Building the Necessary Skills for Digital Transformation

The skills and capabilities needed to undergo digital transformation are in high demand as every company jockeys to gain a competitive advantage. To address the skills gap, some companies are prioritizing upskilling and reskilling. But to be effective, learning and development itself must undergo a transformation. According to Daniela Proust, global vice president and head of global people enablement and growth at Siemens, learning and development is at the core of digital transformation. “In light of a major transformation that businesses are facing, either by new business models arising or new innovation and technologies driving a certain business area forward, you see that you need to accompany that structural change, that structural workforce transformation in order to drive business transformation,” she says. Traditional training methods need to also transform. Given the speed of technological change and need for business agility, multi-day offsite training (some of which may not even apply to the employee’s role) is no longer viable. Fortunately, the same technologies that are driving digital transformation in other areas of the business can also be leveraged to transform learning and development. “Now people learn more often, for shorter periods of time, but training is much more tailored to what they need in that moment, and that is enabled by technology,” explains Proust. In addition to delivering just-in-time training, a modern learning and development platform can provide valuable insights. “A platform-based learning ecosystem with a learning experience platform at the core enables you to gain insights that we never had in the past.” says Proust. This new approach to learning delivers benefits to both the business and its employees as they acquire the skills that help accelerate the company’s digital transformation and fuel their own career growth.   This episode of Business Lab is produced in association with Infosys Cobalt.