The Cyber Skills Gap Increases

Employers everywhere are finding they face a significant cyber security skills shortage, which has been created by the huge pace of technological change on life and business.

A Report by Accenture has predicted that if the G20 nations don’t keep up digital skills creation as the current rates of transformation are taking place then they could lose up to $11.5 trillion in cumulative GDP growth over the next 10 years.

For the UK the uncertainty created by Brexit has not only put a serious dampener on local candidates’ desire to change jobs, and it has damaged the UK’s ability to attract new working talent from the EU and US. As a result of all this, according to a Report based on a survey of 250 companies, undertaken by the Confederation of British Industry and IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services, many organisations are unsurprising struggling to recruit.

The UK is at a tipping point on digital skills. Demand already outstrips supply, with over two thirds of businesses reporting unfilled digital skills vacancies – and is set to skyrocket. But whilst 93% of businesses are already taking action to address their rapidly accelerating digital skills needs, the majority are fishing in the same pool for talent.

There are five important actions businesses can take to strengthen their digital skills ecosystem:

Start with crafting a long-term digital vision;
Make digital skills a company-wide initiative;
Look to collaborate externally, for example with your supply chain or local SMEs;
Inspire and support the next generation by extending relationships with education providers and using apprenticeships as a route into digital roles;
Harness your existing talent by looking for hidden skills within your workforce and retraining at work.

Business can’t address the UK’s accelerating digital skills needs alone. The CBI say that the British Government must set an ambitious goal for digital skills and ramp up business-government collaboration and coordination if the digital skills pipeline is going to deliver effectively, today and in the future.

Just over two-thirds of UK employers have unfilled vacancies for digital jobs and only just under a third are confident of being able to hire the skills they need over the next three to five years. Furthermore, three out of five large firms believe their digital skills requirements will skyrocket over the same time-frame.

But skills shortages inevitably have an impact on a company’s ability to respond to, and exploit, technological innovation.

Skills gaps commonly occur when a company strategy changes, mergers or acquisitions result in employees lacking relevant industry skills or training investments get cut due to budget shortages.

After analysing the gap between the current performance and the desired performance levels, effective training professionals design, create, deliver and evaluate interventions that enable employees to develop both professionally and personally to achieve the desired state. This typically results in improved employee morale, retention and business performance.

Skills gap analysis is one of the most effective ways to identify the productivity within your teams, know what your employees are currently offering, how well they are performing, but most importantly, what they need to help bring your organisation to the future.