Overcoming the IT ‘Skills Gap’
How to get the talent needed to keep up with today’s technology demands.
Organizations of all sizes to accelerate their digital transformation initiatives over the past three years. Organizations are digitizing business processes, consolidating systems and data, and adopting cloud services to facilitate remote and hybrid work models.
One major obstacle is the limited supply of IT labor. Many organizations already face challenges managing and maintaining their existing IT infrastructure with more employees working remotely. Without the right people with the right IT skills, new initiatives are likely to stall.
According to the Global Knowledge 2022 IT Skills and Salary Report, 38 percent of global IT decision-makers face skills gaps that slow the resolution of issues and increase the time required to complete projects. Additionally, 34 percent said they are unable to meet business objectives, while 25 percent said the skills gap impacts their ability to develop innovative products and services. There is a real cost to the bottom line — 26 percent said the skills gap increases operating costs, and 20 percent said it results in lost revenue.
Partnering with a managed services provider (MSP) can help alleviate these challenges.
“An MSP can help organizations get the IT talent they need,” said Michael Smith, President, IronLogix. “MSPs handle ongoing monitoring and maintenance of IT systems and can take on implementation and upgrade projects. Organizations are better positioned to take advantage of advanced technologies while also ensuring that their IT environment is secure, reliable and performing optimally.”
Why the IT Skills Gap Persists
Although the skills gap has been a persistent problem in the IT industry for years, it actually decreased slightly in 2022. That’s not to suggest that the problem is going to go away, however.
Almost half (44 percent) of survey respondents said they struggle to hire candidates with needed skills, and 32 percent said it’s difficult to attract the right candidates to their organization’s industry. More than a fourth (28 percent) said they are unable to pay what candidates demand. These problems are particularly acute in key areas such as cybersecurity and the cloud.
Some organizations use training and development programs to expand the skills of their existing IT staff. However, business leaders do not see the value of training in 45 percent of organizations. Additionally, 14 percent said their organization lacked adequate budget for training and development.
Deficient training and development programs don’t just make it difficult to fill skills gaps. Organizations also face greater IT staff turnover. One-third of IT professionals changed jobs because previous organizations did not provide training, growth and development.
“Problem is, when IT teams are already overwhelmed with work, it’s difficult to make time for training,” Smith said. “By partnering with an MSP, organizations can offload some of this burden. In-house IT pros can focus on training and development, career-building projects and business-enabling IT initiatives.”
How Managed Services Can Help
An MSP can help organizations overcome the IT skills gap in multiple ways. MSP offerings include 24x7 monitoring, remote management and engineering services that help free in-house IT teams from many day-to-day tasks. MSPs also provide support for the resolution of alerts to ensure that IT issues are handled promptly and efficiently, increasing the performance and reliability of the IT environment.
“Best-in-class MSPs have experienced consultants and engineers on staff who can assess business needs and recommend technology solutions. Because they work with companies in a wide range of industries, MSPs understand how the latest technologies work in real-world environments,” said Smith.
“They can help guide technology investments and the development of policies and procedures to optimize operations. MSPs can assist with implementations, cloud migrations and more, help ensure that new solutions meet cybersecurity and regulatory compliance requirements.”
The demand for new technologies exceeds the supply of workers who are trained, credentialed and experienced in those areas. Organizations have a difficult time attracting and retaining the talent they need. When they do find the right talent, those resources are often overburdened with day-to-day maintenance and support. Partnering with an MSP is an ideal way to close the skills gap and avoid falling behind the technology curve.