IT staffing shortage to surface again

Remember the IT skills shortage of the dot.com boom in the late '90s and in the beginning of the decade? It may be back soon, according to the results of two recent studies. IT leaders need to be prepared for the coming staffing challenges.

Gartner points to the need for both technical skills and business talent and says this will be in short supply compared to demand. Unlike the last shortage, however, the need will be for people with more general qualifications, experience and business insight to understand and manage business processes and technology (Compare Network Monitoring and Management products).

“What constitutes ‘qualified people’ will change. The intersection of business models and IT requires people with varied experience, professional versatility, multidiscipline knowledge and technology understanding – a hybrid professional, in other words,” said Diane Morello, vice president and Gartner fellow, in a report.

Outsourcing is not the solution because service providers will suffer from the same talent shortages as everyone else. Instead, Gartner advises that companies need to be prepared to pay more for talent or reduce the level of output that can be expected from flat spending.

Another new survey underscores that IT staffing is already challenging for some. Robert Half Technology’s poll of 1,400 CIOs reveals that finding skilled technology pros is the greatest staffing challenge, as chosen by nearly 25% of respondents. The next biggest challenge pertaining to staffing is giving employees the professional development resources to keep their skills current, as chosen by 23%.

Finding qualified IT employees is a greater challenge for big firms of at least 1,000 employees, whereas skills development is of greater concern for smaller companies.

“In areas such as Web development, database management, wireless networking and applications engineering, the supply of qualified professionals has not kept pace with the demand, leading to multiple job offers for candidates with the right mix of experience,” said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology.