A digital commerce expert and the co-founder at Kinex Media Inc, a creative digital agency in Toronto.
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The passing of time has revealed a remarkable digital transformation in almost every sector. Nowadays, if you don’t run a business digitally, you will at least have to order something online at some point. If you don’t book your hotel through a website before traveling, you will at least have to check-in online before you get on that flight. I can give you a lot more examples!
What am I driving at? Many things are becoming tech-driven, and this is not about to change. In 2019, Matt Brittin, president of EMEA Business & Operations for Google, said that 90% of all jobs will involve a certain degree of digital skills in the next 10 to 15 years. According to him, technology will create new jobs, but it’s also estimated that 14% could be replaced by automation and 32% are set to change radically in terms of scope and focus.
This is one reason why we see tech giants joining a range of digital platforms to offer free training and tools to help people manage businesses digitally, find jobs or advance career-wise. For example, in March 2021, Facebook (now Meta) announced the launch of a digital upskilling initiative in Singapore to increase tech skills of up to 2,700 participants and 1,000 SMEs. Many global educational institutions and companies are also shifting their focus, now cultivating how they can bestow or upgrade IT-related skills in all generations.
As the co-founder of a digital agency, I’ve seen hundreds of clients seek help introducing their businesses to the digital sphere with a clear understanding that things have changed. On the other side, existing online enterprises strive to find ways to keep up with technology innovation, improve customer experiences and ROI, and discover new markets.
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Keeping up with evolving technology has helped us meet clients’ business needs and expectations. Over the years, we’ve enhanced our workforce’s digital abilities by enrolling them in various e-courses, such as how to optimize data analytics on different digital platforms. We also advise our clients to attend these courses to help them drive their businesses competitively.
But what about you? My area of specialization isn’t building digital platforms, especially e-learning platforms, but we can’t overlook their importance. If you’re a business leader, job seeker or merely want to upgrade yourself tech-wise, many popular digital platforms can be of help. These types of platforms can help anyone get smarter and bridge the gap to eliminate relying on others to get things done. Here are some of them:
Grow With Google
Grow with Google (and, by extension, Grow with Google OnAir) is a platform that provides free tools, insights, digital training programs, and virtual events and workshops to grow skills, careers or businesses. The platform extends its video-based digital curriculum to equip learners with basic yet contemporary practical tech skills, including data analytics, marketing, web design and project management.
Business teams can learn how to enhance their business management and marketing skills and optimize Google’s resources. And job seekers have access to a Google Career Certificate, which can help patch up digital skill loopholes — including Project Management and UX Design — to land better tech opportunities.
Udemy
When it comes to learning something new, like web development, digital marketing, graphic design, IT & Software, business management, finance, machine learning, photography or anything that falls in this core, you may want to take a look at this platform. It offers hundreds of thousands of courses — some of which are free. All you have to do is create an account, select a course of your choice and begin learning.
Coursera
Coursera is another platform to consider if you wish to accomplish a learning quest. It caters to a range of digital skill set needs with courses such as machine learning, data science and digital marketing from some of the world’s best educational institutions and companies. Like the other platforms mentioned above, Coursera caters to varying degrees of digital skill set needs — from basic to advanced level. It also provides certificates and degrees.
Apart from those above, Codeacademy, Udacity, Khan Academy, HubSpot Academy and Hootsuite Academy are great options to consider.
Conclusion
As the saying goes, “Learning never stops,” and it’s true — there is always a gap to bridge with the help of a new idea or skill. Because it can be more costly, time-consuming and inflexible, say goodbye to in-class learning and take a chance at some of these digital platforms amid the ongoing chaos.
This is the time to empower businesses across sectors, integrate resources, obtain required digital skills and remain competitive in the digital-first world. Don’t lag behind; get new skill sets, advance the ones you already have or reach better job opportunities with any digital platform of your choice.
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Author: Karan Sharma, Forbes Councils Member
