Most African IT leaders are not adequately addressing IT skills shortages affecting their organisations, according to a survey from tech giant IBM.
IBM has surveyed 180 Africa-based IT leaders across 29 industries in Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco to understand how challenges such as skill-shortages hinder African firms from maximising their use of emerging technologies.
According to the survey, 87% of respondents say these emerging technologies -- specifically mobile, cloud, social and analytics -- are critical for business success.
But only 53% of these IT leaders are rapidly adopting these measures.
And key factors holding back African businesses from adopting emerging technologies more rapidly include IT leaders who are not part of business decision-making processes, the rise of connectivity and data volumes that outstrip businesses’ ability to maintain security, and poor IT skills development, says IBM.
While IBM highlights that these challenges are “interrelated”, it stresses that less than 50% of respondents to its survey sought to catch up or address their technology skill deficits.
“Less than half of the companies in the survey have developed the level of IT skills they need to close the technology adoption gap,” says IBM in the report titled ‘Setting the pace in Africa’.
“Organisations need IT professionals prepared to effectively leverage technology in order to move beyond simply ‘keeping the lights on’.
“For the business to remain competitive, both technology and expertise are essential -- for example, the ability to not only generate data and analytic insight, but the knowledge to put it to use,” says IBM.
The survey then goes on to say that 80% of ‘Pacesetters’ in its survey are more likely to “proactively develop the professional skills essential to reach future goals, rather than simply addressing immediate project needs.”
“In the eyes of Pacesetters, leadership support for skills development is vital.
“Their IT leaders make a solid business case for development and formulate workable, future focused plans, instituting a formal process to nurture IT skills,” IBM has said.
A full copy of the IBM report is available by clicking here.
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