War for talent: on-demand, in demand

The report, commissioned by Citrix, supports the view that a service provider culture is emerging amongst UK businesses, with two-thirds of organisations (66%) seeing themselves as an online service provider. More than half (53%) provide online B2B services, 42% provide services direct to customers, 38% to partners and 20% provide to all three of these categories.

In line with this trend, the demand for skilled individuals required to manage the networks and service the 24/7 generation is also on the increase. However, 39% of respondents stated they found it difficult to find and retain people with the right skills for the network configuration and management their organisation requires. An additional 26% said they struggle to retain workers with the necessary skill set.

On-demand, in demand
With 35% of IT decision makers stating that ‘no one touches our network without the relevant accreditations’, finding the right people to service the ‘always-on’ generation seems to be one of the biggest problems when it comes to ensuring capable network and application platforms. 57% of companies with a service provision culture would pay more for candidates with advanced networking skills, and this figure was even higher for those that provided technology and comms services – 68%.

Managing growth, managing expectation
The primary concern for businesses designing and implementing applications is uptime (with nearly 90% of respondents stating constant uptime to users was important/essential). User access management and usability also ranked highly across Northern Europe as application priority areas.
In response to these expectations, 37% of large organisations use Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) to manage their network and scale demand, and nearly half of those without an ADC plan to deploy one in the future. Looking at data for actual and planned deployment shows that 80% of service providers have or plan to deploy ADCs compared with just 43% of non-service providers. As such, the demand for qualified individuals to manage these growing networks will only increase further.

Bob Tarzey, Analyst and Director at Quocira said: “On-demand applications are now fundamental for the majority of businesses across all sectors, and to provision and maintain these platforms they need to attract staff with the relevant skills. Supplier accreditations are seen as a valid way of measuring the skill levels of individual engineers and many will pay a premium for them. For those pursuing a career in IT, it is not just the prospect of a higher salary that should be attractive, but the chance to be part of the future if IT delivery rather than its past”.

“It’s clear the transition to a 24/7 online culture is placing new demands on organisations of all sizes. An enterprise network is becoming more than just infrastructure, it is evolving into a far more adaptable asset that has a role to play in the delivery of the services that flow through it.” said Damian Saunders, Director, Cloud Networking, Northern Europe at Citrix. “However, businesses need to firstly address the talent issue, ensuring they have the staff onboard with the right skills, before harnessing the network's potential as a tool for strategic growth by moving forward with more flexible and scalable technology.”

Ryan Orton, Regional Business Manager at IT recruitment specialist Computer People commented on the report: “This research closely corresponds with what we are currently seeing in the IT recruitment market. There is a real demand for individuals that have the necessary networking skills to deliver online services and applications that our economy is increasingly reliant upon. This demand is only set to increase, so individuals with the right background and experience will reap the rewards both financially, and in terms of the job opportunities open to them.”