How to Bridge the Data Skills Gap Through Self-Service Analytics

By Tomer Shiran, Dremio

With the significant influx of data in modern business, it's clear that organizations must focus on upskilling their entire workforce to ensure they can unlock the full potential of the data. It's no longer enough to rely solely on data scientists and engineers. To remain agile and competitive in today's landscape, closing the IT skills gap across your organization is critical, with 93% of UK businesses recognizing this challenge.

Empowering employees, not just those with just technical backgrounds, to use self-service analytics tools is vital. Data literacy is essential for everyone to truly enable informed decision-making that aligns with the business' goals.

Understanding Data Literacy

Data literacy is the ability to read, understand, create, and communicate data effectively. This includes recognizing the relevance of data and interpreting patterns and insights, and applying these to solve problems and present findings clearly to different audiences.

In this fast paced, data-centric environment, every employee must possess a fundamental understanding of data in order to drive innovation. Although acquiring these skills can be challenging for those without a technical background, data literacy is now a necessity. So, how can organizations best empower their employees to thrive in this landscape?

Related:Data Skills Gap Is Hampering Productivity; Is Upskilling the Answer?

Simplifying Data Access for All Employees

One effective strategy for bridging the data skills gap and truly fostering data literacy is to implement user-friendly analytic platforms that democratise data access. These platforms should be designed to allow employees to explore and interpret data independently and easily, without requiring advanced technical expertise. The shift toward more accessible data tools should emphasize the change in how businesses approach data, empowering employees at all levels to successfully engage with it.

Business intelligence (BI) platforms are at the forefront of this shift. Modern BI tools can integrate with a variety of data sources such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, customer relationship management (CRM), and cloud databases, providing automated insights and recommendations depending on the data. These platforms often feature built-in capabilities that offer trend analyses and actionable insights, making the exploration of data and the generation of reports a simpler process for non-technical users.

By deploying self-service BI, organizations can accelerate their decision-making processes and as a result drive forward innovation. When employees at all levels have the tools and access they need to independently derive insights, it leads to better performance, increased productivity, and the discovery of new growth opportunities.

Investing in Learning and Upskilling

Providing effective training is another crucial component of bridging the data skills gap. To ensure that employees can leverage self-service analytics tools effectively, organizations should implement structured onboarding programs that cover the basics of these platforms. These should offer a comprehensive introduction to the tool's interface, best practices for data exploration, visualization, and key functionalities. Moreover, integrating hands-on workshops and real-world case studies can reinforce learning and help employees apply their new skills in practical scenarios.

On-demand learning resources such as video tutorials, webinars, and e-learning courses can support formal training, allowing employees to learn at their own pace and revisit material as and when needed. Continuous support is also vital to assist employees in overcoming any challenges they encounter while using these tools.

The ultimate goal of enhancing data literacy is to democratize data access and enable every employee to confidently use it to drive decisions and enhance their work. By adopting user-friendly analytic platforms and investing in comprehensive training and support, organizations can empower their workforce to become more data-savvy.

Not only does this close the data skills gap, but it also promotes a culture of informed decision-making and continuous improvement. Businesses can then fully capitalize on their data assets, leading to a sustained growth and competitive advantage in an increasingly data-driven world.

About the author:

Tomer Shiran is founder of Dremio.