Abstract

The IT industry has been suffering from a skills shortage for many years now and the crisis has worsened as organizations migrate to cloud-based platforms and services as part of their digital transformation. To be able to compete in the digital-first era, enterprises increasingly need to innovate with software, and this places greater strain on the cloud application developer skills shortage. As a result, access to modern application development skills is the biggest pain point for one in five organizations in Europe, and 20% "strongly agree" that a lack of IT skills has delayed their digital transformation journey.

"The crisis around cloud skills, and the knock-on impact on successful projects, shouldn't be a surprise considering that many organizations are still way behind where they need to be in terms of their cloud and digital-first strategies," said John O'Brien, IDC research director. "With digital transformation now becoming an imperative for enterprises that want to thrive in the digital age, as well as a pandemic that has accelerated transformation and cloud migration strategies, skills shortages have become even more acute as IT talent continues to be in high demand."

But while modernizing legacy infrastructure and applications for the cloud is the top priority for the majority of organizations worldwide, success is only possible for those that identify and implement corporatewide cultural changes. Rahiel Nasir, IDC associate research director, said, "Cloud migration involves major changes to applications, infrastructure, and business processes at scale, impacting multiple teams across functions and even geographies. Gaining buy-in from across all lines of business is therefore vital, and so as well as technical skills that requires expertise in agile enterprise transformation, business training, and coaching."

Coverage