In essence, the objective of this thesis is to contribute to PwC’s digital upskilling strategy by adopting a thoughtful and comprehensive concept to develop further the workforce's digital skillset by identifying and closing the current skill gap. To name a few of the main problems occurred that laid the foundation for this thesis are a lack of overview of the existing skills and future skill demands, a rolled-out one-fits-all training that was too generic, little involvement of business unit leaders when putting together upskilling trainings and no active monitoring of the learning progress.

The overall goal of the thesis was to develop a new concept that can further drive upskilling initiatives. Therefore, stakeholder interviews were held to apply a known digital intelligence framework at PwC to understand the challenges better. Thus, this was seen as a suitable approach to validate the literature and come up with new solutions that were not yet known. Five different personas and a new concept were developed which will serve as a possible solution for PwC’s current challenges in the upskilling sphere.

The outcome of this thesis is far more than just the introduction of a newly developed app that allows employees to take a digital skills self-assessment to identify current skill gaps. The thesis shows how a to-be maturity can be assessed by properly involving business unit leaders in setting strategic skill need demand, how a repository of existing skills can be built, and the crucial component different training delivery methods play in this context to motivate the workforce. Furthermore, it outlines the significance of customized learning paths according to skill level and business unit as well as the impact that gamification can have on upskilling. Additionally, the reader will observe how personas help the workforce and the business respectively to enable a culture of lifelong learning while fostering a growth mindset. Finally, the thesis gives in depth knowledge on upskilling and the workforce of the future based on extensive literature performed.