As the insurance industry continues to evolve with advancements in automation and AI, organizations will be challenged to find the skills necessary to leverage this technology, warns a new blog item from PwC’s strategy+business.

While it’s impossible to predict exactly the skills businesses will need even five years from now, workers and organizations must be ready to adapt, says the author, noting the importance of building an inventory that can help companies track and analyze the skills employees already have—and those they may need for the future.

• Start by considering the particular skills your business needs.
• Categorize both functional and technical skills, as well as the level of those skills, from novice to expert. Look beyond job titles to consider what skills employees have that they may not be using.
• The inventory can be done using a simple spreadsheet or a more advanced technological solution, such as an app, depending on the size of your organization.
• When organizing the inventory, make sure you can search and access the data quickly, with good results. Free-form keywords aren’t reliable, because someone might refer to a certain skill using one term, while someone else might call it something different.
• Analysis can be simple (comparing rows on a spreadsheet) or more complex (using people analytics or apps to find and assess certain skillsets). The goal is to gain insight into where your employees’ skills are the strongest, where they need work and where there are gaps.
• Try to gauge the skills your company will need two to three years down the road with a few viable scenarios. This will help your organization plan ahead through hiring, training and career development strategies.

For more information, see the full article: “Why Companies Need to Build a Skills Inventory.”