by Brianna Crandall — March 5, 2018 — Global professional services firm PwC recently unveiled what it calls a first-of-its-kind app designed to accelerate the way employees learn, interact and solve problems in a digital-first world, helping non-tech employees feel more comfortable with digital interaction and get up-to-speed on today’s disruptive technologies.
For many businesses, adapting to the rapid pace of digital disruption is first and foremost a workforce challenge:
- 63% of business leaders say the lack of skilled teams was a key obstacle to digital innovation.
- More than 80% of CEOs agreed they need to improve even their own soft and digital skills.
The app responds to this challenge as part of an initiative called Digital Workforce Transformation, which uses a four-step approach to build a digital culture that embraces change and drives innovation. It starts with the app’s Digital Fitness Assessment, which enables businesses to gauge digital fluency of their team. The app then curates personalized digital trainings based on each unique user’s results — on topics including cybersecurity, blockchain, user experience, artificial intelligence (AI) and design thinking.
Digital Workforce Transformation
According to Tom Puthiyamadam, PwC Digital Services leader:
Digital disruption can upend an industry, seemingly, overnight. Many organizations looking to quickly strengthen their Digital IQ think the solution is throwing money at new technology and seeing what sticks, but it really needs to start with people.
Recognizing the need for its own people to continually sharpen skills, PwC created the Digital Fitness Application for its workforce. PwC is a network of firms in 158 countries with more than 236,000 people delivering assurance, advisory and tax services. More than 25,000 PwC employees currently use the app around the world.
Mike Fenlon, Chief People Officer at PwC, commented:
At PwC, we know digital empowerment for our own people will help bring better results for our clients. What we didn’t know is that the effort would be so effective. We’re excited to be working with clients to utilize the platform to launch similar digital initiatives at their companies.
For clients, the app is just one component of fostering a digital mindset. To empower teams to work in new ways and build a culture of innovation, PwC’s Digital Workforce Transformation initiative uses four steps to help organizations remain competitive:
- Assess — Develop a benchmark for organizational talent within digital.
- Advance — Receive content that is tailored and contextualized to your organization.
- Add — Determine your talents gaps, and start hiring differently.
- Accelerate — Deliver value and advance learning through real-life business application.
CPO Fenlon continued:
While we don’t know what the future will look like, there is one certainty: people will be more crucial than ever to shaping, deploying and powering new technology. Without the right people to guide transformation, investment in technology is aimless and sure to fail.
For more information on Digital Workforce Transformation, visit the PwC Web site.
