Best skills management platforms for your company

You, as any HR Director, are aware that skills, not titles, are replacing static job descriptions and linear career paths. Nowadays, thriving companies aren’t just hiring for roles; they’re nurturing talent, fostering internal mobility, and building agile teams equipped to adapt and innovate. How would you implement a new strategy to ensure accurate employee skill management? Well, the secret weapon is a skills management platform.

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What is skills management?

Skills management is the strategic process of identifying, assessing, and developing the skills and competencies of employees within an organization. It involves creating a comprehensive understanding of each employee’s abilities, pinpointing skill gaps, and devising strategies to address these gaps. Effective skills management aligns the workforce with the business strategy, enhances employee performance, and boosts productivity.

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Key components of skills management include:

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• Identifying critical skills: This involves determining the essential skills and competencies required for each job role and the organization as a whole.

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• Assessing employee skills: Regularly evaluating the skills and abilities of each employee helps identify strengths and weaknesses. This assessment can be done through performance reviews, proficiency exams, and manager ratings, providing a clear picture of where each employee stands.

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• Developing employee skills: Creating targeted upskilling and reskilling programs is crucial for addressing skill gaps and improving employee performance. This proactive approach ensures that employees are continually growing and adapting to new challenges.

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• Tracking skills data: Maintaining accurate and up-to-date records of employee skills and competencies is essential for effective skills management. This data helps in making informed decisions about workforce planning and talent development.

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Why should you use a skills management platform?

As we explained before, the days when HR was primarily focused on traditional hiring and onboarding processes are gone. Today it's about optimizing resource allocation, fostering internal mobility, and accelerating talent development, and a skills management platform is the linchpin that can help you achieve these objectives efficiently and effectively. In a nutshell, a skills management platform provides a centralized database to identify, measure, and develop employee capabilities. 

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According to a Gartner report, 47% of HR leaders struggle to identify the right skills within their existing workforce, leading to missed opportunities for internal talent mobility and development. Why does this talent blindness occur? Several factors contribute to this talent gap. Outdated job descriptions act like faded port charts, failing to capture the dynamic skillsets honed through experience. Hidden talent and underdeveloped skills result from siloed knowledge, unclear career paths, and insufficient training.

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To overcome this, organizations need to invest in robust skills management platforms that reveal the full potential of their workforce. By investing in employee training, hidden talents can be discovered, and open communication about career aspirations can chart clear courses for individual growth. By embracing these strategies, organizations can turn their stagnant talent pool into a thriving community that contributes to collective success.

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Key features of skills management platforms

What kind of functionalities does a skills management platform offer? Let's look at all the features you can benefit from:

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Real-time skills intelligence

Regular skills assessments are essential to gauge proficiency in real time. Skills management platforms with AI and machine learning can analyze performance data, project work, and more to dynamically map skills. This enables always-on insight compared to traditional annual reviews. This feature provides a bird's-eye view of your employees' skill profiles and growth potential at any given time. It allows you to identify skill gaps, upskilling opportunities, and mentorship needs promptly. This proactive approach ensures that your workforce remains competitive and aligned with your company's evolving needs.

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Skills data and analytics

You need a robust strategy for collecting, storing, and analyzing skills data. These platforms simplify this process by providing a user-friendly interface that facilitates seamless data management. Through data-driven strategies, you can make informed personnel management decisions. These platforms offer valuable insights into skill distribution, employee potential, and talent gaps. Armed with this data, HR managers can align their strategies with business goals, ensuring that every decision drives tangible results.

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Team involvement

Effective skills management isn't the sole responsibility of the HR department. To truly maximize the benefits, it's crucial to involve all teams in the process. These platforms understand the importance of cross-functional collaboration and offer features that make it easy for every department to participate. In this way, you can break down silos and create a culture of continuous learning and development by empowering your managers to take an active role in nurturing talent within their teams and watch as your organization becomes more agile and adaptable.

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Skills measurement methodology

How skills are measured is crucial. Skills management platforms use research-backed methodologies to evaluate skill levels based on performance, proficiency exams, manager ratings, and other inputs. Sophisticated algorithms analyze these diverse data points to create skills profiles for each employee. This provides a rigorous and accurate skills measurement framework HR can trust to inform talent decisions.

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Best skills management software

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Adepti

Adepti is a comprehensive skills management software that helps to identify employee competencies, address skill gaps, and plan strategic employee development through focused training initiatives and clear reporting options. It’s a solution that not only cuts external hiring costs but also enhances staff retention, productivity, and talent resource efficiency, ultimately delivering a remarkable return on investment (ROI). Its top features include skills intelligence, a talent marketplace, personalized growth tools, and data-driven insights for HR.

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Workday

Workday offers skills and competency management as part of its broader HRIS system. It provides tools to define a skills framework, track proficiency through worker profiles, and analyze skills gaps across the workforce. However, this platform's focus is on core HR functions, so the skills module could be felt tacked on and its skills taxonomy is not very flexible or customizable. 

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Adepti solves this by providing a dedicated skills intelligence solution with more advanced AI-driven skills mapping and development features. The platform is designed from the ground up with skills data at the core.

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Gloat 

Gloat shines in internal talent mobility, using smart skills matching to connect employees with fitting opportunities. It analyzes profiles, assessments, and projects to suggest job changes and highlight transferable skills. While this approach works, its skill analytics capabilities may feel limited when compared to dedicated platforms such as Adepti's skills matching feature, which allows you to chart your organization's skills landscape and, based on skill profiles, match with the most appropriate development and growth opportunities. Gloat brings you closer, but Adepti completes the picture, serving as your strategic partner in creating a future-proof talent ecosystem.

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Eightfold

Eightfold uses AI to map skills, match talent to opportunities, and provide insights to predict workforce needs. It excels at skills analytics and modeling. However, it has limited content integration for building skills, which Adepti complements with powerful analytics with personalized development features, career pathing, and content ecosystems to build skills. This creates a more holistic skills management solution.

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Beamery

Beamery offers an end-to-end talent management platform with skills mapping and development capabilities. It connects skills data to recruiting, learning, performance, and other HR workflows. However, its analytics capabilities are more limited compared to pure-play skills solutions like Adepti, which has more advanced AI-powered skills analytics and mapping features. Its skills framework and development tools also provide better customization for each company's needs.

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Choose the best skills management platform

Nowadays, skills management platforms have emerged as indispensable tools for HR directors at small to mid-sized companies. They offer real-time skills intelligence, streamlined data management, and a trusted methodology for skills measurement. By involving all teams in the process, these platforms foster a culture of continuous learning and development.

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Among the best platforms, Adepti's skills management software stands out as a comprehensive solution that empowers organizations to optimize resource allocation, foster internal mobility, and accelerate talent development. It's a data-driven strategy that not only cuts costs but also drives productivity, staff retention, and talent resource efficiency. Book a free demo now.