Australia’s digital skills shortage leaves business lagging

Apr 30, 2019

A global study by Brocade, examined IT leaders in the U.S., UK, France, Germany, Australia and Singapore and found that many companies are at a tipping point, as new technology demands are set to surpass the current skills supply.

Over half (54 per cent) predicted they will struggle with a lack of IT talent within the next 12 months, suffering from factors included skills shortages, the prevalence of outdated skills, lack of commitment to training at the corporate board level and the rapidly changing technology environment.

Additionally, 59 per cent of Australians added that is not seen as being as valuable as it should be by the board, while 35 per cent think their boards view gaining knowledge and skills as a cost to the business, rather than an asset.

“Businesses are approaching the peak of IT strategic influence,” said for A & NZ, Phillip Coates.

“Now is the moment that IT teams feel they have the strongest opportunity to influence the transformation of However, with a rapidly changing technology landscape and potential impact on international markets, it’s critical that IT receives the right training to further develop their skills and business relevance.”

Coates added that the companies that address this now through additional skills training will be in the strongest position to ensure business growth and competitive advantage.

However, another report conducted by Melbourne Business School and AT Kearney showed how this is impacting Australian businesses.

Australian businesses scored lower across the board than their global counterparts in terms of maturity (how developed their analytics capabilities are) and (how much value their analytics operations give to the bottom line).

Australian businesses scored poorly despite no significant differentiator between companies, except their approach to data analytics, the authors said.

They exhibited 12 less value from analytics compared to the rest of the world and are 14 per cent less mature in their approach.

Currently, Chinese companies are leading the world in both maturity and impact, with the leading users of analytics being in oil and gas, industrial and technology.

Those surveyed in Australia attributed risk-averse cultures and reluctance to experiment, their approach to using data in the business, and lack of recruitment and training of data specialists as reasons for them falling behind.

The researchers concluded that companies lagging behind with data analytics stand to boost profits by as much as 60 per cent if they improve their data strategies and culture through a united analytics strategy that is driven by the firm’s business strategy.

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