The Covid-19 pandemic forced many businesses worldwide to face a new reality (remote working) that is still under development. Although some companies are trying to get back to their usual ways, they are doing so while keeping everything under the microscope. Even though the future remains a mystery to everyone, one thing is a certainty: more and more business activities are moving to the online sphere. And due to this, the rate of technology adoption is skyrocketing. It provides businesses with new opportunities to expand their operations, develop new marketing strategies, and even tap into new market segments. However, everything is not that easy to grasp in the online world.
Although there will be plenty of opportunities to learn exciting and new things and increase profits, moving everything online poses several risks for businesses. While some companies embrace technology and its benefits, many companies still don’t have the money or the infrastructure to move their operations online. In light of such a situation, the information technology sector faces a variety of challenges. To know about some of them, keep reading till the end of this article.
- DATA PROTECTION
As everything moves online and data becomes digital, the IT industry must remain extra cautious in preventing and detecting various cyber threats. As stated in the CSO Pandemic Impact Survey, around 26 percent of companies saw an increase in the severity, volume, and scope of cyberattacks as they moved their operations online. Similarly, as more companies encourage employees to work-from-home, 61 percent of said companies expressed never-ending concerns about their remote employees suffering from cyberattacks. Malware, spam emails, and phishing attacks disguised as software related to Covid-19 are becoming widespread these days. They not only affect a company’s remote employees but also affect the consumers. The IT industry needs to ensure privacy in their products while also ensuring that they meet GDPR standards. To know more about such measures, you can consider earning a masters in data science online and hone the skills. Such a degree will enable you to protect your company’s data and retain your customers’ privacy.
- SKILLS GAPS
Around 80 percent of IT departments in the USA have skills gaps. And globally, the increase was approximately 155 percent in the previous three years. Such a lack of skills is down to employee stress, increased operation costs, and deployment and developmental delays. Most IT decision-makers feel that such skills gaps will cost businesses up to 22,000 dollars per employee every year and around 416 hours in downtime.
The skills gap will only continue to increase and affect IT departments everywhere unless there is some action. Continual and strategic training programs are the answer. It is encouraging managers to secure a budget to ensure that their employees participate in training programs. In the end, if employers do not funnel time and money into training their employees, the skills gap will only grow.
- WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT
Both decision-makers and It staff are becoming overwhelmed with increasing work-related demands. The team struggles to complete their work because they lack the skills. At the same time, decision-makers continue to make excuses to restrict training. Either way, the time and efforts designated for employee training and skill development are now used to play catch-up. Workload concerns are the highest they have ever been in the IT industry.
For tackling such an issue, improved strategy and manager oversight is a must. Another solution can be the automation of business tasks to allow employees to take off time for training and developmental sessions.
- SHORTAGE OF CLOUD COMPUTING EXPERTS
The Cloud is an area that sees the most investment from IT departments worldwide. However, businesses require top cloud-computing skills that match up to their investments in cloud-computing platforms. And due to such a reason, cloud-computing professionals are in high demand these days.
Businesses everywhere are all in for cloud computing. Around 50 percent of companies use multiple cloud service providers. It is not a unique thing for a company in today’s time to demand skills in Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud from their employees. The Cloud is the ultimate platform that enables employees to work from anywhere in the world. It opens up businesses to new technologies such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things. But, the matter is, there is a lack of individuals who excel in such a field.
According to IT experts, it is the second most challenging hiring area in the entire world. It is of utmost importance that cloud professionals train and learn new skills regarding all cloud platforms, either acquiring a degree or doing online courses. As the world becomes digital, don’t be surprised if businesses ditch in-house activities and switch everything to the Cloud in the upcoming years.
CONCLUSION
The world is slowly becoming digital, and businesses should track and adhere to changing patterns. But doing so will present them with some challenges that they need to take care of for efficient business operations. The issues mentioned above are some general obstacles in the path of further development.
