Digital continuing education in demand

Every third company considers additional knowledge of social media and programming (35% each) to be necessary. These are the results of a representative survey commissioned by the digital association Bitkom.

Every fourth company (26 percent) sees a great need for further training in data protection and data security, 16 percent in general PC user skills.

"Data is the raw material of the 21st century and big data analysis will become increasingly important for companies in all sectors. It is therefore gratifying that so many companies have recognized that know-how in this area is of great importance for future business success"

says Bitkom Managing Director Dr. Bernhard Rohleder.

Only three percent see no need for further training in their own company on these digital topics, some of which relate to specialized specialists (such as in the field of data analysis) and others to large sections of the workforce (such as social media or user skills).

SMEs in particular see a need to catch up in terms of data analysis: 46% of SMEs consider further training in this area to be important, compared to 33% of large companies.

In contrast, 43 percent of large companies with 500 or more employees consider the provision of programming skills to be particularly important, compared to only 34 percent of SMEs.

The high demand for training and further education is also reflected in the seminars offered by the Bitkom Academy: around 3,000 participants from companies in a wide range of sectors have already received further training in 2015.

Qualifications for Big Data

In a sector comparison, industrial companies in particular want to further qualify their data analysis specialists: 57% see a need for further training in this area.

The figure is significantly lower in retail (41%) and 38% for service providers. Retailers prioritize social media skills (54%), while service providers (33%) and industry (30%) are more reserved.

Service providers place the highest value on programming skills (45 percent), while industry (28 percent) and trade (16 percent) tend to see less demand in this area.

Bitkom Research, in cooperation with the opinion research institute Aris, conducted a nationwide survey of 306 HR managers in companies in all sectors with 50 or more employees on behalf of Bitkom.

The survey is representative of the German economy as a whole. The question was:

"In which of the following topics do you see the greatest need for further training for specialists in your company?"

The topics mentioned were: "data analysis knowledge", "social media knowledge", "data protection and data security knowledge", "PC user knowledge", "other", "no need for further training on these topics". Multiple answers were possible.