As mentioned in our article “The Backbone of Business: ICT Specialists”, ICT specialists are the backbone of business, but the industry as a whole is the backbone of innovation and growth in terms of economic and societal.
From AI and blockchain to cybersecurity and cloud computing the ICT industry and its specialists continue to drive technological advancements. However, a rather concerning global trend is starting to creep in: a global shortage of ICT specialists, posing a significant threat to innovation and the future of technological advancements world-wide.
The Growing Demand for ICT Skills
The multi-industry, digital revolution that we’ve been witnessing has accelerated at a pace that most people did not anticipate. Organisations across multiple industries have or are currently in the process of digitising their operations, adopting new technologies and developing innovations all with the goal of staying competitive but what most don’t realise at first is that digitalisation in today’s world is continuous and requires the knowledge and expertise of ICT specialists to do correctly. From software developers and data scientists to network engineers and cybersecurity experts, organisations are greatly dependent on the skills of these experts.
The Extent of the Shortage
While the demand for ICT specialists continues to skyrocket, there just aren’t enough to meet the demand. But why is there a shortage?
This shortage is driven by many factors, some being:
- The rate of technological evolution: Educational and training institutions aren’t able to keep up with the speed at which new technologies are being designed and developed.
- Educational gaps: A large number of countries don’t have the necessary curricula, updated training programs or resources needed to educate a sufficient number of students. In addition to this, the expertise required today doesn’t just come from textbooks, it comes from years and even decades of training and hands-on experience.
- Brain drain: ICT professionals are leaving their home regions to migrating to countries offering them better opportunities. This further exacerbated the shortages found in their home regions.
Implications of the Shortage:
1. Slowed Technological Developments: Without enough ICT specialists, organisations are struggling to design, develop, deploy and maintain the necessary technologies. Causing them to not only delay the launch of new / additional products and service but to lose out on potential growth opportunities as well.
2. Costs and Delays: Scarce services that are in high demand unfortunately push up the cost of those services and this is no different when it comes to hiring ICT professionals. In addition to this, because these specialists are in such high demand, they once again, unfortunately, have limited time to divide amongst their clients leading to major delays in project completion times. For smaller organisations, these increased costs and lengthy timelines can be a barrier to their growth.
3. Widening of the digital divide: Countries that don’t have the ability to develop ICT talent effectively risk falling further behind developing countries, widening the digital divide already being experienced.
The question is, how do you keep your organisation from falling victim to the implications of this skills shortage? Simple. Give us a call. With industry leading products and services, and over 100 years of combined experience in the ICT industry, our experts can help your organisation to become digitally competitive.
0861 835 372
Info@telesacomms.co.za
