The Heart of the South West (HofSW) Digital Skills Partnership brought together the public, private and third sector to tackle the digital skills divide. It is part of a pilot of six Local Digital Skills Partnerships created by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (now, Department of Science, Innovation and Technology).
As part of this effort, Devon County Council created Digital Advantage Devon to help tackle the digital skills divide in their region and to help businesses harness technology to become more productive, resilient and competitive.
Digital adoption, especially for SMEs and micro-businesses, often starts at the top. Business leaders need digital skills, vision and purpose-driven strategy to successfully lead on technology adoption and implementation. Recognising that it is not just staff that needs to upskill, Devon County Council created a four-part leadership course to support busy leaders in gaining necessary digital skills and know-how so they are better positioned to drive their business forward through digital adoption.
The series was delivered through a combination of group learning, one-to-one counselling and project coursework. The courses cover emerging and enabling technologies, implementation processes, risk management, staff training and how to develop a digital strategy for now and the future.
To underpin the Digital Advantage programme and its leadership course, Devon sought a digital tool that could assess businesses’ current digital maturity level, as well as track their progress over time. The tool had to be robust, flexible, and easy to use for both self- and adviser-guided assessments.
GC Insight developed a local version of our Digital Capabilities Assessment Tool (DCAT) for the Heart of the South West Digital Skills Partnership (DSP) to underpin Devon’s Digital Advantage progamme and its leadership course. Powerful and proven, the tool supports businesses to identify digital capability strengths, as well as areas for development. Businesses then use this data to create effective plans to improve their digital skills and to grow their business.
Predominantly a self-assessment tool, the diagnostic was designed for ease of use and impact, including features such as:
The tool is based on our Benchmark Index platform, which has been used as the foundation for more than 100 business digital tools. It follows accessibility standards and is fully responsive and optimised for all main platforms and browsers, making it flexible, reliable and secure.
After discussion with the client, we amended our established question set to meet their specific needs. In its final form, the structure covered six broad areas:
Participants responses to the questions provide:
Users obtain feedback on their current levels of skills and proficiency instantly online. A more detailed, personalised report breaks down the results and intelligently signposts businesses to relevant resources and support. The report also provides a basis for one-to-one consultancy.
After six weeks of development, GC Insight delivered the customised tool to Devon County Council. We also provided training to their advisers who will be supporting the businesses through Digital Advantage, while it is also available to be used as self-assessment tool.
Within the first two months of use, 50 Devon businesses used and benefitted from the Digital Maturity Index Tool, with many more joining them after the launch of the Digital Leadership Programme.
