The skills gap in the technology ecosystem has always been a huge topic… And now more than ever, given the explosion of new products in the marketplace and big technology vendors all fighting for market share, the question remains as to whether this skills gap has closed, or simply gotten bigger.
That’s because companies such as Salesforce, Workday and ServiceNow (to name but few) are all at the phase of their life where they are established enough to be branching out into different verticles, and building products to directly rival each other. This poses the question; with all these new products available in the marketplace, and with software and technology exploding, is the ecosystem able to keep up from a skills perspective?
Last year, the Skills For Digital Transformation survey found that found that only 15% of the surveyed executives felt they had the skills needed for digital transformation. The study lists more than a dozen key skills required for a digital organization, with skills in AI, the blockchain, IoT, digital security and cloud computing among them. If that was last year – when many of these technologies were relatively new – what must the skills gap look like now that businesses have started to harness and implement these capabilities?
Before, it was only early adopters and the tech-savvy businesses that were looking for professionals with these skills; but now with the likes of Salesforce, Workday, and ServiceNow rapidly harnessing and commercialising these technologies, it’s hardly surprising that the demand for the skills has increased.
It leaves me to question: with the rate at which technology changes, and at which technology and software companies continue to adapt and grow, will the skills gap ever truly close? Or will we simply see a constant rise in demand for new and emerging tech skills, and a lack of available talent to meet those needs of businesses looking for a competitive edge?
