How can your organisation mitigate the tech skills gap?

The UK has a well-documented technology skills gap. Indeed, tech skills are in demand and under provisioned on a global basis. How can UK organisations mitigate this dearth of the right technology skills? We consider some of the options.

A recent Microsoft study has revealed that 82 percent of UK jobs already require digital skills, and that 69 percent of leaders feel their organisation suffers from a digital skills gap.

The good news is that the same survey found that 59 percent of employees believe in the importance of developing their digital skills – employers are pushing at an open door when it comes to developing tech competencies internally.

#1. Skill up your existing workforce

How many businesses have you heard say something along the lines of “we’re no longer an X company, we’re a technology company that specialises in X”?

The phrase might be a little hackneyed, but the sentiment is real. We’re all tech workers now. It isn’t only your IT team who need tech skills. Offering training, workshops, lunchtime tech courses, online learning subscriptions, etc is part staff benefit, part necessary investment.

#2. Address technology’s diversity crisis

As well as a skills crisis, the tech sector has a well-documented diversity crisis. Widening recruitment practices and reaching out to underrepresented communities is an essential part of redressing this balance. It’s also an opportunity to bring diverse viewpoints to the team, draw on fresh ideas and, ultimately, strengthen performance. As we noted in Pride month, all organisations should be implementing measures to improve diversity and inclusion with a special focus on technology skills and roles.

#3. Make use of the available free online certifications

The big cloud providers offer a great deal of training content and resources on their websites. Not only can your existing cloud engineers and tech staff find the answers they need to particular problems, these resources can form the basis of an upskilling initiative.

For example, Microsoft’s Enterprise Skills Framework is available for certain public sector and enterprise customers. If eligible, you have free access to a raft of online learning resources and certifications.

#4. Adopt low-code and no-code solutions

Tech skills aren’t all about programming.

New solutions, such as Microsoft Power Platform, offer the opportunity to develop bespoke applications and automations for your business users without needing to write a line of code. It’s a great way to put application and automation development into the hands of business users who might not have extensive tech skills – and inspire them to develop new tech competencies!

Of course, you may need additional support in the early days of using solutions like Microsoft Power Platform, setting up the necessary infrastructure, security, governance and establishing a centre of excellence which can guide development, promote best practice and ensure duplication of effort, apps or automations is avoided. Which brings us on to point five…

#5. Work with trusted tech partners

For project work especially, bringing in external expertise as and when you need it isn’t only about meeting your immediate tech ambitions or requirements. It’s also an opportunity to learn and transfer skills. Choose partners who understand this and are willing to share knowledge and develop your internal team’s expertise during delivery.

What next?

If you’d like support developing digital skills in your business or would like to work with a partner who can help you bridge short-term tech skills gaps, please reach out to Grant McGregor. Our team is on hand to support you.

Call us: 0808 164 4142

Message us: https://www.grantmcgregor.co.uk/contact-us

Wednesday, 5 July 2023