The Critical Impact of Tech Literacy: Addressing Skill Gaps for Business Growth

In the discussion of technology used on a daily or specialist basis, there are numerous tech innovations since their implementation that have changed the way we live both professionally and personally. As the date from the release of the first smartphone gets older and its users get younger, generational tech literacy for everyday use is at an all-time high, with even those born before the modern internet as we know it being fully immersed in the latest mainstream technology developments. Within that broad cross-generational tech literacy though, must be an acknowledgment that although most people will know how to use a modern phone extensively or an internal office software at an at least surface level, specialised knowledge vital for carrying out jobs, such as in using spreadsheets or CRM applications, is absent from the skillsets of many within or about to enter the workforce.

Despite ready access to modern education and the internet, the latter arguably being the collective sum of all human knowledge, tech skill shortages across entire sectors and the economy as a whole are threatening to limit the output potential of employers and work optimisation of employees.

Technology skill gaps and L&D

On a large scale, shortages of talent in tech skills can potentially lead to stifled growth. In an age where technology grows more fascinating and complex by the decade and sometimes the year, there is a hunger from companies as well as employees to not be left behind by industry developments. The time it takes to be acquainted with new technology is often inconsistent though, and while anyone can in theory look at tutorials on how to use software, self-teaching can still leave crucial knowledge gaps necessary for a job. After all, if complete training on a field could be done from watching a few videos, degrees and years of professional experience would not be a listed requirement on any job description.

From this, it can be understood that gaps in tech literacy within a workforce can lead to productivity shortfalls, with businesses not fully utilising both their employees and the software they have ready access to within their work. When combining such tech literacy gaps with subsequent pressure that this puts on employee performance, staff turnover can be exacerbated as a result of insufficient workplace training.

Scope, Sectors and Solutions

With recent research suggesting that a large portion of firms report such technology skill gaps, it is clear that a lack of crucial tech literacy has the potential to be detrimental to the economy, let alone individual business sectors.

Though the absence of universal comprehensive tech literacy is broadly a national issue for companies, this is disproportionately the case for specific industries. If increasingly senior roles, requiring specialised software skills, are not having a healthy pool of applicants to choose from, talent promotion becomes limited. From this, a business faces the problem of bright potential choices for management simply not having the thorough tech skillset understanding of their field to fully thrive in their role. To remedy this, continuous learning of critical skills within a workday could potentially be a vital solution.

The tough consequences

The cost of tech illiteracy should be of concern to everyone with growth in mind for their business. Within the next decade, millions globally could be chronically under-skilled for the digital nature of their roles, impacting performance on areas that include leadership. After all, how can well-rounded technology decisions be made by those in leadership who do not sufficiently understand themselves the digital innovations they are expecting?

Even when putting aside the broad impacts on innovation that tech illiteracy can create, such skillset shortcomings can pose very serious security risks for businesses. Hefty fines can be issued to companies who have not been able to protect their customer or employee data, in this sense even guaranteed comprehensive training on GDPR protection can prevent your business from falling victim to a phishing scam.

The bottom line of poor tech L&D

When considering all of these factors, productivity losses as a result of poor tech literacy can collectively cost UK businesses millions and investment in L&D is simply non-negotiable because of it. This is at a time where ready access to the internet should, in theory, give people all of the knowledge they would ever need to optimally perform their roles. The problem is though that unless learning is structured around the precise requirements of an employee’s role, it is a somewhat impractical expectation that all staff being onboarded would not only know every skill necessary within internal software but also immediately understand a business specific workflow and implementation requirements of said skills.

Everyone imagines slightly different character appearances within a novel or has an interpretation of which software skills to use in a way that works for them but may be difficult to understand for the rest of a team or department. This is why, for the sake of transparent communication, efficiency and a centralised company workflow, tech L&D is needed to lower software illiteracy and maximise both company growth and the quality of employees.

About Lawford Knight

At Lawford Knight, we are an L&D consultancy with expertise in blended learning, classroom and e-learning solutions. We understand how to design and deliver tailored learning for your business, with an extended history in developing transformation programmes for digital change to the benefit of thousands of employees. If you want to implement critical training for your staff, we can help. Get in touch with us and let’s get started on upskilling your company to meet the demands of an exciting and unpredictable modern market.