How to overcome your tech resourcing problems and outpace your competitors
Upskill, source & outsource
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Organizations across the technology sector are all too familiar with the continued talent shortage. It is estimated that by 2030 the lack of global technology industry skills will reach 4.3 million workers.
Amidst pressure for organizations to be innovative and tech-focused, this has created a barrier for growth and is making it difficult to meet customer and employee expectations.
Executive summary
Key findings
Executive summary
Key findings
Supply & Demand
Sourcing the skills
Expanding beyond traditional IT
Conclusion
Introduction
Key findings
Challenging landscape
People problems
The importance of capable hardware
Conclusion
Sponsor info
About the sponsor
Computing surveyed 154 IT decision-makers, split evenly between the UK and US regions, exploring the challenges facing organizations as they try to fill technology skills gaps. Results are combined when there are little to no differences between the two markets and segmented when there are meaningful distinctions.
This report reveals how organizations are sourcing and developing talent, the success of such initiatives, and how diversity in tech has a crucial role to play in meeting needs and fulfilling potential. We will also discuss the role of third parties in assisting with recruitment and resourcing.
By 2030 the lack of global technology
industry skills
will reach 4.3
million workers.
Across the UK and US organizations are struggling to fill IT and tech vacancies.
The majority say it has become more difficult to recruit these skills in the last two years.
of IT leaders expect their workloads to increase or stay the same in the next five years.
94
%
Most organizations are upskilling existing employees or relying on in-house expertise.
say moving from a reactive to
a proactive support approach
is top of mind.
61
%
of organizations are feeling the pressure from a lack of talent, admitting their IT teams are overworked and under-resourced.
1/3
61% agree more needs to
be done to encourage
diversity in the tech space.
Supply & Demand
The rise in remote and hybrid working has also warranted a greater need for IT and technical support services and complex remote management, increasing the workloads of already overstretched teams.
In this competitive job market, organizations need to look to new ways of finding and retaining much-needed tech talent from unsaturated markets. Third parties that can deliver either in-house or outsourced tech talent, equipped with the right technical skills to meet organizations’ individual needs, are invaluable in this climate.
The Great Resignation, a term coined in 2021 in the wake of the pandemic, is an ongoing trend that sees employees leaving their roles for better wages, benefits, flexibility, and satisfaction.
It is no surprise that the phenomenon has endured beyond this period of uncertainty, as inflation rises, the cost-of-living increases, and people have a renewed desire to reach their long-term goals through alternative careers.
So why has tech been at the forefront of this crisis? Employers recognize talent is vital when adopting complicated emerging technologies and they are under pressure to maintain or reduce operating costs all while supporting remote and hybrid working environments. In terms of department workloads, 94 percent of IT leaders expect their workloads to increase or stay the same in the next five years, emphasizing the importance of tech skills.
IT decision-makers are left with the weight of seeking creative and innovative ways to exceed customer expectations. Without specialist skills, initiatives cannot be promoted, and objectives cannot be fulfilled.
Cyber attacks, widely recognized as becoming more frequent and sophisticated, are also top of mind. Keeping up with the evolving and dynamic threat landscape is worsened in the absence of specialist expertise.
Altogether, this means as organizations move towards a more digital landscape, the demand for tech expertise and support capabilities intensifies. Consequently, job openings are numerous, potential employees are in short supply, and those with skills can be discerning in their job hunt.
The greatest challenges facing organizations in both the US and UK when it comes to hiring talent are salary expectations and a lack of widespread skills. Other pertinent issues include an excess of job offers, supporting hybrid work, and drawn-out hiring processes.
When asked how they foresee the skills gap changing in the coming years, very few respondents expect a decrease. A quarter of US and UK organizations expect the talent shortage to increase greatly, while around a third predict it will increase somewhat. Overall, a majority of around 85 percent expect the talent shortage to either increase or stay the same.
How can organizations respond to this pressing issue?
Is your organization currently struggling to fill its IT/tech vacancies?
Has it become more difficult to recruit employees with IT/tech skills in the past two years?
Unsure
No
Yes
7%
52%
41%
8%
19%
73%
Expectations of department workload changes in the
next five years
Without specialist skills, initiatives cannot be promoted, and objectives cannot be fulfilled.
Biggest challenges (3 maximum)
Decrease greatly
Decrease somewhat
Increase greatly
Stay the same
Increase somewhat
36%
44%
14%
4%
3%
Candidates now expect hybrid/remote working
Candidates receiving multiple job offers
Shortage of workers who live locally
A lack of candidates with the necessary technical skills
High salary expectations from candidates
Slow hiring processes
Candidates expecting more perks/benefits
Filling talent gaps at scale
59%
24%
58%
21%
24%
22%
18%
10%
Expected skills gap changes over the next three years
23%
34%
27%
12%
5%
Decrease greatly
Decrease somewhat
Stay the same
Increase somewhat
Increase greatly
In the UK and US, the predominant approach to sourcing talent is upskilling current staff or relying on existing expertise. Hiring new specialist talent and turning to third-party help are also key initiatives in both regions, yet there is space for further adoption of these approaches.
Sourcing the skills
Current sources of tech skills
Contractors
Focus on buying software rather than skills
Specialist third parties
New hires
Existing in-house expertise
Upskilling in-house staff
69%
55%
37%
36%
11%
68%
In the US, networking is reported to be the most sought-after skill for prospective and existing employees. In contrast, in the UK cybersecurity skills are top of mind, followed closely by cloud expertise. For both regions, software development and business intelligence are valued equally by roughly a quarter of respondents. At the other end of the scale, AI-related skills are not popular for UK and US organizations.
Sought-after skills (3 maximum)
DevOps
Business intelligence
Software development
Networking
Cloud skills
Cybersecurity
57%
30%
26%
13%
21%
53%
When upskilling staff is not a viable or preferred option, organizations should look to how third-party assistance and outsourcing can help fill vital knowledge gaps. Around a third of UK and US organizations are utilizing third-party help but as workloads and skills shortages are expected to increase over the coming years, more organizations should adopt this approach.
Organizations have a lot to lose as the talent gap widens. Currently, IT leaders are encountering problems with overworked and under-resourced IT teams. In some cases, customer experience and digital transformation plans are the biggest impact. Organizations cannot afford to compromise on tech skills – the damage to reputation, productivity, and security may be unsalvageable. Over the next few years, these issues will only become more critical and debilitating for organizations.
US
UK
44%
38%
56%
20%
25%
26%
Data management
20%
35%
AI-related skills
10%
12%
Other
5%
4%
In attempts to broaden the talent pool, some organizations choose to recruit tech talent from other neighboring countries and in some cases, even further afield.
For UK organizations the EMEA region is fertile ground for tech recruitment, with 94 percent of organizations hiring employees from this part of the world. In contrast, Latin and North America are less common sources for UK organizations, but a small proportion do utilize these areas.
The vast majority of US organizations (95 percent) employ North American workers. A minor fraction does recruit talent from Asia Pacific (APAC) and Latin America. These findings indicate that organizations are mainly recruiting within their own part of the world, suggesting there is room for development in hiring talent from unsaturated markets.
Biggest impact of technology skills shortages
Keeping up with competition
Security
Meeting product development demands
Executing digital transformation plans
Customer experience suffering
IT teams are overworked/under-resourced
36%
10%
9%
7%
7%
11%
Technical support to employees
7%
Output, profitability, and growth
5%
Other
United States
Geographical regions for recruiting tech talent
United Kingdom
EMEA
94%
Latin America
1%
North America
5%
APAC
4%
Latin America
1%
North America
95%
While self-servicing, AI, and automation have enabled enterprises to meet speed and convenience demands without the need for specialist intervention, complex technical services cannot be addressed using technology alone – deep technical knowledge and human interaction are required.
Customer and employee experience are important drivers in ongoing revenue as well as brand loyalty. To provide exceptional services, expert understanding of technology and the underpinning processes are paramount. To be successful, organizations must consider how software is developing, how users interact and adopt it, and how to support all of this.
We’ve seen that hiring and retaining technical talent are challenging for today’s organizations, indicating the need for outsourcing is widespread.
However, very few organizations in the UK and US are outsourcing the entirety of their tech assistance. A third of UK respondents partially outsource support. Comparatively, this is true for roughly a quarter of US organizations.
For both regions, the cost of outsourcing support, giving up control, and the level of potential support being provided are concerns.
Talent solutions
This, combined with around a third of organizations reporting they’ll utilize outsourcing partners to fill talent gaps in the future, suggests organizations are missing out on valuable support. Opting for outsourcing technical assistance helps organizations focus on their core business instead of redistributing skills and resources to other objectives.
Crucially, enterprises can maintain good customer and employee experience through saving time and improving their operational efficiency. Modern IT solutions are increasingly capable but adoption will be hindered if the right knowledge cannot be dedicated to the right place and at the right time.
The most voiced considerations for outsourcing support are potential cost savings, the ability to cover multiple time zones, and the afforded flexibility.
Do you currently outsource tech support?
No, the level of support is not as good as we provide internally
No, I do not want to give up control of our customers
No, it is too expensive
Yes, we outsource part of our tech support
Yes, we outsource all
of our tech support
4%
1%
12%
14%
15%
23%
39%
38%
32%
22%
US
UK
“My organization’s use of specialist third parties to fill tech talent gaps will increase over the next three years”
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Strongly agree
Digital transformation requires creativity and constant upskilling. The wider the pool of knowledge you can recruit, the more creativity can be harnessed.
Outsourcing enables organizations to deliver specialised, expert tech talent solutions that are scalable, customizable, and ready now.
A different approach to training can be taken whereby outsourced employees are trained directly on the appropriate projects and software they would be dealing with at specific organizations. Tailoring services in this way means organizations can focus on their long-term strategic success with confidence in their support solution, moving from a reactive to a proactive posture – a goal for roughly 60 percent of UK and US organizations.
Expanding beyond traditional IT
“My organization needs to move from a reactive approach to a proactive one when it comes to technical support”
When asked if their organization had considered sourcing talent from Central Africa, most US and UK enterprises had never realised it is a viable location for talent. While concerns surrounding language barriers and unreliable internet connections are valid, they are typically unfounded.
Sourcing talent from different time zones means round the clock support can be provided. Partnering with businesses training these regions means their skillset can be tailored to software, programs, and more – all in English and all with reliable, secure connections.
Outsourcing in this way not only enables IT and technology support, but employees are trained on soft skills too.
7%
15%
38%
33%
5%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
4%
8%
27%
43%
18%
Organizations have a lot to lose as the
talent gap widens.
Sourcing talent from different time zones means round the clock support.
If not, why not?
Unsure
No
Yes
United Kingdom
40%
51%
9%
United States
25%
70%
5%
Do you consider Africa as a viable location to source tech talent?
Recruiting talent from places with high unemployment further supports growing communities by upskilling developing regions and democratising knowledge. Moreover, it is a new solution to the talent sourcing issue and ensures organizations are contributing to developing a diverse technology space.
In the UK and US, as in the rest of the world, the diversity divide within the technology space remains pronounced. Gender identity, socio-economic background, and race are still unevenly distributed.
Estimates show we are experiencing the widest gender gap in the tech industry in 40 years – around 1 in 5 employees are women. Skills are not confined to one type of person – they can be taught to candidates with a willingness and desire to learn.
At the current rate in which demand is outstripping supply, organizations must endeavour to recognise and recruit diverse talent and think outside of the box.
Enterprises need to fill their tech talent gaps to continue to grow their businesses and remain competitive. Ultimately, the more inclusive and collaborative a talent pool, the greater the opportunities for diverse approaches, innovation, and ideas.
“Language gap”
“We’ve no direct experience or knowledge of
this market”
“Unaware of skill sets in this area but willing to be shown otherwise”
“Unclear of skills”
“Unreliable internet connection”
“We’ve no experience with this talent pool”
“We’d never thought
of it”
“Time zone differentials”
“We’re unaware
of Africa being
a hotspot for
IT workers”
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
7%
3%
29%
32%
29%
“More needs to be done to encourage more diversity within the technology industry, specifically women in tech”
Delivering technical talent solutions for enterprises—driving exceptional customer experiences
About the sponsor, Tek Experts
Tek Experts is a leading global provider of technical talent solutions and a trusted partner to some of the world’s largest, most-respected organizations. We help enterprises deliver exceptional customer experiences and results, at scale. Our flexible solutions cover the full customer lifecycle, including specialized technical support services, customer success offerings, and tech talent sourcing. We offer a range of flexible engagement options from fully outsourced services, where we recruit and manage talent to agreed-upon deliverables, to acting as the employer of record, with the option of hosting talent in our dynamic and vibrant tech hubs, to sourcing talent for companies to hire directly.
Our offices operate in a follow-the-sun model 24/7/365 throughout Costa Rica, El Salvador, USA, Nigeria, Rwanda, Bulgaria, China, and Vietnam. We employ more than 6,000 people across the globe and our leadership team is drawn from the same executive backgrounds as our clients, ensuring our clients can rely on us.
Talent solutions
4.3 million workers
Despite the looming expectation of economic challenges, the demand for skilled tech staff remains strong. Organizations are investing more in their digital transformation journeys to compete in their marketplace and provide secure, seamless experiences for customers.
In the last decade, the number of employees working in tech has undoubtedly proliferated, growing at an average annual rate of 2.2% since 2001 – it’s hard to imagine any other industries seeing this much growth. However, the ongoing talent shortage in this space is a leading obstacle on a global scale.
The majority of organizations in the UK and US admit they are struggling to recruit technology talent. They further emphasize that this difficulty has increased in the last two years, suggesting the pressure has heightened as a result of the pandemic and other global issues.
average annual rate of 2.2% since 2001
Yes
No
Unsure
No
Unsure
Yes
Increase greatly
Increase somewhat
Stay the same
Decrease somewhat
Decrease greatly
8%
Unsure
No
Yes
Unsure
No
Yes
Learn more
Learn more
How to overcome your tech resourcing problems and outpace your competitors
Organizations across the technology sector
are all too familiar with the continued talent shortage. It is estimated that by 2030 the lack
of global technology industry skills will reach
4.3 million workers.
Amidst pressure for organizations to be innovative and tech-focused, this has created a barrier for growth and is making it difficult to meet customer and employee expectations.
Executive summary
Biggest challenges (3 maximum)
Candidates now expect hybrid/remote working
Slow hiring processes
Candidates expecting more perks/benefits
Filling talent gaps at scale
Candidates receiving multiple job offers
Shortage of workers who live locally
A lack of candidates with the necessary technical skills
High salary expectations from candidates
59%
24%
21%
24%
22%
18%
10%
58%
Current sources of tech skills
Contractors
Focus on buying software rather than skills
Specialist third parties
New hires
Existing in-house expertise
Upskilling in-house staff
69%
55%
37%
36%
11%
68%
Sought-after skills (3 maximum)
Other
AI-related skills
Data management
DevOps
Business intelligence
Software development
Networking
Cloud skills
Cybersecurity
57%
44%
30%
56%
26%
20%
13%
25%
21%
26%
20%
35%
10%
12%
5%
4%
53%
38%
US
UK
Other
Output, profitability, and growth
Technical support to employees
Security
Keeping up with competition
Meeting product development demands
Executing digital transformation plans
Customer experience suffering
IT teams are overworked/under-resourced
36%
10%
9%
7%
7%
7%
5%
8%
11%
Biggest impact of technology skills shortages
11%
94%
1%
5%
4%
95%
1%
Latin America
APAC
North America
North America
EMEA
Latin America
United Kingdom
United States
Geographical regions for recruiting tech talent
No, the level of support is not as good as we provide internally
No, I do not want to give up control of our customers
No, it is too expensive
Yes, we outsource part of our tech support
Yes, we outsource all
of our tech support
4%
1%
12%
14%
15%
23%
39%
38%
32%
22%
US
UK
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
“My organization’s use of specialist third parties to fill tech talent gaps will increase over the next three years”
7%
15%
38%
33%
5%
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
4%
8%
27%
43%
18%
“My organization needs to move from a reactive approach to a proactive one when it comes to technical support”
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
Strongly agree
Somewhat agree
Neither agree nor disagree
Somewhat disagree
Strongly disagree
7%
3%
29%
32%
29%
of IT leaders expect their workloads to increase or stay the same in the next five years.
94
%
expect the talent
shortage to
either increase
or stay the same.
85
%