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How to Close the Digital Skills Gap with Document Management

Written by Michelle Thomas on April 22, 2022

Digital skills are becoming increasingly important in the workplace. With so many businesses shifting to remote work over the coronavirus pandemic, it is increasingly apparent how crucial digital skills are to the modern workplace.

What began as a temporary move to digital work for many businesses has become permanent in 2022. However, in general, the supply of digital skills among the workforce has yet to meet the needs of employers, creating a digital skills gap in today’s job market. Many companies are turning to document management to close this gap.

In this article, digital skills expert Michelle Thomas from Scanteam.pro will define the digital skills gap and explain how document management is the answer to closing it.

What is the Digital Skills Gap?

Before we can tackle how document management can help close the digital skills gap, we must first elaborate on what exactly the digital skills gap is. After defining digital skills in general, this section will tackle this question.

What Are Digital Skills?

You may have heard the term digital skills before, thrown around as a buzzword in recruiting, but you may not be clear on what all the term encompasses. So, what does the term digital skills include?

Put, digital skills are the skills needed to operate digital devices, apps, and networks to obtain and organize information. This encompasses everything from online search engines and emails to specialist development and tech programming.

Here is a shortlist of examples of things are covered under the digital skills umbrella:

● Data entry.

● Computer literacy.

● Social media management.

● Using email and chat.

● Data science.

● Digital marketing.

● Programming and app development.

● Content creation.

This is not an exhaustive list, but even this shortlist of examples gives you an idea of the variety of areas digital skills covers and the range of skill levels the field encompasses.

What is the Digital Skills Gap, and What Does it Mean for Employers?

Now that this article has offered a description of digital skills, we’ll consider what exactly the digital skills gap is.

The skills gap is the mismatch between the skills an employer requires from their employees and the existing skills possessed by job applicants. They can come about for various reasons, depending on the industry.

For example, young people who have chosen not to attend further education have been met with a particular social stigma in recent decades. As a result, more people have gone to college to pursue academic degrees, meaning a significant skills gap in blue-collar careers.

As you might expect, the digital skills gap refers to the discrepancy between employers’ demands for digital skills and the current digital capabilities of potential employees.

What is Document Management?

Before considering how document management can help close the digital skills gap, this article will first define the term.

Document management refers to processes or systems used to manage digital documents like word processing files, PDFs, etc. There are many benefits to using document management. Not only does it provide centralized storage and easy search and retrieval, but it also guarantees document security, audit trails, and access control.

Digital document management systems have significant benefits over paper storage. For one thing, physical documents take up physical space—and if you have a lot of documents, they may take up a significant amount of space! On top of that, document management systems make it easier to secure your documents and retrieve information from them.

How Document Management Helps Close the Digital Skills Gap

Now that we’ve defined document management and listed a few of its main benefits, this article will explain how document management can close the digital skills gap.

As you can see, there is a significant overlap between digital skills and document management. Many simple digital skills are required across many companies and industries. For example, the ability to create, access, edit, and share digital documents is a skill that is just as valuable in administrative roles as in design and marketing.

Incorporating document management systems into your business is, therefore, extremely advantageous. Employees of any background or skill level can quickly adapt to these systems, and in turn, these systems help close the digital skills gap.

Read on for a few examples of how document management systems can help employers close the digital skills gap in their businesses.

By Organizing Your Digital Documents in a Single Location

One of the biggest draws of document management systems is creating a single repository for all your business files. Whenever natively or through an Application Programming Interface (API), document management systems link themselves with your system software so that you don’t have to open and close different applications to manage your documents.

With your documents ordered in a single repository, interruption to ongoing work will be at an absolute minimum.

By Enhancing Accuracy

Document management systems also reduce the risk of human error impacting the running of your business. When relying on hard copies of documents, employers often contend with papers being misplaced or lost. But when using a document management system, you can search for your documents quickly and easily.

By Automating Your Business’ Workflows

Document management systems are also helpful in that they help automate workflows, and files can be automatically shared between users. You can also set criteria so that the exchange of documents will automatically pause or redirect as needed.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the benefits of document management in closing the digital skills gap. No matter the skill level of your employees, automated document management processes will ensure that your files are stored and managed efficiently. 

Author's bio: Michelle Thomas Marketing Analyst and Blogger in Scanteam. I've been working with web analytics, data collection, and analysis for 7 years. I also work in the area of Big Data. My experience helps to be a professional in marketing and related industries.