The change in consumption habits, teleworking and the more intensive use of mobile applications are some factors that are increasing the importance of some professional digital skills among companies operating in Mexico.
This is a reality that a good part of the workforce is aware of. According to Global Digital Skills Index 2022 Of Salesforce, more than half of the workers of large companies are looking to develop new skills to grow in their current professional activity.
“There is ambition for people to learn and develop. They are looking to improve on their careeris a very high percentage and that means that people are interested in learning, growing and developing”, explained Paulina Treviño, Senior Director of Solutions Engineering at Salesforce during the presentation of the report.
The index that evaluates 19 countries, including Mexico, the skill level of the labor force, access to learning resources, preparation for the future of work and training, identified that in our country the five professional digital skills that companies value most are those linked to:
- electronic commerce
- collaboration technologies
- Digital marketing
- digital administration
- Project management technologies
Paulina Treviño explained that the relevance of these skills in today’s market is due to the accelerated digital transformation that businesses have, which has caused a greater commitment to remote work or digital commerce.
However, Mexicans only have an advanced domain in collaboration technologies and digital administration. In the rest of the most important professional digital skills for companies, the domain is classified as “beginner” and artificial intelligence and green economy skills show the greatest lag.
Despite the importance that the market gives to these skills, the report highlights that most of these skills “are not found in the typical school curriculum”, raising the need for companies to focus less on educational programs and more on real-world competencies.
In general terms, Mexico’s score in the Salesforce Index is 47 points out of 100. And although its evaluation is above the global average (33 points), there are areas for improvement that are also visible in the rest of the participating economies. . For example, everyday digital skillssuch as web browsing or the use of social networks have a higher level of proficiency compared to digital skills for work.
In fact, when it comes to applying the everyday digital skills in the professional setting, people feel less prepared to do so.
“About 31% of the generation Z feels ready for a digital job. This is the first digital native generation and the use of digital applications and tools is natural. However, not many respondents from this generation believe they have digital skills advanced. For us it is a strong fact, because they have skills, they feel comfortable using social networks, but when we talk about programming, coding, cybersecurity or Artificial Intelligence, they really do not feel comfortable”, said Paulina Treviño.
Hire or develop skills?
At a general level, the report indicates that the world is going through a digital skills crisis. Although people are aware of the development of these skills, the majority of the workforce lacks this training.
According to the study Global Talent Trends Mercer, 39% of Human Resources executives in Latin America acknowledge that concern about the drain of trained talent it is the main obstacle organizations face in developing competencies on a large scale.
From the perspective of Luis Fernando Londoño, senior consultant at Mercer Latin America, the commitment to skill development it is a “fundamental change to be agile in the new work environment. There is a lot of talk about skills, but why don’t we do enough to create those skills-based organizations?
As a response to skills gapTwo years ago it was more common for companies to “buy skills” by hiring new profiles. However, the specialist considered that this strategy will lose strength as the little available talent is employed and the costs to acquire it increase, so the challenge will be to retrain the workforce that organizations already have.