive has remained relatively the same the past decade, with no substantive improvement. The volume of data is not the problem. Data siloing, poor data reliability and lack of analytical talent is the problem, cited by CEOs in the PwC study. Here's how to prepare for the future of work today.
Understand the information gap
References to the information gap are not new. The term has been used in education for years. This is especially the case when students have some of the information they need, but not all. This gap allows students to fill in the blanks by asking pointed questions, garnering necessary information. In the business world, information gaps can be detrimental. As CEOs attempt to increase their company's capabilities, the struggle to mine relevant data—incorporating it into actionable steps—leaves CEOs with potentially unreliable data. You have to know your numbers. Without reliable, usable, comprehensive data, companies will struggle to make short or long-term decisions, impacting the success of their business.
Obtain the data needed
How does a modern-day CEO collect impactful, usable data? First, you need to define what data is critical to your company's operations and growth. For example, depending upon your organization, industry and location, the information you require for decision-making may differ. However, according to PwC, critical or comprehensive data may include data on the following:
- Brand/reputation.
- Supply chain.
- Customer preferences and needs (ringing in as the most significant information gap, according to PwC).
- Financial health or projections.
- Potential risks to your business.
Understanding what data you need is equally as important as understanding how to use that data in your company's strategy and growth. Once you define the data needed, you need to implement the processes that would allow you to sift through this information. Teaming up with experienced analytic experts and software providers will help you parse through billions of bytes of unstructured daily information. You need data, but you need your data to be usable.
Incorporate LMS into data acquisition & management
With the state of the workplace undergoing breakneck change and the future of work still uncertain, companies should embrace learning and development through employee training to better address the information gap. Through LMS, companies can teach their workforce how to gather, organize and present essential data. Through learning, companies can weather uncertainty by training employees on how to find and provide data necessary to keep pace with the future of work. Being able to extract value from data will help set organizations apart. Just like the skills gap, to move toward real innovation, companies must continue to upskill their workforce, whether it's to reduce talent shortages or to manage the continuing paradigm shift through data analytics. Learning must be a priority for CEOs.
