Reskilling the Global IT Workforce to be Future-Ready
By 2020, it’s estimated that 75 percent of organizations will experience business disruptions due to infrastructure and operations skills gaps, according to CIO.1 This source also stated that there are currently more IT jobs available than qualified IT professionals to fill them. Clearly, the global IT workforce is not fully staffed or prepared for the future.
The Dismal State of the Current IT Skills Gap
Organizations of all kinds are facing an IT skills gap. According to TechCo2:
- 45 percent of small businesses weren’t able to find qualified (IT) applicants to fill job openings in the first quarter of 2017.
- 70 percent of cybersecurity professionals believe that their organization is being negatively impacted by the skills shortage in the tech industry.
Many IT professionals around the world are simply not equipped to handle high-level information technology roles. If these individuals do not obtain the skills these roles call for, they as professionals will eventually become obsolete.
Why Reskilling is Essential to IT Pros’ Future-Readiness
Due to the speed at which technology is transforming and the need companies have for qualified IT workers, the only way an IT professional can truly become future-ready is through regular reskilling.
Today’s information technology professional should be skilled in big data, cybersecurity, analytics, and cloud computing. While a small percentage of this population has these skills, the majority doesn’t, which is why IT roles are remaining unfilled.
Reskilling is helpful to both IT pro and employer. It increases IT employees’ hireability while simultaneously increasing their productivity, which has major payoffs for the companies they work for.3
The EdCast Knowledge Cloud is Helping to Upskill IT Pros Around the World
The EdCast Knowledge Cloud platform powers FutureSkills, an initiative created by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), to re-skill and upskill the global IT workforce. This initiative is targeting one million IT pros in India and other parts of the world by January 2021. India’s Minister for IT and Law, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, “Even if a technology destroys ten jobs, it will create 100 jobs. This reskilling platform will help manage that transition.”
The Cloud is also being used to help launch Nordic Futures learning portal. “The goal of this unique project is to provide knowledge, content, insights and learning across enterprise, academic, and government teams in all Nordic countries.”
The EdCast Knowledge Cloud is helping IT professionals around the globe prepare for the future by gaining critical skills. Learn more about the Knowledge Cloud here.
References:
- CIO. The IT skills gap: facts vs. fictions. https://www.cio.com/article/3309419/hiring-and-staffing/it-skills-gap-facts-vs-fictions.html.
- TechCo. The skills gap in tech: everything you need to know. https://tech.co/news/skills-gap-tech-everything-know-2017-12.
- Entrepreneur India. Here’s how upskilling and reskilling will help the IT industry. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/317809.
