The Rapid Growth of Cloud Transformation within Organizations
Organizations are pouring resources into cloud transformation to boost innovation, agility, and cost savings. With global cloud spending already valued at $480 billion USD in 2022, a 22% leap from the previous year, it was clear that the need for skilled IT professionals would be fierce.
Globally, cloud computing is expected to hit $1 trillion by 2028. Those are big numbers, and the right IT talent is required to take cloud computing to the next level within organizations to meet the demands of rapid cloud transformation across sectors.
Bridging the Talent Gap in Cloud Computing
Despite significant investments in cloud infrastructure, many organizations face hurdles in fully leveraging their cloud migration efforts due to major talent gaps in cloud computing and cloud infrastructure talent.
Multiple analyses by McKinsey show that while large entities host 10 to 15 percent of their apps in the cloud, the core of their tech remains in traditional data centers. In addition, many organizations today still have not explored digital transformations to the extent of realizing material performance gains.
To overcome this, organizations must focus on workforce development and secure the right IT talent with the skills to tackle cloud computing complexities.
Advantages of Effective Cloud Transformation
The advantages of effective cloud transformation are clear. Companies leveraging cloud platforms can introduce new capabilities 20 to 40 percent quicker. A financial-information provider found that moving customer-facing apps to the cloud could significantly enhance market response speed and cost-effectiveness. Meanwhile, a health-insurance carrier estimated that cloud adoption could unlock billions in additional revenues. Moreover, setting up operations in a new country could be virtually cost-free when using the cloud, compared to the traditional million-dollar costs.
Yet, the path to mastering the cloud is fraught with obstacles. Despite transitioning to the cloud, organizations still grapple with increasing agility, adopting new strategies, and cutting costs, pointing to a common cloud migration challenge.
The truth is that there is a scarcity of IT talent with cloud expertise, pointing to a major talent deficit organizations struggle to overcome. To bridge the gap, companies must explore novel talent acquisition methods, such as contingent workforce solutions, and invest in ongoing learning for their current staff.
Key Takeaways:
- Cloud transformation is a top priority for organizations seeking to drive innovation, agility, and cost-effectiveness in competitive markets.
- Despite growing investments in cloud infrastructure, many companies struggle to realize the full potential of their cloud migration efforts due to a lack of specialized IT talent.
- Successful cloud adoption can lead to faster time-to-market, increased revenues, and reduced costs associated with setting up operations in new markets.
- Organizations must prioritize workforce development and explore innovative talent acquisition strategies to address the cloud skills gap and accelerate their cloud transformation journey.
- Investing in continuous learning opportunities and aligning technical, functional, and business teams are critical factors for successful cloud migration and organizational change.
Investing in Cloud Skills Development
Forward-thinking organizations that want to implement cutting-edge technology and modernize their processes and operations are recognizing that much of their success relies on cloud transformation. It hinges on more than just migrating to the cloud too – it depends on nurturing a workforce with the skills to leverage its full potential.
The Growing Importance of Cloud Computing
Cloud technologies are advancing faster than most organizations can keep pace with, and this creates a high demand for skilled professionals. Companies that focus on upskilling their teams in cloud strategies and technologies are ahead in their cloud transformation. Offering continuous learning for IT staff ensures steady progress towards cloud goals and accelerates cloud transformation. Many organizations also rely on a talent partner like Procom to source top cloud talent who can perform cloud migration, cloud security and more.
Addressing the Cloud Skills Gap
Despite cloud’s growing importance, many organizations face a significant skills gap, even despite their efforts to overcome it. This shortage hinders progress, causes delays, and even leads to abandoning projects. To tackle this, organizations must invest in upskilling programs, or streamlining their talent acquisition process. Since upskilling is a longer and more involved process, it is usually cost-effective to source the right talent from the beginning.
By doing so, organizations can:
- Close the cloud skills gap and implement cloud strategies successfully.
- Enhance job efficiency, with most organizations recognizing performance boosts from digital training.
- Improve employee satisfaction, with most employees and contractors reporting a higher job satisfaction from digital training.
Prioritizing Continuous Learning Opportunities
Success in cloud computing requires staying up-to-date with the latest cloud trends and security practices. Organizations can offer various learning methods, such as:
- Online courses and certifications for essential cloud skills and best practices.
- Hands-on experiences like cloud sandboxes and learning labs for better skill development.
- Dedicated time for upskilling, keeping IT staff and your contingent workforce current with new cloud technologies.
Supporting upskilling and reskilling initiatives empowers technologists for the cloud era. A Forrester study showed large enterprises saw a 234% return on investment in AWS Training and Certifications. This reinforces the importance of building cloud skills in the workforce.
Key Cloud Skills for Technologists
As organizations speed up their cloud transformation, organizations need talent a broad set of cloud skills as well as highly specialized cloud capabilities. As McKinsey noted in April of 2024, “A stunning 95 percent of European companies in our recent survey say they’re capturing value from cloud.” To get there, organizations must help their workforce master cloud basics, while focusing on security, governance, and cost management. In addition, they should learn about composable applications and API development to recognize the full benefits the cloud has to offer.
More About Composable Applications and API Development
Cloud talent should focus on developing skills in API development and leveraging cloud services like Amazon API Gateway and AWS AppSync. APIs, such as GraphQL and REST, are crucial in modern software development, including cloud-based computing. Mastering API development helps organizations to build scalable, as well as flexible applications.
Embracing DevOps practices is also vital. It helps push out application projects faster and more efficiently by providing support throughout the development lifecycle. To enhance cloud skills further, technologists can explore this article on top cloud computing skills and gain insights into the evolving cloud landscape.
Conclusion: Enabling Cloud Transformation Through Workforce Development
As organizations begin their cloud transformation journeys, or seek to advance their migration to the cloud, the importance of workforce development becomes vital. With 90% of companies using some sort of cloud service, focusing on tech skills is crucial to take your organization’s cloud migration to the next level. Instead of simply hiring on an as-needed basis, and on short timelines, companies should seek access to global talent pools, contingent workforce solutions, and leverage the expertise and networks of talent partners like Procom.
In addition, offering employees learning resources and dedicated time for upskilling is key. This approach links development to business goals, speeding up cloud transformation. Cloud technologists need to master cloud basics, security, and cost management. They should also learn about composable applications and API development.
Continuous learning and change management strategies are also vital in the world of cloud computing. They help create a culture of innovation and adaptation.
In summary, workforce development is the key to cloud transformation, and a proactive approach is always best. To learn more about how Procom can help your organization source the top cloud talent, fill out our form below and a recruitment expert will be in touch.
