Tech companies lack talent to carry forward their future business strategy

Reskilling the existing workforce is the need of the hour.

The tech industry is evolving fast, with numerous technology disruptions, such as automation, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, IoT, and so on. Technological advancements have made it mandatory for these tech firms to equip their workforce with relevant skill and knowledge to perform better in the new environment.

A research by Korn Ferry has found that tech firms are lagging in hiring and preparing employees for the evolving need of the tech industry. The research surveyed over 60 C-Suite, VPs and top HR professionals at the best tech firms in the summer of 2017.

While reskilling the current workforce is the need of the hour—to help the employees affected by automation—only 27 per cent of the respondents agree that their organisation is actively reskilling the employees and retasking them to other work.

Internet of Things (IoT) is the next big game changer for businesses. Many organisations are taking advantage of this technology by using it in their daily operations and functions. There are still many who are testing its use. While IoT is helping businesses transform and grow, it is important to have talented and expert employees who are well versed with IoT. The survey found that only 23 per cent of the respondents agree that their organisation has an Internet of Things (IoT) talent bench in place.

It is important that organisations have talent to deliver their future business strategy. As per the survey, only 36 per cent of the respondents agree that their organisation has talent to deliver their future business strategy. However, 75 per cent believe their organisation possesses the talent required for the current business strategy.

Werner Penk, president, Korn Ferry Global Technology Sector said that “The technology industry is a mix of old-school blue-chip companies and nimble startups. And while each organisation is different, one thing is clear: the pace of technological change is only going to get faster and for companies in this sector to survive, they need to prepare their talent.”

When asked about the number one challenge their organisation is facing, the first in the list was application modernisation and more digital transformation (51 per cent), which was followed by big data & data analytics, cyber & physical security, and cloud & mobility.

While adoption of technology is good, it is equally important to ensure the security of the business. It is important that organisation run programmes to skill their employees with new technology and make them aware of their responsibilities. 77 per cent of the respondents agree that their organisation runs programmes to increase employee awareness of their responsibilities and ensure enterprise-wide security. Also, 66 per cent feel that ensuring holistic risk management with all employees doing their part to maintain security across the enterprise, is part of their company’s culture.

To maintain enterprise-wide security, organisations need cyber security talent and experts. 43 per cent of the respondents agree that their organisation has cyber security talent to support their digital and business transformation needs, while less than one third agree that they have the right cyber-security infrastructure in place to support their data analytics, business process automation, AI and related services.

Penk adds that “Ensuring cyber security is critical for tech organisations, as these firms will only continue to increase their leverage of big data analytics and AI in delivering solutions for clients. Companies clearly need to evaluate their existing talent and think about how they can upskill the current employees or what new talent they need, to ensure the future survival of their organisation.”