A new global report launched today suggests organisations are storing up trouble by failing to invest in the recruitment and resourcing of skills needed to manage and maintain their most business-critical IT assets.
The research from software vendor Micro Focus, carried out in conjunction with European business school INSEAD, found that IT, finance and human resources (HR) directors alike appreciated that core IT systems were the most vital to defying the economic downturn and fostering business success.
But the 450 executives surveyed - representing IT, finance and HR functions (CIO, CFO and HR directors) - had little confidence in their companies' recruitment strategies to retain core IT system skills. This was most marked among nearly two-thirds (60 per cent) of CFOs, who recognised the skills needed to modernise core IT assets were the most valuable in a recession.
The CIOs, CFOs and HR respondent directors from companies with $100 million (65.4 million) turnover or more from the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy also admitted that the majority of recruitment budgets were going towards newer, web 2.0 and social networking technologies, even though they rated these as the least business-critical.
Less than a quarter (13 per cent) of CFOs were convinced that the necessary skills existed to maintain core IT assets into the future. And less than a third of CIOs (29 per cent) polled believed their organisation was recruiting enough professionals with core IT assets, even though they stated that they recognise the value that these assets bring to their businesses.
And only 16 per cent of CIOs had any confidence that the right recruitment strategies for the vital skills and knowledge required to maintain core IT assets were in place.
Stephen Kelly, Micro Focus chief executive told IT PRO, said that regardless of the industry respondents operated in, those core systems - like claims processing for insurers or transactional systems in the case of retailers - were suffering from a real mismatch of strategic recruitment and sufficient budgetary investment.
"It's great to invest in the likes of web 2.0 technologies, but they are not core to the business," he said. "The issue requires that common sense be applied, where the stigma around investing in core systems must be overcome."
He also said businesses must face up to the fact that the trends revealed by the survey would result in higher costs when finding skills to maintain core systems. But he suggested they should look to cultivate partnerships with educational bodies and institutions to foster these skills in future, as Micro Focus is doing with Kingston and Oxford Brookes universities.
