Revolutions, by their nature, are testing as well as transformative and the digital revolution is no exception. Britain is at risk of falling behind competing economies when it comes to digital skills and confidence, leaving individuals, businesses and the economy vulnerable as a result.

We need to invest now, before we lose further ground in the race to compete and thrive in the digital economy.

But what’s the solution? All too often businesses are relying on millennials for all things digital with 40% of employers opting to hire younger employees to address the lack of digital skills in their business[1]. However, our own research shows that a third of millennials fear falling behind because they feel they lack digital skills - more than any other generation.

Knowing how to use a phone doesn't make you a tech genius

This common misconception proves we can’t just wait around, hoping that younger ‘digitally savvy’ generations will have the answers to our digital skills gap. Millennials may well be digital consumers but they are not always the digital creators that we often build them up to be.

We must dispel the millennial myth and address the digital skills divide impacting our workplaces. The solution may lie with the ‘forgotten middle’ – where most people and businesses sit – the millions of people who are digitally competent but are not making the most of the opportunity the digital age presents. Businesses must invest in employees at all levels of skill, age and role to fully embrace the new digital era.

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However, the onus is not just on employers. Just as businesses must step up and invest in digital skills training, employees must take responsibility for their own digital development and make the most of the training and resources available. Very few professionals are taking steps to boost their digital competence – worryingly almost half (47%) of employees have never taken steps to boost their digital skills.

Complacency is to blame: only 16% of the UK workforce has taken action in the last year to enhance their digital skills, proving that even those that have taken up digital training don’t fully grasp the speed and extent to which digital is changing our roles, responsibilities and the importance of keeping up. The need to build digital confidence is a continuum – it does not stop after a single training course.

The truth is, our reliance on younger employees is not going to be enough to support the UK’s growth in the digital economy. But, it is not just the effect on the economy that is concerning, the lack of digital skills amongst UK work forces highlights questions surrounding employees’ knowledge of data and device protection.

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In an era of heightened cyber and information security concerns, poor investment in digital skills is leaving British businesses victims of the digital revolution.

But why the workplace? There is a clear economic case for businesses to digitally upskill their employees. Businesses in the UK, large and small, are facing the threat of “Uberisation”, the possibility of being made obsolete by new disruptive platforms and technologies.

Their productivity and survival rests on equipping staff with the skills needed to take on the new age of digital with confidence. Our own study shows that almost half (47%) of all UK businesses recognise that stronger digital skills would lead to a more productive workforce.

It’s about future proofing UK businesses and the time to act is now.

[1] Survey conducted for Barclays by Opinium Research in February 2016 among 507 UK business decision makers and business owners and 2,004 nationally representative UK adults.