Upskilling is not a new concept. Accenture pledged 200 million dollars to Upskill America in May 2018. McKinsey found that 66% of executives around the world see reskilling or upskilling their employees as a priority. However, only 16% felt they were prepared to conduct this training.
PWC recently found that 79% of CEOs are concerned about the availability of key skills in the workplace. PWC recently found that 79% of CEOs are concerned about the availability of key skills in the workplace.
The most in-demand technology skills include containerization, cloud, and cybersecurity.
According to OpsRamp, it takes 25% of HR departments 90 days or longer to fill these vacant technology positions. According to OpsRamp, it takes 25 percent of HR departments 90 or more days before they can fill these vacant technology positions. But they need to have this experience. According to the report, 60% of companies use cloud-native technologies for their mission-critical services.
Cybersecurity is not far behind. A report by the non-profit IT firm (ISC2) shows that 2.93 million jobs are unfilled. It takes 21% more time to fill cybersecurity jobs than other IT positions.
Upskill Vs. Augment Trends Across the U.S.
Forbes, IDC, and Business.com have all recently published articles that offer advice on upskilling programs. For IT departments to upskill efficiently, they must first have people to train. Unfortunately, IT departments are notoriously short-staffed.
In a recent Mindsight interview, one client said, “Our business has grown but our IT department hasn’t.”
How can a leader who hears this sentiment over and over again up-skill a team of IT professionals who are already stretched thin?
In these scenarios, IT leaders are moving to an augmentation model. By extending your team’s capabilities through a managed service provider or partner, IT leaders can better manage the rapid changes in the marketplace.
Managed services fill the skills gap: cloud and cyber security
In the field of cybersecurity, most organizations hire a virtual chief information security officer (vCISO ). This person has the experience and knowledge to navigate the constantly evolving threats that businesses face.
The divergence in cloud vendors has caused many organizations to choose MSPs with expertise on a specific platform. AWS may be the best technology for a company that has several Microsoft-savvy employees. An MSP can fill the skills gap without having to invest in training, which may only be needed today but will become outdated tomorrow.
Keeping Agility in Today’s Market
You invest in your team by upskilling them. This is a worthwhile endeavor. This is a great way to build loyalty, save money, and reduce risk. This may not be possible for organizations that are growing. Most upskilling programs begin with identifying employees who can benefit from the program. Upskilling programs can fail before they even start if there are not enough employees.
Even if you plan to upskill the team in the future, augmenting your team is an easy way to maintain momentum and growth throughout the program implementation. Offloading risk allows organizations to focus on their strategy and create better products, solutions, and services for their customers.
Filling the growing gap in technology skills, whether you choose to upskill your team or add more members, remains a major challenge for IT leaders.
Contact us, or Sign up for a Whiteboard Session to learn how Mindsight can help businesses supplement their IT departments. We will help you determine how a partnership could help you meet the changing needs of the tech sector while investing in both your people and your business.