How You Can Bridge the Cloud Skills Gap

Eric Johnson

Has uncertainty brought on by the pandemic changed the way your company works? This unplanned shift has revealed the gaps that many companies have in cloud technology and has therefore accelerated cloud adoption. Due to continuing uncertainty, more organizations are now charting new courses for their journey toward cloud computing and digital transformation. In fact, just a few months into the pandemic, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that the company had seen two years of digital transformation in two months.

This skyrocketing demand for cloud solutions and services has exposed a skills gap. Companies heading full-speed to the cloud are struggling to find the bandwidth—as well as the necessary knowledge—to keep up with quickly evolving demands. Organizations are looking everywhere for IT staff skilled in cloud computing, cybersecurity, and data management.

Why Is the Cloud Skills Gap Conversation So Important Now?

Lack of in-house cloud skills and losing valuable skilled talent due the ongoing reshuffling in the job market are the top reasons that many of my customers are struggling to adopt cloud in an effective way. IT talent shortage is a big concern for most corporations, as the 2020 Challenges in Cloud Transformation survey found that 86% of respondents believe their lack of in-house skill will slow down cloud projects. If you’re unable to implement cloud solutions effectively, you could actually be spending more money than you need to—it’s estimated that companies overall have lost $258 million in the past year due to the slow pace of adoption.

How to Address the Problem

There are a few ways to address this gap. You can train your existing staff—offer incentives to get certified in these modern technologies. Microsoft, AWS, and Google offer various certifications that encompass numerous skill paths—and Connection has services that can help you deploy certification training at your organization.  

An Alternative to In-house Skilling

While enabling your IT staff to earn more certifications is a good thing, it’s hard to keep up with cloud technology’s rate of change. As soon as your team is certified for the latest and greatest, something new is already taking over. Hiring employees who are already certified is also a good idea in theory—but usually, they’re in such high demand that you end up spending too much time on a candidate search. To complement your existing team’s new knowledge—and to help prevent this game of infinite catchup—you might find it effective to work with a third party who can implement and manage new cloud solutions for you.

How Connection Can Help

Our cloud expertise covers the most in-demand cloud services such as, cloud advisory, migration, and managed services. We also have solutions for all the major cloud platforms, including Microsoft 365 and Azure. So start closing that skills gap today. Talk to one of our Account Managers to learn how we can help simplify your cloud journey.

Eric is a Microsoft Solutions Specialist at Connection. Eric holds his Azure Fundamentals, Microsoft 365 Fundamentals, and MCP certifications. Eric offers expertise across a wide variety of Microsoft products and cloud services. In his free time, he enjoys working out and watching football.

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