• Artificial Intelligence
• Emerging Tech
• Skills & Talent

Written by Chris Price, Director, Public Sector & SI, Computacenter.

In technology terms, UK businesses have never had it better. The UK tech sector now accounts for 10 percent of GDP and Tech Nation’s 2018 annual report revealed that the UK firmly leads in Europe, attracting £28bn in technology investment since 2011, compared with £11bn in France and £9.3bn in Germany.

Continuing adoption of cloud and virtualisation technologies and increasing interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities demonstrates that business leaders are aware of the increased productivity and profitability that’s on offer. However, even for those embracing the digital revolution, there remains a significant obstacle to realising the full benefits of modern IT infrastructure technologies.

Whilst the IT skills gap is now old news, it’s also not going anywhere fast. The deficit of skilled tech experts across the globe continues to grow and with Brexit looming in the UK, the outlook is even more uncertain. Many organisations are looking at short term solutions, such as de-siloing their IT departments to make expertise more broadly available and even outsourcing infrastructure to managed service providers (MSPs), but this doesn’t address the core issue. There’s still a real need to develop long term solutions to ensure UK businesses and the wider economy remains productive and competitive in the global marketplace in 2019 and beyond.

Mind the gap

In 2016, the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee delivered a damning report on the state of the skills gap – calling the situation a crisis and revealing that even down to the level of ICT teachers, there is a critical shortage of qualified candidates. That same report revealed that in the previous year over 90 percent of tech-based businesses struggled to fill vacancies and that the growing digital skills gap was already affecting their commercial activities.

To make matters worse, many of the UK’s digital technology businesses have historically relied upon talent from the wider European Union and the looming Brexit situation is only projected to starve the economy further of qualified IT professionals and engineers. Present estimates from the UK Government indicate that the digital skills gap is currently costing the UK economy £63 billion a year in lost GDP and as we transition towards an increasingly digital world, addressing the digital skills gap will be crucial to growth across every industry sector.

Looking ahead then, there are only two clear paths to sustaining growth and success; providing greater opportunities and incentives to cultivate new STEAM graduates through the UK education system, and creating new jobs for these new workers to excel in.

Establishing a meritechracy

At Computacenter our experience of the increased demand for tech resources, paired with the huge IT skills gap, led us to start an initiative to build our own homegrown talent. We believe that it is our responsibility to help school and university students across multiple subject disciplines to realise their true abilities and to become everything they could be.

In 2007 we established a programme of associate, apprenticeship, and graduate schemes to attract and encourage a diverse range of candidates to become the next generation of engineers and tech leaders, and it has been a resounding success. Since January 2015 alone, Computacenter has employed 142 apprentices, with over half of those in Technology based subjects following structured training and development plans with education and work elements. We also offer young people support through an Industrial Placement Programme, where university students spend 12 months working in a job that may relate to their studies and future career aspirations.

Both of these pathways are essential and we feel this demonstrates the level of our commitment to addressing the skills shortage, specifically within IT whilst providing more opportunities for talented young people. With 14 percent of the UK workforce currently aged 28 or under, and having seen a 67 percent retention rate on our programmes to date, we are confident Computacenter is driving this subject right from the top!

A brighter future

As UK businesses continue to voice their concerns around the growing skills gap, the Government appears to be taking heed of the seriousness of the situation and implementing strategies to attempt to reverse the national skills deficit. However, it’s not enough. We will need the entire industry to collaborate and create a long-term solution to address the skills crisis, with a strong focus on training and creating accessible entry level jobs.

At Computacenter, we believe that it’s necessary for businesses to take a more active role in building and nurturing the talent they need to succeed in the future. Given the increasing demand for ‘job ready’ applicants, programmes such as apprenticeships and industry placements will prove invaluable in attracting and developing skilled workers who will enable both public and private sector organisations to leverage the latest technologies and achieve their full potential.

This article was orginally published here.

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