IDC
: 70% of Organizations Impacted by Cloud Skills Shortage
March 23, 2022
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The data was published in an IDC Infobrief ‘How to be a Digital
Leader in 2022’ 1 commissioned by Cloudreach, and Amazon Web
Services (AWS), ultimately supporting the Atos OneCloud
strategic initiative. The research also delves into cloud
technology’s present and expanding role in supporting business
growth and sustainability efforts.
As more organizations rush to adopt cloud technology to improve
efficiency and sustainability, the report shines a light on how
the industry needs more skilled professionals than ever to
maintain operations. Business leaders are finding that their
cloud transformation initiatives are increasingly hampered by a
lack of skilled professionals, with 34% of respondents
explaining that the shortage has reduced their ability to
operate and launch services.
Low supply of cloud skills is also hitting innovation, causing
high staff turnover and wage inflation. Multi-cloud
capabilities, cloud system development, and cloud governance
were the top three areas most impacted by the skills gap,
according to respondents.
“This research confirms that there is a shortage of cloud talent
today, threatening cloud transformation projects that are
essential to business survival,” said Brooks Borcherding, CEO,
Cloudreach. “Talented architects and engineers are vital to
delivering on the promise of cloud for businesses, and the
opportunities are huge for their careers. This skills gap poses
a challenge for organizations to find new ways of recruiting,
hiring and upskilling talent; including removing barriers of
entry that have historically limited diversity within the
industry.
“Businesses recognize the importance of cloud infrastructure to
help them grow and become more effective, and this study
confirms the demand for cloud services continues to grow,” said
Vittorio Sanvito, Director of EMEA Partner Development at AWS.
“That is why we are working so hard to help close the skills gap
in EMEA and worldwide with our partners like Cloudreach and Atos.
AWS has also made a commitment to help 29 million people around
the world grow their tech skills with free cloud computing
training by 2025. We are bringing more people into professional
cloud careers and increasing the diversity of the cloud
workforce.”
The concern about the skills gap remained consistent across
cloud organizations in both North America and Europe. The World
Economic Forum estimates that by 2025, half of the global
workforce will need reskilling, and 97 million new roles will
emerge because of digitization. With fewer skilled workers than
open jobs, and growing demand on the horizon, cloud
organizations will fight to maintain their teams and operations.
The
study revealed other trends in cloud technology, including the
essential role it can play in business operations, growth, and
sustainability efforts.
● 48% of respondents are now engaged in business
transformation through cloud adoption, driving broader changes
in organizational thinking.
● 71% of respondents see cloud strategy as the biggest driver of
sustainability today, with this percentage rising to 85% in
2023.
“This study shows that cloud is crucial to achieve carbon
emissions targets. Enterprises consume less energy and reduce
their environmental footprint when migrating to a cloud
environment,” said Carla Arend, Senior Program Director and Lead
Analyst, Cloud in Europe at IDC. “To be impactful,
sustainability practices need to be embedded in the enterprise
business processes. These go beyond tracking CO2 emissions or
utilities consumption but look for greener practices across the
entire asset lifecycle.”
The IDC survey collected data from 610 IT business leaders in
North America and Europe at large enterprises across a wide
range of industries.
