The ever-increasing demand for ICT skills can be partially met by a strong business focus on staff training and 'up-skilling', says Robert Sussman, joint CEO of Integr8.
The exponential growth of ICT is not only driving demand for sufficient numbers in existing skills, but is also creating the need for new skills. Sussman explains that in order for businesses to fully capitalise on technologies such as cloud, virtualisation, mobility and big data, new skill sets are needed to help businesses utilise these trends to their full potential.
One of the new skills in demand is highly trained data analysts. "Skills around data management are lacking," says Sussman. "[A] yearning for knowledge, combined with the advent of social media, is dependent on the availability of skills in order to transfer the benefit to businesses. Specialists in data analytics and data management are highly sought after - these are what one could term 'non-traditional' IT skills."
Big data is one of the biggest drivers fuelling demand for new ICT skills, he adds. "Gartner mentioned that, as far as big data skills are concerned, there are four-and-a-half million jobs in need of fulfilment worldwide. And these specialised tech skills are in short supply... urgent action is required."
In SA, industries that are data-intensive and rely on cloud services, such as finance, insurance and accounting, are in particular need of specialised skills. Sussman emphasises the need for assessing company policies in order to retain the best skills.
"Staff should be absorbed into the process as quickly as possible. Another key consideration is to make sure you have the right people in place to assist and mentor juniors and to put training courses in place - it needs to become a part of a company's DNA," he says.
Providing training to assist staff to increase their skills levels can help to fill skills gaps from an existing pool of employees, helping to mitigate the skills shortage. "Continual training is absolutely essential and is no longer 'a nice to have'," Sussman concludes.
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