Why Understanding the Tech Skills Gap is Key to Your Long-Term Success

The world is facing something of a crisis in tech skills. More businesses than ever before need technical and digital expertise to help them grow their company online. But this rush for talent has created the unfortunate problem of a skills gap: there are simply more roles that require technical skills and experience than there are candidates qualified to fill them.

Take the cybersecurity skills gap as a key example. In a recent survey, 85% of organisations said that a shortage of staff was affecting their ability to keep their IT systems and networks secure. And, the news only gets worse from there, as the same survey revealed 30% of current cybersecurity workers are considering a change of career path.

So, there can be no doubt that the tech skills shortage is real. Thankfully, by understanding it and reacting to the issue, businesses can actually be more successful in the long-term.

Retaining top talent

There can be no doubt that the tech skills gap has made it essential for businesses to retain their best staff. It is no good having a great recruitment procedure if those staff that you do hire have moved on within six months. Likewise, if you hire too few valuable tech staff and they have an unexpected absence, you might need to spend more of your hiring budget on some freelance or temporary back-up staff.

It is a much better idea to put a great deal of focus on retaining your top talent and giving them a great reason to stay via incentives, a great team atmosphere and running your business ethically. This can have the great knock-on effect, as tech staff are likely to have friends that work in the industry, and if they feel well treated, they might feel happy to recommend the business.

Broadening recruitment possibilities

It may be the case that you have always managed your recruitment in a certain way. However, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rise in remote working and hybrid patterns, it is now possible to recruit from anywhere in the world. Broadening your potential talent pool gives you a great range of talent to choose from.

Working with contractors

You might not be aware of the scale of the need for tech-smart staff. For example, the average large organisation tracks 1.4 million issues through a single Jira instance. This shows the absolutely vital need to familiarise workers with technical products like Jira.

But if you can’t find specialist Jira professionals to hire, you might have to look at alternative options such as working with contractors. This can actually be very effective, as contractors can be hired for a specific period and simply to get a certain job done. This means you are hiring for exact needs.

Upskilling your team

Don’t forget that one way that you can overcome a lack of tech skills is to provide your team with new ones. Creating a great training program can help to upskill your workers with the skills that your business needs. In the modern-day office of flexible working, hot desking and the merging of work and personal devices for work purposes, being digitally and knowing how to use technology more effectively is more vital than ever.

Thorough cybersecurity training should be a key focus and an area within your tech and IT remit for staff that it is wise to consider throughout the year. It can’t be forgotten that staff are a vital part of good cybersecurity. If your team doesn’t have the knowledge to know how to deal with certain technical situations, investment in even the most powerful cybersecurity measures won’t be as effective as they should be. Therefore, it should be considered essential to provide staff with regular, basic and high-quality training on the latest cyber threats and what to do about them.

In general terms, ensuring that your company is digitally savvy can be a great way to advance your business for the future. Upskilling staff on a regular basis will also impress your team. They will feel more positive about your investment in them and your support in helping them to develop new valuable skills for their longer-term success.