The corporate world is increasingly embracing digital transformations – and with good reason, Companies that have higher digital maturity reported 45% revenue growth compared to 15% for lower maturity companies, and with this shift, the management of digital skills has become a vital part of effective business operations. However, many companies are learning the hard way that generic HR tools, while extremely useful for a broad array of HR functions, fall short in managing specific digital skills.
Often the issue is one of expectation not matching reality. Companies invest in one of the big well-known HR Platforms (Oracle, Workday, SuccessFactors or similar) hoping it will meet all their needs. These systems are very good at providing a foundation level of support for HR, taking care of recording pay, job levels, benefits, and other employee data. Some systems also support recruitment and other HR processes. However, by their nature they are generalist, and therefore the issue comes when trying to work with key specialisms in your company.
You can’t use a hammer for every job, so you’re going to need more than one tool in your toolkit!
Generic HR tools have their strengths, chiefly managing on a broad level across the organization. However, they tend to fall short when it comes to recognizing specialisms for each type of professional. That’s particularly the case in IT, Digital, Cybersecurity, and similar technology-focussed skills areas.
The Difference Between Skills and Technologies: The Missing Link in Many HR Systems
Another misstep of some HR systems is their list of technologies – but technologies are not skills. An unstructured mix of things that aren’t skills, including methodologies, qualifications, training, technologies, frameworks, etc., only contributes to the confusion. The lack of alignment to a recognized international framework like SFIA exacerbates these problems.
This is where a digital skills management tool like SkillsTX shines, complementing a generalist HR platform. These two tools can integrate, offering the best of both worlds.
A real-life testament to this is Helvetia, who used the SFIA framework to codify skills and with SkillsTX were able to identify the skills within the existing workforce, including those that were not yet fully utilized. As a result, they were able to create a recruitment model where existing employees were given a chance to improve their skills and aim for internal promotions.
“We never noticed the potential we had within our organization until we used SkillsTX. Now we started making decisions based on data, not emotions, and that has helped us build strategies for big organizational change. We look at our IT strategy, match it with the abilities of the workforce. Now we know where to invest in people.” Iris Laengle, Head of IT Strategic Transformation & Change, Helvetia.
To ensure your organization doesn’t get left behind in the digital age, it’s essential to understand why a digital skills management tool is not just a “nice-to-have,” but a “must-have” alongside your generalist HR tools.
Addressing the Critical Skills Gap: A Granular Approach with SkillsTX
Most HR tools struggle with critical skills gap analysis because this requires a detailed understanding of specialist roles. For instance, “Information Security” is a broad category. Pinpointing the specific skills gaps – whether that’s strategy and policies, investigating security breaches, digital forensics, or granting user access permissions – requires a granular approach that most HR tools aren’t designed to handle.
SkillsTX is a digital skills management tool that is tailored to deal with the specialist skills of Digital, IT, Cybersecurity, and other technology-focused specialists. A digital skills management tool such as SkillsTX can assess current skills at a detailed-enough level, define the skills needed, and create a development plan that maps activities to these skills at the right levels.
SkillsTX integrates SFIA, the Skills Framework for the Information Age, which is a globally recognized standard for describing professional skills for technology-based specialists. Using SFIA, businesses can align their skills management with a common language, enhancing the clarity and understanding of role requirements and skills gaps across the organization.
The digital revolution necessitates the evolution of HR tools. As such, companies need to look beyond generalist HR platforms and consider supplementing these with tools like SkillsTX that cater to their digital skills management needs. By doing so, they can better attract, develop, and retain their valuable specialist talent, strengthening their competitive edge in an increasingly digital business landscape.
If you’re not sure whether you have a challenge in this area or not, you can find out in less than 15-minutes by completing the free Digital Skills Management Maturity assessment – and you’ll get an extremely useful report upon completion.
