More than half of IT teams will struggle due to a lack of the 'right' skills: Study

NEW DELHI: Brocade has announced a new Global Digital Transformation Skills Study, which aims to uncover how well-placed global IT leaders consider themselves and their teams to be in terms of meeting current and future business demands.

Of the six markets surveyed, Germany was found to be the best prepared to meet its digital transformation goals, closely followed by the U.S., while the UK lagged well behind its counterparts.

The research, which surveyed 630 IT leaders in the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Australia, and Singapore, indicates that many organizations are at a tipping point, as new technology demands are set to outstrip the skills supply. Organizations that address this now through additional skills training will be in the strongest position to ensure business growth and competitive advantage.

Overall, an encouraging 91 percent of global IT leaders acknowledge that IT departments are currently recognized as very important or critical to innovation and business growth. However, over half (54 percent) predict they will struggle with a lack of IT talent in 12 months. Contributing factors identified from the research include skills shortages, prevalence of outdated skills, lack of commitment to training at the corporate board level, and the rapidly changing technology environment.

“Businesses are approaching the peak of IT strategic influence. Now is the moment that IT teams feel they have the strongest opportunity to influence the transformation of their organizations,” said George Chacko, Principal Systems Engineer & Lead Technical Consultant, Brocade India. “However, with a rapidly changing technology landscape and potential impact on international labor markets, it is critical that IT receives the right training to further develop their skills and business relevance.”

The research also found that skills planning had to be aligned with other areas of business planning to avoid the risk of a technology skills deficit, where IT teams are expected to deliver the benefits of technologies that they are ill-equipped to implement.