Is the IT industry's skills gap problem solvable?

The tech sector, in common with many industries, is suffering from a pronounced and lengthy skills shortfall. There’s not just a lack of qualified candidates, but training new hires is costly and time-consuming, which leads to a squeeze on the available talent. To make things worse, we have also witnessed the phenomenon of the 'Great Resignation', when the Covid-19 pandemic prompted significant numbers of people to rethink their career path.

Whether people are seeking a new challenge, starting their own business, taking early retirement or simply looking to minimize burnout and stress, the consequences of tens of thousands of skilled, experienced workers moving on can be severe. When combined with the existing dearth of suitable candidates, it becomes particularly ominous.

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Companies are facing the double threat of a shortage of fresh talent and the problem of valued legacy employees moving on to greener pastures. Such employees often represent company knowledge, cultural values and experience, which are hard to replace and take time to imbue in new workers.

To complicate matters even more, this burgeoning skills shortage comes at a time when business leaders are pushing for digital transformation programs. These strategies do require the right skills to implement successfully. However, at the same time, by deploying powerful cloud, IoT and API ecosystems, organizations can turbocharge their automation and reduce the need for in-house specialist skills.

Adopting APIs

Recruiting the best people at the right time takes time, effort and, more often than not, substantial financial investment. However, what if we had other options beyond hiring? Is it possible for businesses to develop new technology-led initiatives to offset the lack of suitable talent?

Faced with a scarcity of available employees, and with UK unemployment figures at record lows, companies must start thinking and innovating from an IT perspective. Consider APIs, which act as the glue that connects applications, services and operating systems by providing developers with a set of interoperable functions and processes.

In practical terms, APIs are an intermediary for different software platforms, allowing

disparate applications to interconnect, sharing data and functionality. How does this help address the skills gap? APIs can be more easily used by non-technical employees across teams, companies, clients and partners, reducing the need for internal technical staff. In many cases, they work in an 'off-the-shelf' plug-and-play fashion, so you won’t need someone to do the heavy technical lifting.

This offers a great opportunity to meet the ‘Great Resignation’ challenge, while also anticipating tomorrow’s market demands.

Transitioning to the digital era

According to a recent McKinsey & Co. study, there is a trillion-dollar opportunity in more advanced, newer technologies, such as blockchain, machine learning, AI and augmented reality. At the same time, there has been a boom in the adoption of cloud platforms, Software as a Service, and API-enabled EDI and B2B integration solutions.

As companies boost their plans to migrate operations to these technologies, they enjoy reduced costs, more transparent data, improved productivity, and a more modern B2B ecosystem. Collectively, these new technologies also assist businesses in meeting their skills shortfall by eliminating complexity, and to retain existing talent by providing the best tools on the market. However, it is important to bear in mind that these transitions take time, so businesses may require a partner with specialists who can support their current operations effectively.

The power of B2B integration

As more and more organizations, customers, partners and suppliers migrate to the cloud, the possibility and potential of B2B integration becomes more pronounced. Put simply, B2B integration is the ability to connect a business to multiple stakeholders, be that suppliers, regulatory bodies, clients or financial service providers, and communicate seamlessly and securely with all.

There are, however, a bewildering array of options, platforms and services to help companies digitally integrate their B2B processes on offer. If you are thinking of starting this journey, here are some critical factors to consider:

• B2B integration should support traditional EDI flows while also meeting customers’ API-driven demands in today’s digital economy.
• Existing systems should work in tandem with the "Integration-as-a-Service" model.
• Cloud-based B2B integration should reduce costs by up to 40 percent, or you are probably doing it wrong.

To ensure these critical factors are met, businesses are increasingly outsourcing their B2B integration services to partners who can provide end-to-end integration services combined with the expertise and experience required to carry out the migration efficiently.

A well-balanced blend of API and EDI integrations will support and improve your data flow. Moreover, EDI and API-managed cloud processes will facilitate enhanced business agility, while migrating to the cloud will reduce EDI risks and enable greatly increased scalability. And ultimately, in the face of a lack of talented recruits, these technologies will relieve the need for in-house skills and mitigate the effects of the 'Great Resignation'.

Image Credit: wan wei/Shutterstock

Emmanuel Méthivier, Business Program Director, Axway