Companies across the world and in most vertical industries are finding a lack of IT proficiency in security, communication and management skills, as well as non-specific server technologies such as database, storage and administration skills. That's according to an international study conducted by the Boston-based Center for Strategy Research.
The study, Skills Gaps in the World’s IT Workforce, found IT managers in sectors such as auto/manufacturing, education, financial services, government, healthcare and IT are reporting a significant gap between what they consider important technologies and their employees' skills. They cited security, firewalls and data privacy as areas with the most significant skills gaps among workers. The trend was consistent across the board, whether measured by country, company size or key industry, says Julie Brown, CSR's president.
Technologies covered include security, networking, operating systems, hardware skills, storage, soft skills, application-based skills, and specific programming languages such as Java, Web-based and wireless technologies. Gaps in skills were assessed by subtracting the percentage of respondents saying employees are proficient from the percentage tagging a particular skill as important.
Security, which is viewed as the most important skill, has the greatest gap between importance and proficiency, indicating the supply of these skills is not meeting demand, according to the report. General networking and networking infrastructure skills were among the top five cited as lacking proficiency.
"The security skills was a bit of a surprise," says Steven Ostrowski, a spokesperson for the Computing Trade Industry Association (CompTIA), which sponsored the study. "The gap was bigger than we anticipated considering how much attention security has gotten in recent years. But what we found is that security is such a complicated area to stay proficient in. It changes so much and the threats keep changing."
For instance, the CERT Coordination Center, a federally funded Pittsburgh-based Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, says 7,236 Internet security-related threats were reported in 2007, and more than 38,000 such threats have been identified since 1995. Meanwhile, the number of unique computer viruses and salacious software hacks installed on computers and networks doubled to 500,000 between 2006 and 2007. The number is expected to hit 1 million this year, Ostrowski says.
"Just these factoids show you what people are dealing with. It's just never-ending," he observes. "Firewalls and anti-virus software are important but you still need people to install and maintain these products properly. Companies are struggling to find people with the proper mix of credentials."
Security a Top Concern
CSR found that, overall, 74 percent of IT managers see security as the most important IT skill, rating it 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 7. Meanwhile, 66 percent ranked general networking and operating systems - which showed a low skills gap - as among the top IT skills needed within organizations. Skills that are expected to grow in importance within the next five years are RF mobile, wireless technology. By 2013, they're expected to be as important as security skills and Web-based technologies.
Thirty-nine percent of respondents expect RF mobile, wireless technology to be important one year from now, while 55 percent predict it will be important five years from now. Currently, wireless is rated as the least important skill by IT managers.
Soft skills - which include project management, communication and customer service - recorded the second most significant skills gap whether the data was measured by country, company size or sector. Companies have been demanding IT workers develop better communication and business skills these days as the business and IT operations within companies become more integrated and seek to build better processes.
An estimated 3,578 IT managers, from within 14 countries and the South African continent were part of the study.
E-mail Sonia Lelii at sonia.lelii at dice.com
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