Cognizant and Accenture among founders of Data Literacy Project
Accenture and Cognizant have joined a number of global organisations to launch a data literacy drive, aimed at strengthening skills among the workforce in an increasingly digitalised economy. The firms were joined by five other professional services organisations, as the community looks to forge a society “fluent in data.”
With data literacy having become an increasingly important factor of modern life, the push for governments and businesses to promote education in the sector has grown substantially in recent months. With private interests buying and selling data, new laws such as the GDPR altering who holds what rights over which data, and the drive for businesses to analyse huge gluts of data to better understand their customers, this is entirely understandable.
On top of this, according to the recent Data Literacy Index, large companies have the potential to achieve $500 million in higher enterprise value through a more data literate culture and workforce. Despite this, only a third of enterprises provide employees with data literacy training, showing a significant adoption and enablement gap. Initiated by data analysis firm Qlik, the Data Literacy Project consists of a group of like-minded organisations and individuals with this context in mind. Together they aim to create a culture of data literacy, as a springboard to 'exciting possibilities.'
Acting as a community hub, providing assessment tools, information and learning resources for both individuals and organizations to help them improve their data literate skills, culture and even society, the project will be working over the next six months to build a roadmap to deliver against these declarations. The group will also be inviting private and public sector organisations, governments and education institutions to join the mission. The Data Literacy Project is committed to working to inspire major organisations globally to make data literacy an imperative; creating the most accessible and comprehensive global data literacy educational resource ecosystem; and empowering educational institutions globally to place data literacy into the mainstream curriculum.
Among the group’s other founders are a host of other names from across the professional spectrum, including Experian, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Pluralsight, Data to the People, Accenture and Cognizant. These organisations will drive the agenda, deliver educational resources and training and ensure the project achieves its mission. According to a statement from the group, the community is dedicated to “making society fluent in data, and places data literacy at the heart of individual and organisational success.”
“With the growing presence of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, feeling comfortable and confident working with data is critical for individuals navigating the future of work,” said Mike Capone, Qlik CEO. “We have brought together this group of passionate leaders to ignite discussion, create better resources and drive greater appreciation for data skills that are critical for the data revolution occurring around us.”
