Skills shortage hampering new technology adoption - report

Joint survey by Capita and Cisco suggests IT decision makers are aware of the latest trends, but don't have the in-house skills to adopt and capitalise on them

Many UK firms are aware of technology trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and big data , but are holding back investment due to a lack of relevant skills in their company.

This is the claim in a joint report called Trends vs Technologies by Capita Technology Solutions and Cisco, which questioned 125 IT decision makers in various industries within the commercial sector across the country.

In general, 78 per cent of respondents rated keeping up to date with the latest technology trends as important, and 88 per cent agreed that financial gains can be made by responding to IT trends with their business.

Furthermore, 86 per cent agreed that competitive advantage can be gained by responding to IT trends.

The results revealed that while 70 per cent of IT decision makers felt the IoT was relevant to their business, 71 per cent said they did not have the skills to identify opportunities for growth, and 80 per cent said they did not have the skills to capitalise on the data received from IoT. Just 30 per cent said they were implementing an IoT strategy.

According to the survey, 90 per cent of those questioned said big data was relevant to their business, but only 39 per cent had implemented it, and 64 per cent felt they did not have the skills to recognise how they could use big data.

When it came to AI, 50 per cent said it was relevant, but it is being adopted by only 25 per cent of organisations, with just eight per cent saying it is being adopted in their company.

And despite a growing interest in trends such as IoT, there were still barriers to entry such as perceived risk of security breaches, issues surrounding data governance, and overcoming problems created by adapting legacy systems.

Adam Jarvis, managing director, technology Solutions at Capita, said: "Cutting through the hype surrounding each new piece of tech can be a challenge, with each new tool being touted as the next big game changer for businesses across the board.

"But there is no doubt that some emerging technologies do have the potential to completely transform not just the way we work, but our society as a whole. We are now at a crucial stage where, as far as some of these trends are concerned, it is time to disrupt or to be disrupted.

"Past experience tells us that businesses which fail to adapt and exploit new technologies often lose their competitive advantage, and might never recover. This research would suggest that many industries today are perilously close to falling into that trap."