Almost two-thirds (65.7%) of IT decision makers (ITDMs) reported that they have struggled to locate important educational resources for cloud skills - and it’s causing projects to falter.
While more than two-thirds of respondents claimed that cloud training and certification funding for staff were company priorities, most described this training and these certifications as difficult to find.
Resources relating to high-demand skills such as multi-cloud network architecture and design were among some of the areas in deficit.
This difficulty in bolstering cloud-related training has created a lack of in-house skills, the report suggested, highlighting this as the biggest barrier to the effective deployment of cloud technologies.
In lieu of proper training and resources, the study suggested that staff had turned to external sources outside of their respective companies to train themselves in multi-cloud networking.
These external sources included the various individual certifications, as well as YouTube and LinkedIn resources.
Cloud skills are increasingly vital in the modern workplace
An industry-wide deficit in cloud skills was highlighted in the report, which was based on answers from more than 400 global respondents in security, cloud, and networking roles.
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Respondents reported that cloud service platform expertise (60.5%) and cloud security (57.2%) were the most pressing cloud skills for their organizations.
Despite the perceived necessity of skills, however, more than three-in-five respondents (62.6%) said their company had difficulties in finding and hiring the necessary candidates to support organizational cloud initiatives.
The ITDMs surveyed further stated that multi-cloud networking skills (44.4%), cloud service platform expertise (42.8%), and cloud security skills (42.3%) were the most lacking in the current talent pool.
This deficit, in turn, is having a real-world effect on business efficiency and reliability.
Cloud skills deficits are hampering digital transformation efforts
Of the surveyed respondents whose respective businesses had suffered a cloud network outage in the past 12 months, 53.5% attributed said outage to configurations, 47.1% to human error, and 31.2% to automation error.
A survey from November 2023 echoed these findings, finding that staff shortages caused four-in-ten organizations to experience application performance issues and outages in 2023.
This same report also found that nearly half (43%) of businesses were struggling to keep up to date with security, governance, and compliance-related tasks due to a shortage of specialist workers in cloud computing.
Businesses that focus their efforts on cloud upskilling and training can reap the benefit, however.
According to Aviatrix, respondents who undertook cloud training reported benefits including more comprehensive skills (72.7%), enhanced cloud and multi-cloud competency (66.2%), career advancement (53.9%), and competitive job market advantage (46.4%).
