IT Skills Shortage Could Leave Business Volatile, Warns Lifecycle Specialist
19th June 2008
Companies will continue to fall behind key business targets if they fail to recognise the importance of harnessing the right IT skills, warns IT lifecycle specialist, Esteem Systems.
76 per cent of businesses recently surveyed by Gartner, had problems finding skilled IT staff and have been forced to delay launching new products and services due to a shortage of qualified workers. To help combat this problem, Esteem Systems is calling for businesses to examine other options, including outsourcing or a managed service provision.
Regulatory compliance through the implementation of IT systems affects many industry sectors in the UK, including financial services, local government and education. In order to cope with the IT department becoming an enabler for the business to meet key objectives, organisations are often faced with exceptionally high costs for recruiting and retaining staff with the right specialist IT skills.
Alastair Kitching, Commercial Director at Esteem, explains, “There is no doubt that qualified IT specialists are in short supply and it is hindering many organisations. Skilled staff can prove very costly and difficult to retain, especially in the public sector for example, where salaries are graded.”
Specialist skills can easily be incorporated into managed service provision and can help remove the challenge and cost for example of employing two or possibly more individuals in-house to provide 24x7 IT support. Both managed service and outsourcing contracts can be measured against a clear and comprehensive SLA (service level agreement) to help businesses achieve an efficient, cost effective and sustainable solution.
“Using an external, dedicated organisation to provide specialist IT services means businesses can benefit from a skill set that they may not have been able to afford to employ or retain, such as Oracle and Solaris administrators or SharePoint developers,” comments Kitching.
If you require any further information, please contact our Press Officer on 01937 861000 or e-mail on press@esteem.co.uk
