The gap in skills needed to compete in an increasingly digital world is a major issue for most organisations. Recognising this gap is one thing, doing something about it is a much bigger challenge. This White Paper contains a structured approach that has been learned across different businesses over 17 years.

1. How can you step up to the Digital Skills
challenge in 2015?
Academy of Digital Business Leaders
Apprentices
In partnership with

2. Apprentices
In partnership with
There seem to be more questions than answers
when it comes to becoming Digital. And just as one
question is answered, another one comes up.
The skills gap exists across all levels of an
organisation. How does an organisation acquire a
base level of knowledge and skills? It can’t simply be
solved by hiring in digital experts.
How do leaders know the right questions to ask
about digital? The skills agenda is changing so quickly
that this month’s latest insights are out of date very
quickly.
Howdowestayuptospeedwhendigitalopportunities
are changing? One-off training programmes will be
short-lived if not part of a longer term programme.
What can senior leaders do to address these
challenges?
The gap in skills needed to compete in an increasingly digital world is a major
issue for most organisations. Recognising this gap is one thing, doing something
about it is a much bigger challenge.
This White Paper contains a structured approach
that has been learned across different businesses
over 17 years within the Blenheim Chalcot Group:​
• Digital skills are now an imperative​
• Get left behind at your peril​
• To keep up, digital capacity needs to be
developed and embedded across your
organisation, not just in a silo​
• We have developed a practical 7 element
framework to evaluate your digital capacity​
• For each element see where you sit on a three
stage progression​
• Depending on where the gaps are you will have
clear priorities as a business​
• We have developed a set of solutions to address
the capability component of each of these
priorities
​
Contact us to find out how they can help you.​
Charles Mindenhall​
Co-Founder and Chair the ADBL and Blenheim Chalcot
Ben Rowland​
Co-Founder Arch Apprentices

3. Digital skills are now an imperative
“We always overestimate
the change that will
occur in the next two
years and underestimate
the change that will
occur in the next ten.”
Bill Gates
When we first got involved in the world of
“the internet” in the late 1990s, the promise of
digital far outstripped its reality. Like many, we
got carried away with the potential that online
technologies - and the convergence of devices,
broadband, and applications - would have to
change the way we bought and consumed
products and services and the way in which
companies would serve us.
However, as many of us remember, the
potential got hyped up, expectations weren’t
met, disillusion set in, investors were burnt, and
digital became “another” area that became part
of business as usual. For quite some time reality
lagged behind the potential.
What is remarkable about the last two to
three years is the way in which the reality has
suddenly stormed past the potential of the late
1990s, often leaving the rhetoric in its wake.
Bill Gates once said “We always overestimate the
change that will occur in the next two years and
underestimate the change that will occur in the
next ten.”
This has been undoubtedly the case, with the
convergence of smartphone and tablet growth,
broadband, low cost application development
and infrastructure leading to disruptive
innovations across industries.

4. Apprentices
In partnership with
86%
of 1,322 CEOs
86% of CEOs realise they need to
champion the use of digital technologies
for their enterprises’ digital investments
to succeed.
More enlightened, forward thinking companies
have long realised how they can use technology
to enhance the ways in which they operate and
compete. The travel and dating industries, for
example, are now almost inconceivable as ‘off line’
industries. Now the general ‘mass’ of businesses are
scrambling to catch up, driven by a growing sense of
urgency around the need to adopt digital.
So too are a growing number of charities and
Government organisations. PwC’s 18th Annual
Global CEO survey of 1,322 CEOs found that 86%
of CEOs realise they need to champion the use
of digital technologies for their enterprises’ digital
investments to succeed.
But this urgency is often driven by a fear of being
Get left behind at your peril
left behind rather than an informed understanding.
This means that many companies who want to
become digitally savvy are unprepared for, or even
simply unaware of, the impact digital can now
have on their businesses. There are pockets of
good practice in many companies, and individuals
who are capable and knowledgeable, but to grasp
and execute the opportunity that digital presents
requires a fundamental rethinking of the skills
across an organisation.

5. Apprentices
In partnership with
“Businesses,
governments and
populations in general
need better digital and
programming skills…
it’s just as important to
recruit Maths Men as it is
Mad Men.”
Sir Martin Sorrell
In our experience, the simple fact is that digital
is not an institutionalised capability, in the
way that, say, finance or management is. That is
understandable in that it is only now that “digital” is
being viewed in the same light, as a capability that
needs to exist across organisations and not just a
specialist silo. In the same way that a great HR
department cannot make a company a great place
to work, a great IT or digital team cannot make a
company a great digital company.
We have seen this most often to be the case in
areas such as marketing and sales - where the digital
impact can be huge, but relatively few companies
have a full understanding of how they can harness
this. One of the problems is the multi-disciplinary
nature of the opportunity - which cuts across areas
To keep up, digital capacity needs to be developed and embedded across your
organisation, not just in silo
such as marketing, sales, IT - which have not always
been comfortable bed-fellows.
None of this is a surprise given the pace at which
digital has developed. Companies increasingly
recognise that one of the major barriers they face is
the lack of skills. Martin Sorrell of WPP recently cited
skills as one of the five key ‘principles’ for the digital
age: “Businesses, governments and populations in
general need better digital and programming skills….
it’s just as important to recruit Maths Men as it is
Mad Men.”

6. Apprentices
In partnership with
HR Directors and L&D departments can play a key
role in responding to the need for a step-change in
an organisation’s digital skills. They are the ones who
are best placed to articulate requirements and turn a
fear of being left behind into a practical programme
for skill acquisition.
But how do you tackle the (significant) transition
that is required and put together the steps that
need to be taken along the way?
The ADBL was founded by leaders from the
Blenheim Chalcot group which has built a portfolio
of over 20 successful digital businesses, ranging
from a 2,000 person outsourcing business to a 10
person music channel on Youtube.
We have developed a practical 7 element framework to evaluate your digital
capacity
The ADBL uses a 3 level Digital Skills “Maturity
Model” across 7 linked elements to help businesses
manage the transition of their own digital skills
agenda. We have used and refined this model across
the Blenheim Chalcot portfolio with companies that
have been facing and handling the challenges of
digital transformation.
On the back of this success, we have turned this
into a capability we are offering, to assess and
analyse companies and then put in place a set of
actions to move each business up a level.
The solutions are delivered in conjunction with
Arch Apprentices and Captured, an online
personal development tool, both part of the
Blenheim Chalcot group.

7. Apprentices
In partnership with
Innovation Capacity
IMPLEMENT THE RIGHT CHANGE WITH
CONFIDENCE
IT Responsiveness BUILD EFFICIENT & RESPONSIVE SYSTEMS
Talent Acquisition RECRUIT THE RIGHT TALENT
Learning & Development NURTURE EXPERTISE
Board INFORMED LEADERSHIP
Senior Management
EMPOWER CONFIDENT STRATEGIC
DECISION MAKING
Middle Management
EQUIP WITH DIGITAL SKILLS AND
UNDERSTANDING
331 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
1 2 3
For each element see where you sit on a three stage progression (see following pages for details on each)

8. Apprentices
In partnership with
Innovation Capacity
LEVEL 1
Growing understanding of a need to become more
digital, but no mechanism for prioritising and making
it happen; fear of change.
LEVEL 2
Growing understanding of what is right for the
business, emerging confidence to pick initiatives and
to push through change; change is seen as exciting
but daunting.
LEVEL 3
Confidence and experience around picking the
right digital projects to pursue, strong programme
and project structures (from Board down) to make
change happen; change is seen as ‘business as usual’.
LEVEL 1
Occupied primarily with fire-fighting and maintaining
usefulness of legacy systems.
LEVEL 2
Some projects and initiatives, mainly ‘bolt ons’ to
‘core’ systems.
LEVEL 3
Focus on continuous evolution of core systems to
generate new business benefits via well designed
projects and programmes.
IT Responsiveness

9. Apprentices
In partnership with
Talent Acquisition
LEVEL 1
Reliant on pockets of self-declared expertise and
bought-in consultants.
LEVEL 2
Emerging strategic digital hiring, some assessment
of digital capability across recruitment, piloting new
talent acquisition programmes.
LEVEL 3
Workforce/succession planning and recruitment
have digital as a core component; growing
reputation as a good ‘digital employer’; established
and continuously developing graduate, intern and
apprenticeship programmes
LEVEL 1
Training for digital business not offered or provided on
a formal basis.
LEVEL 2
Some ‘pilot’ courses and/or in response to bottom up
demand.
LEVEL 3
Systematic programme tailored for all levels.
Learning & Development

10. Apprentices
In partnership with
Board
LEVEL 1
Some knowledge of new platforms; unable to question
or challenge.
LEVEL 2
Able to ask good questions but unable to make strategic
recommendations or lead.
LEVEL 3
Able to challenge, suggest and lead.
Senior Management Middle Management
LEVEL 1
No formal digital knowledge or experience; lacking
confidence in asking questions and making decisions
(deferring to ‘experts’ in the business or consultants).
LEVEL 2
Experience gained from initiatives within the business,
able to recognise ‘good’ when they see it, little or no
structured training.
LEVEL 3
Significant experience, able to shape and lead strategic
initiatives, growing amount of formal training/ education.
LEVEL 1
Some managers have expertise in one or two areas;
people assume/hope IT and/or marketing have got it
sorted.
LEVEL 2
Growing recognition of “digital” as a core skill, recognition
of the breadth of skills required, some formal training.
LEVEL 3
Systematic embedding of digital e.g. in appraisals and
training.

11. Apprentices
In partnership with
Innovation Capacity
IMPLEMENT THE RIGHT CHANGE WITH
CONFIDENCE
IT Responsiveness BUILD EFFICIENT & RESPONSIVE SYSTEMS
Talent Acquisition RECRUIT THE RIGHT TALENT
Learning & Development NURTURE EXPERTISE
Board INFORMED LEADERSHIP
Senior Management
EMPOWER CONFIDENT STRATEGIC
DECISION MAKING
Middle Management
EQUIP WITH DIGITAL SKILLS AND
UNDERSTANDING
3
Depending on where the gaps are you will have clear priorities as a business.
We have developed a set of capability development solutions to address each of these priorities and to move from where you
are to where you need to be
Apprentices
Apprentices

12. Capability Solution What it Delivers
Equip your management team with the tools
and techniques they need to transform and
grow a business in the digital age
A rapid and immersive course to get your
management team up to speed on the critical
tools and essential skills
Collaborative and immersive 6 month course
for Digital marketing leaders
Embedded corporate understanding of how to
use Digital to enhance marketing and sales
Broad based and ‘bottom up’ understanding
of how the key tools and systems for online
business work
Open your talent acquisition strategies to
fresh new employees and / or upskill young
employees
Ongoing capturing and sharing of key learnings
for Personal Development, developed in
partnership with Sir Clive Woodward
The ADBL Diploma in Digital Business
Leadership
The ADBL Rapid Immersion
Squared Online
IDM Professional Diploma in Digital
Marketing
Online CAM and CIM
Arch Digital Business Certificate
Arch Digital Apprentices
Captured CPD platform
Apprentices
The Academy of Digital
Business Leaders has
developed and proven these
different solutions that
support organisations to make
their digital transformation
transition across the 7
Elements.
Ongoing access to the latest Digital thinking and
learning
Dot Native subscription service for
digital marketing bite sized training and
up to date information

13. Apprentices
In partnership with
Next Steps
You’ve taken the first step, would you like to learn more about how to
implement digital transformation in your business, and hear first hand from
experienced leaders?
The ADBL is a platform for digital business leaders to
share knowledge and experience to help other leaders
learn and transform their businesses.
The ADBL has assembled the resources, insights,
qualifications and many years of experience from our
founder business leaders, to empower anyone who is
approaching business from a digital perspective.
Please call our team on 020 7173 5901 to find out more about how our learning
tools and professional qualifications can equip your company to succeed in the
digital age.
Visit www.theADBL.com
or email us on info@theADBL.com