Business-Enabling Skills – The Engine That Drives Innovation
Finding your way in today’s new digital economy can be challenging, whether you’re taking initial steps on your career path or considering a transition into a more promising field. The global marketplace is becoming more interconnected and disruptive by the day, it seems. But it’s not necessary to become an IT genius or Silicon Valley entrepreneur to write your ticket to success.
While it might be tempting to dive into some intense tech-heavy training, old-fashioned business skills might well be your best option. Our increasingly high-tech infrastructure requires well-trained professionals who can simply make the business side hum along seamlessly.
A background in, for example, human resources or project management or business administration is much in demand, especially in our most interconnected cities, according to the special report, “The New Foundational Skills of the Digital Economy: Developing the Professionals of the Future,” an in-depth jobs report from Burning Glass Technologies that identifies 14 skill groups that are most in-demand – including four within the Business Enabler category.
“Cities across the globe are enhancing their digital infrastructure, and this has implications for workers across [several] career areas,” the report states. “Digital Building Blocks require understanding of the specialized methods, programs, tools and frameworks that are most valuable and transferable in a digital world, and Business Enablers play a synthesizing, integrative role in the workplace and allow other skills to be put to work in practical solutions.”
The Business-Higher Education Forum commissioned Burning Glass, a leading job-market analytics firm, to identify the most requested skills by analyzing more than 150 million U.S. job postings. The study revealed Business Enabler skills were requested in nearly 30% of postings in Smart Cities such as Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
Gaining a strong background in these skills can give candidates an edge in today’s competitive job market. And there has been a surge in people going online to learn new skills during the COVID pandemic. Recent data from LinkedIn shows a 1,100% increase overall in such searches – and 1,378% among younger Gen-Z job seekers.
With the economy poised to come roaring back post-pandemic, 2021 is a great time to prepare to capitalize with leading-edge expert training. Here’s a selection of courses that address each of Burning Glass’ four leading Business Enabler categories.
Business Process
Eminently transferable, the skillsets in this essential category are addressed in Introduction to Business Process Optimization. Expert instructors provide students with the components laid out in the Business Process Optimization Framework, along with the methodologies and tools that make up its core elements. It’s a foundational course in the Business Administration certificate program, designed to give students the skillsets most valued across a range of industries: finance, HR, marketing communications and business analysis.
A required course in the popular Human Resources Management program, Leading Successful Organizational Change focuses on the strategies for planning and implementing change in any field. This course provides the background for navigating changing business systems and culture in today’s volatile digital economy. And Accounting Information Systems connects the interaction and roles between accountants and information technology in business for students seeking an Applied Accounting certificate.
Communicating Data
Raw data is just white noise if you can’t interpret it and communicate what it all means. That’s where Effective Data Preparation comes in, a core course in the Predictive Analytics certificate program. This intensive hands-on course takes a deep dive into the elements that form the basis for data mining, giving students the skills necessary to extract data, understand their significance to the organization, and produce a dataset relevant for building predictive models that increase productivity.
Part of the Business Analysis program, Solutions Evaluation and Testing focuses on data analysis to validate the performance and value already in place at a company, using best practices outlined by the International Institute of Business Analysis™ (IIBA®) A Guide to the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK® Guide) and the Project Management Institute (PMI®) Guide to Business Analysis – industry standards for the BA field.
Digital Design
Online learning is more prevalent now than ever, and the Introduction to Designing and Developing E-Learning Courses forms a solid foundation for online instructional design. Students learn the fundamentals of developing programs, lessons and courses, with the goal of creating their own mock-up of an e-learning module.
Part of the Web Design program, Introduction to UX for Web Design provides the fundamentals of web design techniques, processes, and design technologies used in leading design companies and technology start-ups. Learn to create visually appealing websites and improve user experience. The Introduction to Web Programming with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and React teaches intermediate level knowledge and skills for web development, along with an introduction to basic programming concepts and the three web development languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Furthermore, students in this course will learn how to apply these languages to create web-based applications.
Project Management
Project Execution lays a foundation for this much in-demand skillset, essential in a wide range of industries and positions. Part of the highly popular Project Management program, it focuses on effective execution taking an agile approach that adjusts to shifts and changes that would otherwise derail complex projects. Students learn to identify risks and leverage plans using tools such as the Earned Value Management and Trend analysis, employing principles found in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide).
Esports Project Management: Live Events puts students on the front lines of the booming competitive esports field. Providing an outstanding networking experience, this course covers all the essential elements involved in building and managing live esports events, taught by professionals in this emerging sport. And current or aspiring project managers can benefit greatly by taking Lean Six Sigma Philosophy and Project Selection, a foundation for earning a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.
View a full listing of programs.