Global IT decision makers face the challenge of skills gaps

According to research conducted by educational technology company, Skillsoft, up to three quarters of global IT decision makers are having to face the challenge of skills gaps.

The company surveyed over 9,000 IT workers and discovered that 76% of them could identify skills gaps in their business. That equates to an increase of 145% since 2016.

Investment and recruitment – a long-term fix on its own?
Investment in training and upskilling is clearly required to help address the issue but that will take time and the gaps are widening every day; that’s very clear from this latest insight.

Recruitment of suitable candidates is also exacerbating the skills issue and causing additional headaches when it comes to maintaining the effective, flexible and secure IT infrastructure that every company requires to succeed and grow.

This is such an important topic for a number of reasons, not least because of its knock-on effects. For example, the current critical skills gaps are putting a wide range of companies under increasing stress and are often responsible for preventing firms meeting both business and quality objectives. This could have a negative effect on the future global economy with key opportunities missed, reduced productivity and commercial and industrial stagnation.

What’s more, the speed with which both business environments and technology continue to change has always presented a challenge for many businesses. Even with increased investment sourcing, recruiting and retaining the specific talent required for operational and project resource needs is set to remain a constant headache.

Businesses ultimately need a long-term fix but are there any quick ways to tackle the problems? I think there are.

How can the skills gap be addressed?
At a high level, most businesses have three options for delivering their IT support and project needs: build, buy or hybrid. You can choose to plan and build the necessary in-house team to meet as much of the immediate needs of the organisation along with as much future proofing as budgets allow. Or you can seek a partner and outsource the IT provision and services, retaining a management function to manage costs and deliver the agreed service quality. Finally, there is the hybrid approach where ultimately many businesses end up, having both internal and external IT provision.

Here at CCE we have noticed a growing digital skills gap not just in the UK but across Europe over the last 12 months. What’s more, our clients are telling us that there just aren’t enough skilled IT professionals to do the technology work demanded.

Recruiting staff can obviously fill an expertise gap but retaining highly skilled individuals is increasingly difficult thanks to enduring high demand for IT roles to be filled. This is pushing up salaries and pricing many out of the market when it comes to employing the personnel required.

These skills gaps aren’t just a result of the new tech and infrastructure obstacles thrown up by the pandemic – the implementation of secure homeworking for example. They’re much more deep-rooted and have been bubbling under the surface for years.

As a leading supplier of IT infrastructure services to hundreds of businesses and sectors, it’s one of the reasons why we are now further enhancing our highly regarded ‘IT Team on Demand’ service.

An IT team ‘on demand’
Specifically tailored to meet your business needs whether day-to-day operational support or rapid access to project-based solutions for SMEs and larger, national organisations with multiple offices, our CCE ‘IT Team on Demand’ service is affordable, scalable and extremely effective. But how does it work?

Well, at CCE we have those sought-after experienced and knowledgeable IT professionals who can deliver an IT solution and service however complex it might be. We’ve actually been doing this for decades, but it’s only just come to the fore in the last 18 months following this unprecedented increase in demand.

Our team will work alongside your team to plug any gaps and offer expert advice, specialist support and technical guidance as required. We can function as an extension to your team, or we can be your entire IT team, it’s a totally bespoke solution so you can pick and choose how, when and where you use us. It’s that simple.

The ideal solution to the IT skills gap
Having a CCE ‘IT Team on Demand’ is an immediately accessible (and proven) means of dealing with this increasingly concerning skills gap issue that IT leaders are facing. In short, it’s the ideal solution to the IT skills gap you’re challenged with, however big or small that gap may be.

Karl Glenn, business development manager at CCE Coming Computer Engineering