IT Skills Gap: CIO Headache, Channel Opportunity

Digital skills

IT Skills Gap: CIO Headache, Channel Opportunity

CIOs are looking to outsource IT to gain access to skills they don’t have in-house; this opens up key opportunities for IT solution providers.

Skills Shortfall

65% of CIOs believe a shortage of talent will prevent their organizations from keeping up with the pace of change, a 10% increase in 12 months.

In-Demand Skills

Nearly four in 10 (39%) of CIOs said data analytics is the most in-demand skill for the second consecutive year, followed by project management (32%) and business analysis (28%).

Going Digital

The biggest increase in skill demand is digital, up 21%, and security, up 17% from last year.

Bigger Budgets

Less than half (45%) of CIOs said their IT budgets are increasing. However, 59% said they are being held back on innovation due to a lack of resources or funding.

Outsourcing IT

50% of CIOs will increase investment in outsourcing this year, and 44% will increase offshoring activity in 2016. What’s more, 12% sourced half or more of their staff through flexible or contingent contracts.

Freeing Up Resources

51% of CIOs see outsourcing primarily as a tool to free up resources to focus on their companies’ core business, up from 46% in 2015.

Sourcing for Skills

45% outsource to gain access to skills not available in-house, up from 41% last year.

Staff Concerns

Despite the skills shortage, 44% of CIOs expect to increase their teams’ size next year, while 89% are concerned about talent retention.

Changing Focus

While 63% of respondents say CEOs focus on IT projects that make money, 37% say the CEO “is more interested in IT predominantly being used as a cost-saving tool,” the study said.

Focusing on “As a Service” Solutions

For this year, 31% are planning a significant investment in SaaS, 25% in IaaS and 20% in PaaS solutions. In the next three years, CIOs plan to ramp up investments in all three cloud service platforms.