Two thirds of tech leaders fear skills gap – Fujitsu survey

The rapid digital transformation accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic saw more organisations relying on technology to keep workers connected and businesses running. However, in a survey by tech giants Fujitsu, three quarters of technology leaders say they are concerned about the expanding skills gap and pace of transformation.

The survey of 330 CIOs and IT decision-makers in the UK shows a perfect storm of people leaving their roles while demand for technology skills soars.

There is also a mixed reaction to cloud. While it has clearly been vital to businesses during lockdowns and enabled remote working, 73% of those surveyed said cloud technology has created more complexity and 70% feel they have less control.

This is creating anxiety, with 60% of tech leaders admitting they fear for their own futures as they struggle to keep up with the digital transformation. In fact, 64% said it was almost impossible to hire the talent needed, with 72% saying that skills gap had increased in the past 12 months.

Organisations need to tackle technical debt

“The UK has done incredibly well to adapt over the last two years, and tech leaders have played a huge role in this – catapulting technology to the top of the agenda to enable businesses, communities and individuals to thrive,” says John Pink, Managing Director, Private Sector at Fujitsu.

“However, this does come at a price. The world is moving at an extraordinary pace and the organisations who migrated to cloud just to stay afloat must now modernise fully to meet the demands of their citizens and consumers, which are ever-changing. This means businesses need to find the right balance of cloud technologies and tackle the technical debt that’s holding them back.”

However, it is not all doom and gloom. Some 88% said technology will make them more resilient, and 91% feel confident that technology is driving change.