As businesses invest heavily in technology to navigate economic turbulence, a critical gap is emerging. Research from PwC reveals that 61% of CEO tech investment is focused on transformation, yet this investment can yield little if only a fraction of the workforce has the skills to benefit from it. The skills shortage presents an ongoing challenge, especially in data analysis, where demand for qualified talent far outstrips supply.
While many organisations look outward to hire specialist data scientists, the most sustainable solution often lies within.
The Untapped Asset: Your Domain Experts
The key to developing a broadly data-literate workforce comes from within. The employees best positioned to deliver real-time business insights are often the in-department experts who already hold deep business knowledge.
These knowledge workers don’t need advanced coding skills. With their domain expertise, they can creatively address business problems when empowered with code-friendly or code-free self-service technology. Whether business data resides on-premises, in the cloud, or somewhere in between, the combined approach of accessible platforms and skilled domain experts can make a data-literate workforce a reality.
The Two Pillars of Empowerment: Literacy and Technology
We are operating in the greatest period of data generation in history. While this data surge provides new opportunities, many businesses struggle to derive value from it. Research from Statista proves this, showing that just 2% of the data produced and consumed in 2020 was saved and retained into 2021.
This presents a huge opportunity for organisations to train and upskill their current workforce. The solution rests on two pillars:
- Data Literacy: This is the ability to understand, interpret, and apply data-driven insights to decision-making. It is crucial for developing the next generation of data talent and ensuring that data is interpreted correctly and AI algorithms are trained responsibly.
- Democratised Technology: Technology alone cannot solve what is a human problem; it is only a facilitator of human expertise. The analytics skills gap won’t be resolved simply by teaching more people to code or buying more tools. Instead, leaders need to focus on democratised analytics—enabling anyone in an organisation to work with and deliver value from data through intuitive, self-service platforms.
A Continuous Investment in Culture
Developing data literacy and digital skills involves how leaders engage their domain experts—allowing them to explore analytical opportunities, discover new use cases, and deliver results through a continuous improvement cycle.
Domain experts understand the details of the business but might lack the technical knowledge to make data-based decisions. Upskilling these employees will elevate business growth. They already possess the skills to make impactful business decisions; arming them with powerful analytical knowledge will allow them to back these decisions with data.
As the need for intelligence grows, industries must look at how they fulfill their data and analytics needs. The benefits of improving data literacy are plentiful: it helps businesses earn employee loyalty, it helps employees grow their careers, and it creates a data-intelligent workforce capable of efficient decision-making.
The upskilling and reskilling of all employees—from IT to sales, accounting, and marketing—in data literacy must be a continuous investment. Businesses that understand this will lead the charge by creating a culture of data literacy where anyone can leverage data for strategic decision-making. Those who fail to take these steps will quickly fall behind the competition.
