kamran sharief Software Skills Businesses: In our modern age of business that has technology heavily integrated into it, it is not a surprise that software skills are a frequently cited demand that many businesses have of new talent. Over the last 30 years, computers have proven to be a major transformer for modern society – they have made humans able to complete tasks in a fraction of the time it used to take, and has made the world more closely connected. Going forward, software and computers are becoming essential to modern work – to the point that it is considered an act of survivalto adopt technology in an organisation.
A lot of businessesopt for managed IT services in order to be able to get access to software, and also the expertise needed to get the most out of the software. Other businesses choose to hire their own talent that have the right software skills they’re looking for.
Here are some of the top software skills that businesses are looking for these days:
Table of Contents
1. Operating Systems
Choosing an operating system is a major choice. For businesses, picking one OS over the other has organisation-wide implications, as it will influence the entirety of your IT infrastructure.
As most people will know, the operating system is the software that manages hardware and software resources in your computer. Without an OS, your computer would not function in a way that you could use it. Every computer uses an operating system; the servers businesses use to support their IT infrastructure use operating systems, and all the PCs used by employees use one as well.
Businesses value those with extensive expertise on operating systems, as they are able to provide crucial support to hardware.
2. Word Processors and Spreadsheets
In business, information comes in two main forms: Natural language and numeric data. Of course, there are plenty more types of information, but these are the two most common in business. If businesses want to convey information in natural language, they create documents contain information arranged in a number of ways (such as a report, a newsletter, etc.)
For natural language information, we have word processors. But for numeric data, we have spreadsheets. These unique type of software is the most efficient way of storing, arranging, and manipulating numeric data in a number of ways. Businesses use spreadsheets to analyse data, find insights, make projections and predictions, etc.
Documents and spreadsheets are critical to the day-to-day operations of businesses, and so organisations value expertise in word processing software and spreadsheets.
3. Customer Relationship Management
The whole point of most businesses is to provide a service or product to a specific audience. That audience is the customer, and for a business to succeed, they need to have a good relationship with their customers, and they need to be able to acquire new customers efficiently. Businesses achieve these goals using Customer Relationship Management, or CRM.
CRM is the most efficient way of converting leads into customers, and converting customers into brand advocates (the ultimate goals). A CRM system is a software that consolidates all the data a business has on customers, sales, contacts, and more – this makes it easier to discover and acquire new customers. CRM also makes a business’ sales, marketing, and customer service departments better connected, which leads to a better experience for existing customers.
For a business, having employees that are experienced with and enjoy using a CRM system is excellent. It is because many have cited that using CRM systems makes their job easier.
4. Enterprise Resource Planning
As mentioned above, businesses are most efficient when they are capable of consolidation information, and connecting different areas of the business for easier communication, collaboration, and organisation.
Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, is the solution of consolidating all the processes required to run a company into a single platform – in this case a dedicated ERP system or software. Enterprise resource planning is capable of integrating planning, purchasing of inventory, sales, marketing, accounting, human resources, and much more.
ERP solutions are typically web-based systems. These types of software can sometimes be ineffective if the company does not implement the system in the right way. For this reason, businesses often look for talent with experience in ERP to help implement the solution.
5. Creative Suites
Generation of creative content is becoming an increasingly valuable quality for businesses. Whether an organisation wants to create interesting marketing material, advertisements, or promotional content, or even create content for their customers, they will need to have the right software, and also have people that are experienced with the software.
The most popular set of creative content creation software is Adobe Creative Cloud. This suite of applications offers the capability to create graphic content, enhance of edit photographs, create professional video content, etc.
More and more businesses are looking for talent that has the skills to use creative software to help them with their marketing, advertising, and promotion.