Skills shortage: it’s real

The skills shortage facing the IT industry is quickly becoming a big problem, affecting the way resellers run their business. Finding staff is often cited as the key issue facing company owners, preventing them from taking on contracts that could otherwise help them grow their revenue. CRN editor Helen Frost talks to Kevin Bloch, director technology and business solutions for Cisco, about the problems caused by the lack of skilled staff and how the vendor is trying to combat the situation.

CRN: What are the major issues facing Australian businesses in regards to the skills shortage in IT?

Bloch: Australian business, to a large extent, understands the benefits to them
and their customers of leveraging technology, in particular IT. However,
if they do not get the right advice, the right service and/or the right people adequately skilled to implement this technology, then their business will be impacted. Productivity will not be as high as it needs to be competitive locally or on a global basis. Lack of skills means either not being able to do business at all, or in some cases doing business without the right skills, leading to problems downstream.

CRN: How are resellers coping with lack of staff?

Bloch: There’s a mixed response by resellers. Most are actively engaged in
recruitment/development programs. In the most extreme cases, the skills issues mean some resellers are unable to bid for certain opportunities. Unfortunately, there are some without adequate resources still taking on business that they are under-resourced for and leaving customers with sub-standard outcomes. Therein lies the real problem.

CRN: Are Australian businesses slow to take on Web 2.0?

Bloch: Australian businesses are some of the most progressive in the world – we have seen this in the adoption of all sorts of technologies in the past 50 years. Nothing has changed and there are several examples today of Australian companies leveraging the capabilities of Web 2.0 way ahead of their peers in other countries. However, there is still huge room for improvement and acceleration of this. The more we do so, the more
competitive Australia will be in the global market.

CRN: Is the problem increasing over time with the boom of Web 2.0?

Bloch: Absolutely! As society becomes increasingly “connected”, as people collaborate more and as the network increasingly becomes the platform for human interaction (we call this the “human network”), the need for skills in this area is going to become paramount.

CRN: How are you working to address these issues?

Bloch: Cisco has been working on this for several years in a number of ways, but we are stepping up our focus in what we believe has become more important than ever.

Networking Academy – in its 10th year, the NA now has more than 240 certified academies in Australia and has trained more than 60,000 students since inception in Australia.

Cisco Industry Leadership Program (CILP) – full sponsorship/scholarship
for the full term of a double degree (of which one has to be a BE). This is specifically aimed at grooming future leaders in Cisco. We awarded our first CILP scholarship in 2006.

Cisco Industry Training Program (CITP) – enabling Cisco partners to recruit top NetAcad graduates who first get trained by Cisco for six weeks, then work in the Cisco Technical Assistance Centre (TAC) for 4.5 months before joining the partner in full-time employment. The key point here is that we are aiming to close the loop between training and employment.

Cisco Certified Network Engineers (CCIE) Program – this is probably the most elite industry accreditation (aside from a full tertiary degree) that one can obtain. Cisco ensures the quality of the courseware and certification is at the highest level.

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