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Digital: A core capability for today’s businesses

In today’s world, digital is a fundamental capability required by any business. It can unleash tremendous benefits across the whole organisation by creating a new mindset, a new culture and a new way of working. This makes a business more effective and drives competitive advantage through use of digital to strengthen the business strategy, leveraging ecosystem of customers/partners to bring new innovative products to market, delivering great customer experience and maximising efficiency of operations.Let’s look at some examples to understand how digital can be used effectively in various areas of a business:Business Strategy: Build a robust strategy and accelerate its implementationCreating an ecosystem which fosters extensive collaboration with partners and customers, as well as effective use of analytics (both external and internal), can be hugely beneficial to the creation and implementation of an effective business strategy.For example, Cisco realised that the way its customers were buying and consuming its products and services was changing. In alignment with wider trends, customers wanted a consumption-based model where they pay for what they use. In alignment with that evolution in customer demand, Cisco announced in early 2021 a formal strategy to deliver majority of its portfolio “as a service” over time.Cisco has already launched Cisco Plus and is seeing great traction in the market from both the customers as well as partners. This offering allows partners to combine Cisco services with their own to deliver exactly what customers want. This is a great example of a business which listened to market changes and aligned its strategy to meet demand using digital technologies like Cloud, APIs etc.Products/Services: Bring innovative products to market quicklyEffective use of digital technologies can help product research and development become more efficient and productive through:Market insight: Effective use of analytics for market and customer insights on market demand.Product insight: Real-time monitoring through the use of sensors and probes can help provide insight as to how products are being used, what is or is not working well and also help in preventing failures before they happen, thereby providing inputs into product improvements.Ecosystem: Collaborating with customers/partners for rapid prototyping and creation of new innovative products and revenue streams.One great example of such innovative product/business model is Threadless, where customers play a critical role across idea generation, marketing, and sales forecasting. Threadless has created a system in which customers submit new design proposals, the brand’s consumer base votes on these and only the most in-demand designs are then produced. This innovative approach ensures that customers function as a critical part in the product design process, which leads to great sales success as only products with a known demand are manufactured.Customer Experience: Deliver exceptional customer experienceDelivery of personalised customer experience, across all channels, has become the most important differentiator. Capabilities like digital channels and AI can really help with delivery of a differentiated customer experience for any business.One such example is Upstart, which underwrites personal loans using alternative data and AI. They allow customers with poor credit scores a better chance to get lower rates and a seamless experience of borrowing money, through the use of technology. Upstart has achieved 75% fewer defaults and 173% more approvals for the same loss rate as compared to larger banks.Operations: Run business efficiently and improve on a continuous basisIn operations, use of digital can enable highly automated processes. Monzo, a challenger bank in the UK, was able to reduce in-app support requests by 50% in 10 months by analysing the most frequently recurring problems and resolving these through automation or self-service. Experis has helped its clients automate operations to increase efficiency and reduce costs through its virtual worker proposition.Operations can be made even more efficient with the use of analytics to monitor, analyse and proactively manage operational performance. Besides driving efficiency, digital technologies, frameworks and methods enable flexibility and adaptability so that a business can respond quickly to any market changes.Organisation & culture: Build an organisation and culture that’s ready for the futureA digital-first organisation typically encourages its employees to take risks, make small bets and fail/succeed quickly. The organisational structure of such businesses is often fluid and is equipped to quickly re-align towards change objectives or initiatives so that the best skills can be brought together to help the business succeed. Such organisations can predict their talent requirements and can quickly close any talent gaps through upskilling or hiring. Through its Academy offering, Experis is helping many of its clients solve pressing workforce challenges by providing access to in-demand talent today, whilst helping to build a pipeline for the future.Technology: Enables businesses to be agile, scalable & efficientTechnology plays an important role in enabling businesses to be agile and efficient. Use of APIs ensures a quick and standard method for integration with partners and third parties and enables the possibility of adding new revenue streams through the monetisation of data or services. Cloud based infrastructure allows easy scaling of infrastructure. Similarly, use of test & learn methods and agile delivery ensures that innovative products/services can be built and launched quickly, enabling quicker realisation of business benefits.To summarise, an effective digital strategy enables a business to be more agile and adaptable to changes in customer demand and market conditions. An effective Digital Strategy combines technology with new ways of working, data driven decisions and enhanced collaboration with partners/customers while driving improvements on a continuous basis.Experis has helped many clients through their digital transformation journey using its combination of IT consulting, professional resourcing, project services and Academy offerings. To find out more about how Experis can help, click here.

Tapping into neurodiverse talent to tackle the tech skills gap

The UK is suffering from a serious skills shortage, and IT, cyber security and data roles are among some of the hardest hit. The WEF’s Future of Jobs Report 2020 states that tech-related roles account for more than half of the top 20 in-demand roles globally. Similarly, our own research shows that among the most in-demand roles post-pandemic are Data Analysts and Scientists, Cyber Security Experts, Robotics Engineers, Automation Specialists and Software and Application Developers. In the US, the rate of growth for information security jobs is projected at 37% between 2012 and 2022 – much faster than the average for all other occupations.As the market for specialist IT skills tightens and traditional graduate schemes fall short of delivering the volume of talent required, the pool of viable candidates continues to diminish and costs for attracting these workers goes up. In order to close the skills gap, organisations must look outside traditional talent pools. New sources of previously untapped talent need to be identified to help bolster capability and keep organisations ahead of the curve.So, what’s the solution?There are several ways organisations can go about rethinking how to address this, but many do not realise there is an underrepresented pool of candidates with a huge amount of skill and talent to bring to the table.Autistic people often have key strengths that are being frequently overlooked. These strengths include logical thinking and problem-solving, an attention to detail and an ability to see patterns that are not so obvious to others. Studies show that 60% of this population have the same or higher cognitive ability than their neuro-typical (non-autistic) counterparts. Despite this, the unemployment rate of people with autism is shockingly high at 78% – the highest across all disability groups.What is the reason for this high unemployment rate?Many aspects of the world of work have been built with only the neuro-typical in mind. Autistic people often find it difficult to get jobs or stay in them because the way that they think and react to social situations differs from the way that organisations choose to recruit and select employees. They do not fit the management and learning methods that businesses typically use.This does not mean that autistic people can’t perform highly skilled roles or become part of an effective workforce. It simply means that our traditional recruitment methods, management styles and workplace environments need to be adjusted to allow these candidates to demonstrate their potential.Making a few minor changes can open up a fantastically powerful new channel of highly skilled candidates and create real positive change.Skills that bring valueAs with all populations skills and abilities vary tremendously, however within the autistic population there are often some common traits that lend themselves particularly well to cyber security and data roles. These include:Logical and analytical capabilitiesAttention to detailGood visual memory and long-term memoryAbility to see patternsSustained concentration and perseverance even with repetitive tasksPerfectionism, eagerness to pleaseTaking things apart and putting them back togetherAbility to learn routines, adherence to rules and schedulesDetailed knowledge of specific areas of interest and comprehensive technical expertise.In fact, some of these soft skills such as analytical thinking and creativity are some of the most sought-after skills by organisations hiring for tech roles.With the right balance of job type, support and workplace environment, some remarkable performance results and innovation have been achieved by autistic teams – with performance benefits in excess of 25% compared to neuro-typical teams.What can organisations do to enable autistic candidates to succeed in the workplace?We need to be deliberate about reducing the high unemployment rate of autistic people. That’s why Experis, part of ManpowerGroup, has partnered with Untapped, to help employers remove the barriers facing neurodiverse talent.Untapped has created an ecosystem to build, support and deliver leading evidence-based autism employment programs to help corporates and governments accelerate their ability to address critical talent gaps, whilst supporting autistic adults to build the skills and knowledge to establish sustainable careers.Experis and Untapped have teamed up to support the expansion of DXC Technology’s Dandelion Programme into the UK. The programme is designed to recruit people from within the autism community and provide the technical, workplace and life skills required to build a sustainable IT career. In June 2021 we welcomed the first cohort of eight neurodiverse trainees working in Software Testing and User Experience (UX) to the programme.This programme is unique partly due to the support of Autism Spectrum Consultants (ASCs). The ASCs work with the candidates to support them throughout their assessment stage, onboarding, functional, living and social skills, induction weeks and first two years of employment. During the first weeks of the programme the candidates may experience difficulties due to anxiety, transition, sleep difficulties or sensory issues. The ASCs work through these challenges holistically with the candidates and support them through their transition. In addition, the ASCs provide training and mentorship to employers and senior stakeholders, with an emphasis on building an inclusive work environment.Laura Harman and Romeana Gudger, Untapped’s ASCs supporting the DXC team, can see the positive outcomes this type of programme can make, stating: “It was easy to see how the DXC Dandelion Programme differs to other autism employment initiatives. The programme is grounded in research and evidenced-based practice. Having known the programme has run with huge success in Australia since 2014, the opportunity to be employed as an Autism Spectrum Consultant, working alongside the Untapped and DXC team was extremely attractive. The experience has been exciting and enormously rewarding.”The candidate’s perspectiveThe insights that some of the trainees have provided into their journey is testament to the impact the programme has already had:“I was not diagnosed as autistic until January 2018, at the ripe age of 36. Until then I just went about thinking that I had a few quirks, as everybody does. I have had a number of experiences during my life which had also led to me being diagnosed with PTSD, which increases my anxiety amongst other traits.As a British Army Veteran, I am signed up to a few veterans’ charities. A gentleman involved with the charity Walking with the Wounded sent me a link to the Dandelion programme when I asked if he knew of any opportunities for people on the autism spectrum. I had a Teams meeting with Untapped to learn more about the roles and the assessment process. I was already very interested by then, so I applied for the role.This whole experience has been refreshing from the start, from engaging with Untapped and undertaking the assessment phase – which helped to identify people’s strengths, and possibly state weaknesses – right through to interacting with Experis and Paul in relation to the additional application process, clearances, and setting up contracts too. The process was different to what I had ever experienced before. It was very insightful and refreshing as I had not interacted with so many people on the spectrum before, nor with people who were, and are, so very interested in working with autistic people like me.I’ve been openly referred to Access to Work to see what specific equipment they may be able to assist me with. This is a barrier that was put up for me in previous roles and is what forced me to seek employment elsewhere. This support has helped me transition into the role, and I hope that the time and effort put in to assist me can be turned into something that may go on to help other people within the autistic community as well.For me, this is a great opportunity for anybody on the autism spectrum. It is great to be working firstly with a company who already know that I am autistic, understand that I have strengths and weaknesses, are alright with me learning at my own pace, and are also very welcoming too.”With the right support, this is a key talent pool that organisations can access. Employers need to re-evaluate their hiring strategies and how they view the labour market in order to reduce the high unemployment rate of those with autism. This will benefit both organisations who are facing an unprecedented skills gap, as well as providing meaningful work to an underrepresented group who have a huge amount to offer.If you would like to find out more and explore how you can go about hiring people on the autistic spectrum for key roles in your organisation, please contact Ed Price.Written by: Jo Pursaill, Director of Talent at ManpowerGroup, co-authored with Ed Price, Experis and Adam Easterbrook, Untapped

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