Understanding and Delivering the Business Case for Data Literacy Skills
Digital transformations are automating more and more tasks and causing another shift in how we value human contribution in the workplace.
People are needed less for being producers of work and more for executing judgment and making decisions about business strategy, processes, and how to interact with customers.
To be successful, however, workers must understand how to use data to make better decisions faster. We have more data than ever before, and it’s proliferating more quickly than ever.
As companies shift to data-driven operating models and decision-making, it’s clear that data literacy is becoming an integral aspect of most day-to-day jobs for many employees.
When we talk about data literacy for employees, it shouldn’t be mistaken for technical literacy, and it doesn’t necessarily include the high-level skills needed by a data scientist. Rather, it is:
- The ability to read, work with, question, and analyze data
- The knowledge of how to use data to tell a story, present an argument, and persuade
- The ability to make decisions that align with business objectives based on data insights
- Using data as a catalyst for efficiency, personalization, problem-solving, and innovation
These 21st-century skills are in high demand and low supply. It’s another manifestation of the growing skills gap that is preventing businesses from realizing the full value of their technology investments.
This eBook aims to give learning leaders a fundamental understanding of what data—and, by extension, data literacy—can and will do for an organization.
It provides a framework for how to extend the value of data across the business. With this resource, learning and development (L&D) leaders will have both the knowledge and the means to drive informed discussions with critical stakeholders and highlight the importance of investing in meaningful, strategic, and sustainable training that builds data literacy for all.
Conclusion
Partnering for success will transform the future Data literacy is too big and too important attempted by any single leader. The business need and potential benefits are clear.
When L&D teams can partner with the CDO and other business leaders they will most likely find success with skill development and, ultimately, business outcomes. Together they can assess data literacy needs and develop learning paths for a variety of skill levels and applications.
