When the power of AI and data literacy meets the power of domain knowledge, your media workforce can create tremendous organizational value. Training programs that cultivate the AI and data literacy skills teams need to capture this value deliver ROI in the form of increased efficiency and innovation. However, as media companies develop a plan for this upskilling journey, they must work through the details of funding.
AI and data literacy are quickly proving beneficial, if not imperative, to success in the media industry. According to a recent Gartner prediction, in an effort to capture the value of AI—especially generative AI,—more than 50% of chief data & analytics officers will secure funding for data and AI literacy programs by 2027.
Still, for many companies, there’s a persistent gap between awareness of this reality and organizational commitment to acting on it. For example, one survey found that, while 82% of decision-makers expect all employees in their department to have a basic level of data literacy, only 47% of employees say their organization has offered them data training. If you share the opinion of organizational leaders who believe data and AI literacy training will be critical for your workforce, this priority should be reflected in your company’s budgetary allocations.
Companies take various approaches to budgeting for workforce learning and development, including basing training budgets on a percentage of the total payroll or allocating a budget per employee based on a percentage—typically between 1% and 5%—of individual salaries. Training magazine’s 2023 Training Industry Report offers insights into enterprise training investments in 2022-2023. The study found that companies spent an average of $954 on learners in that year, with training budgets averaging $16.1 million for large companies, $1.5 million for midsize companies, and $459,177 for small companies. The report further noted an increase in spending on training outsourcing that year.
However, there are several nuances your company should contemplate as you establish the details of your training investment. The amount you can expect to spend on training will, of course, vary depending on the training format and tools you plan to use. Budgeting should also take into account costs such as software, travel, work hours employees will spend in training, and expenses related to maintaining their skills over time. In addition, it’s important to balance these costs against the benefits you hope to gain from training through employee performance, engagement, and retention.
To budget for data and AI literacy training, your media company must place a value on metrics such as the experience your existing workforce brings to your company, the skills they will need to meet future needs, your organizational aspirations, and your company’s projected growth. To gain insights into these areas, media companies will need to solicit input from a wide range of stakeholders.
Technical leaders can map out long-term strategies for the implementation of data and AI initiatives and how they envision different business units supporting these efforts.
Team managers can provide details about their teams’ challenges, the productivity gains they expect to realize through AI and data analytics, their teams’ existing skill sets, and the skills they need to boost their performance.
Staff members can help you gain a better understanding of their individual learning and development needs and goals. Conducting assessments of your team’s skill levels, interests, and professional objectives can give you a sense of their untapped potential and determine development steps that will help them continue to bring value and add value to your company down the road.
HR managers can offer insights into the benefits of investing in your existing workforce to increase engagement and retention. Input from the HR department is also helpful in assessing expenses related to recruiting, hiring, and training new staff, as well as the cost of losing institutional and domain knowledge when team members leave the company.
If your company offers training during work hours, an additional budgeting consideration is the cost in employee time devoted to coursework. However, it is important to take into account the time-saving benefits, such as automation, that media companies stand to gain with enterprise-wide data and AI literacy. It is also important to consider the financial rewards your media company will realize with a workforce that drives innovation and makes data-informed decisions at all organizational levels.
At Data Society, we understand that it can be challenging for media companies to match their aspirations for enterprise-wide AI and data literacy with the budgetary investment needed for workforce upskilling. We can support your team’s success with training programs that will bring your organization the combined power of AI, data analytics, and your workforce’s expertise.
Subscribe to get the latest updates from Data Society, including tips for how to use your data better, real-life examples of leveraging analytics, and more.
