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The European Commission predicts that the UK will need an additional 500,000 IT professionals by 2015 http://www.information-age.com/white-papers/it-skills-shortage-issue.
Many businesses have skills in house that need some mentoring and coaching but do not provide any which exacerbates the problem. With the right mentoring the junior person you have in house responsible for making sure the PCs can boot up, can turn into an invaluable resource who is tailor made for your business.
Everyone acknowledges that technology plays an ever influential role in the future of businesses but are not sure how to proceed. A recent survey by the CBI showed that 39% of firms surveyed are already struggling to recruit workers with the advanced technical skills they need.
In the software and development space there is a shortage of developers which will only get worse with the digital economy growing exponentially and in-house development is back in fashion. This will only have a knock effect in other industries, forcing salaries higher and higher for the best people.
There is a growing reliance on IT, with technology becoming more and more complex many existing IT departments are struggling to keep up. IT departments are expected to continually modify applications and the number of new projects per person keeps growing. There will be an unhealthy dependence on a key number of individuals within the business who would be difficult to replace if they left.
Can you honestly say that your business would not be affected? But do you know how much you would be affected and what the cost would be?
Perform a risk analysis on your technology and department, identify what is critical and what is not – can you cope without it? That will be starting point to allow you to identify possible solutions and be proactive.
It is worth downloading the white paper and having a quick read.