2025 BCG research shows that skills-based initiatives can struggle when they remain disconnected from workforce planning and broader business priorities. Without that visibility, it is difficult to use skills consistently across hiring, learning, mobility, succession and workforce planning. That comprehensive view of workforce capability is central to workforce planning. The stakes are strategic, not just operationalIt can be tempting to treat skills visibility as a dashboard upgrade or a learning-system initiative. The more consequential question is whether the organization can see its workforce skills clearly enough, and consistently enough, to act.