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News

Cloud Reports Offer Skills Gap Solutions

• By David Ramel
• 10/17/2022

Two exact "state of cloud" reports offer advice on how to address the everlasting, crippling cloud skills dearth.

The inability to find IT pros with requisite cloud skills is persistently identified as a major challenge to organizations moving to cloud computing, as we have covered in exact articles like "Cloud Strategy Survey Highlights Skills Shortage, Cloud Overspend" and "IBM Cloud Study: 'Initial Excitement' Bends to Skills, Security, Compliance Challenges" and even articles from years ago like this 2018 article, "Report: 'Cloud and Distributed Computing' Are Skills Companies Need Most."

In fact, only 8 percent of global technologists have significant cloud-related skills and experience, says a exact "2022 State of Cloud Report" report from Pluralsight, a technology workforce development company known for its training courses.

That report, like many before it, identifies security skills as the most coveted in this age of rampant ransomware and other cybersecurity threats, though it also highlighted a need for database analytics, networking, machine learning and several other highly sought-after skills.

Pluralsight said security was the No. 1 obstacle preventing organizations from achieving cloud maturity. "When 40 percent of leaders and learners agree that security is the top skills gap, we have a serious problem," the company said in a blog post last month. "That is, unless you want to see your organization's name splashed across the headlines. Cloud computing is the future. That much is clear. But to provide consumers with reliable solutions, we have to prioritize security."

The 8 percent figure mentioned above led off Pluralsight's list of major takeaways from its report:

• 75 percent of leaders are building new products and features in the cloud, but only 8 percent of technologists have extensive experience working with cloud-related tools.
• 64 percent of learners are new to the cloud and looking for basic training.
• 62 percent of leaders implement the latest technologies as soon as they're available.
• Employees are 94 percent more likely to stay with a company that invests in their skill development.
• 71 percent of learners prefer daily or weekly learning opportunities, and 64 percent prefer learning by doing with hands-on tools like labs and sandboxes.

Pluralsight's report compiled survey results from more than 1,000 technologists and leaders in the United States, Europe, Australia and India on the most current trends and challenges in cloud strategy and learning.

A second report, "IBM Transformation Index: State of Cloud," also emphasized how crucial security concerns are. That report is designed to help organizations gauge how they fare against industry and local cloud norms in a variety of cloud areas. IBM said the report is based on its own research with more than 3,000 IT and business decision makers in 12 countries and 23 industries, revealing the areas where teams face the biggest challenges and opportunities. There, of course, security is also front and center, along with the skills gap.

"More than 90 percent of financial services, telecommunications and government organizations who responded have adopted security tools such as confidential computing capabilities, multifactor authentication and others," IBM said in a Sept. 29 blog post. "However, gaps remain that prevent organizations from driving innovation. In fact, 32 percent of respondents cite security as the top barrier for integrated workloads across environments, and more than 25 percent of respondents agree security concerns present a roadblock to achieving their cloud business goals.

"When it comes to managing their cloud applications, 69 percent of respondents say their team lacks the skills needed to be proficient. This, combined with each cloud generating its own operating silo, puts constraints on the efficiency and effectiveness of people's work."

The skills shortage was discussed further in the genuine report, which said: "Cloud complexity continues to grow. Many IT teams lack the necessary cloud skills to manage this complexity successfully and will need to reskill, hire for new skills, or 'borrow' skills via free agents in a gig model. Almost seven out of 10 respondents say their organization's IT team lacks the skills to architect or manage cloud applications."

Both reports go into much greater detail about the talent dearth, cloud computing obstacles and much more, while also offering advice to organizations to address those issues.

When it comes to offering solutions to mitigate the cloud skills shortage, Pluralsight unsurprisingly emphasized training, or "upskilling."

To shrink skills gaps and reduce lost internal knowledge, the company said: "Employees need to be aligned with company strategy while they begin to upskill to build within your cloud structure. Institutional knowledge is hard to come by and critical to maintain, which means it's essential that you don't allow critical internal knowledge to leave with an employee if they leave your company. Providing upskilling tools and opportunities is a worthwhile investment, but an investment nonetheless, so take steps to assure it properly benefits your long-term goals."

Pluralsight said organizations can mitigate this risk in a few ways:

• Schedule cloud upskilling times as if they were ceremonies and build in a retrospective meeting for knowledge sharing
• Set up instructor-led training courses for entire teams where specific skills are needed
• Reduce knowledge silos through mentorship, documentation, and cross-team collaboration
• Incentivize employees to upskill through transparent conversations about organizational cloud plans
• Set skip-level meetings for junior-level developers to learn from senior devs

IBM, meanwhile, said that to develop a cadre of cloud-skilled resources and create a single effective hybrid cloud operating model, organizations should consider the following steps:

• Start with defining a strategic workstream on a people agenda
• Empower a cloud Center of Excellence (CoE) to bring the hybrid cloud operating model to life to incubate and hone the necessary skills
• Accelerate execution and empower your people with a skills and experience development program to thrive in the hybrid cloud operating model

Other bullet lists of advice came from our May article, "How to Address Crippling Cloud Skills Shortage?"

That article features the above graphic from Deloitte and bullet lists from that company and others including McKinsey & Company, The Linux Foundation's Clyde Seepersad and others. Here are some samples:

Deloitte:

• Training: Leverage inside or outside training to help provide the required cloud computing skills to existing staffers.
• Hiring: Find net new employees that bring the required cloud computing skills. This could also mean hiring outside consulting or other contract employees.
• Replacing: Consider replacing existing staffers with staff that have the required skills. This may also mean reducing the number of as-is staffers due to the fact that fewer of them may be required for a post-cloud computing enterprise.

McKinsey & Company:

• Find engineering talent with broad experience and skills
• Balance talent maturity levels and team composition
• Build an upskilling program that is extensive, mandatory, and focused on need
• Build an engineering culture that optimizes the developer experience
• Consider using partners to accelerate development, and assign your best cloud leaders as owners
• To keep top talent from leaving, focus on what motivates them

The Linux Foundation's Clyde Seepersad:

• Hire Underqualified Individuals and Train Them
• Advertise Training Opportunities When Recruiting
• Take Advantage of Certification Exams
• Sponsor Scholarship Programs

Dice:

• Hire a Diverse Team
• Invest in Training and Education
• Prioritize Cloud Security
• Hire People Who Can Align Business and Cloud
• Look for Varied Cloud Service Model Experience

Forbes:

• Enable leadership for a cloud-first mindset.
• Establish Central Cloud CoE (CCoE).
• Focus on tech intensity and raise technology quotient.
• Establish cloud innovation hackathons with gamification.
• Adopt hyper-automation and a well-architected framework (WAF).
• Leverage on-demand consultant network.
• Partner with hyperscalers.
• Outsource cloud operations.
• Establish co-innovation labs.
• Find innovative ways to acquire and retain talent.
• Adopt and invest in open source projects and communities.

October 10, 2022, 06:45 PM EDT

‘I want to increase the number of clients, also, not just wallet share,’ IBM CEO Arvind Krishna says at The Channel Company’s Best of Breed conference in Atlanta. ‘That means that we need your help. We are not going to go there directly at all.’

Under Arvind Krishna’s watch, IBM has decreased the number of direct customers from about 5,000 in 2020 to about 400, the CEO told a crowd Monday. And the tech giant plans to leave potential new clients to partners.

“I want to increase the number of clients, also, not just wallet share,” Krishna said. “That means that we need your help. We are not going to go there directly at all.”

The CEO of Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM discussed his company’s investment in partners, the integration of subsidiary Red Hat, encouraged partners to raise their prices given the inflationary economic environment and even weighed in on chipmaker Broadcom‘s pending acquisition of cloud vendor VMware at CRN parent The Channel Company’s 2022 XChange Best of Breed (BoB) conference in Atlanta.

Krishna was on stage responding to questions from The Channel Company Founding Partner Robert Faletra and CRN Executive Editor of News Steven Burke.

[RELATED: IBM Assimilates Red Hat Storage Technology Into Own Storage Business]

Mark Wyllie, CEO of Boca Raton, Fla.-based IBM partner Flagship Solutions Group, told CRN in an interview that he’s glad to hear IBM plans to continue integrating different parts of the Red Hat business.

Earlier this month, IBM announced that it had absorbed storage technology and teams from its Red Hat business to combine them with IBM’s own storage business unit as a way to help clients take advantage of the two without requiring extra integration or having to deal with multiple sales teams.

Wyllie wants to see IBM further integrate Red Hat services into its portfolio to help partners push the services out to existing IBM customers.

“I think that’d be a benefit to us and IBM,” Wyllie said.

Red Hat’s autonomy within IBM has been essential to its position as an open source software vendor. Krishna clarified Monday that the Red Hat brand will stay in areas where it has a stronger brand than IBM. For storage, “maybe we already have a storage channel, which Red Hat kind of didn’t,” Krishna said.

He said IBM gave Red Hat more security and management capabilities after its acquisition in 2019. Partners can expect more integration between Red Hat and IBM in areas involving Linux.

“So if you can take maybe 50,000 Linux servers and consolidate them using OpenShift on LinuxOne, maybe that‘s a play to be made,” Krishna said. “There’s a few clients who have woken up to that and are doing it right now. So I think that’s going to be a really big play you’re going to see.”

During his talk, Krishna encouraged partners to explore more opportunities in IBM’s artificial intelligence operations (AIOps) offerings, including Turbonomic, Watson AIOps and Instana.

Customers will continue to spend on automation tools, he said.

“The ability to go into an enterprise and tell them, ‘Look, we can do things a lot more automated. We can take some cost out. We can do monitoring, and eventually go closed loop on AI’ – which I don‘t think is happening yet,” Krishna said. “I think is a massive opportunity given the current labor market.”

IBM’s security offerings, as well as Red Hat and containerization offerings, are also areas for partners to invest in, Krishna said.

As for Broadcom and VMware, Krishna said that VMware remains an important partner for his company. And as long as VMware keeps investing in its products, it should remain “a strong franchise.”

“I think it’ll come down to what is going to happen in 2023 and 2024,” Krishna said. “As long as they keep innovating on the products, they keep giving more function back to their clients – it’s a strong franchise. That falls away, then that‘s a different question. But I think the virtualization world likes those products. Now it’s up to them to keep innovating.”

Krishna also told partners they should raise prices to cover the growing cost of labor with such high inflation in the U.S.

“From our conversations with clients, I would tell you that nobody loves it, but they all understand,” he said. “Because most of our clients are doing the same out to their clients. … Pricing power comes down to something simple. Is the product highly valuable and is it sticky? … In a world of fewer skills, if you have the skills, you can price those skills.”

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — IBM says it will invest $20 billion into its computer chip business, in Poughkeepsie, New York.

“The supply chain is going to start here and end here in the United States,” the President said.

President Biden came to town to celebrate and take some of the credit.

“We’re going to make sure that companies that take these taxpayers’ dollars do not turn around and make investments in China,” Biden said.

IBM says it will spend the money on the development and manufacturing of semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing in the U.S.

“That will keep the Hudson Valley at the forefront of technology leadership,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said.

Krishna says the investment will jump-start future American innovation and fuel economic growth and union job opportunities.

This is the latest high-tech investment announced since the “Chips” act became law. The new law provides incentives for companies like IBM to invest in the USA.

“Making these chips in America is going to create new businesses for countless small manufacturers and suppliers,” Biden said.

The announcement had few details, but Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) called it a major win for New York.

“It’s not going to start or end today, it is going to go on for decades,” Maloney said.

“We have made it clear that the United States will be the leader in global manufacturing,” Ryan said.

IBM joins Micron Technologies, which earlier this week announced its own multi-billion dollar high-tech project in New York State.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

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The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

By AAMER MADHANI and JOSH BOAK - Associated Press

WASHINGTON, DC / ACCESSWIRE / October 17, 2022 / During the National HBCU Week Conference convened by the U.S. Department of Education and the White House, IBM (NYSE:IBM) announced its collaboration with 20 Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) to help them establish Cybersecurity Leadership Centers.

With 500,000 unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the U.S., the need for expertise is critical: According to a exact IBM Security study, insufficiently staffed organizations average $550,000 more in breach costs than those that state they are sufficiently staffed.**

"Collaborations between academia and the private sector can help students prepare for success. That's especially true for HBCUs because their mission is so vital," said Justina Nixon-Saintil, Vice President, IBM Corporate Social Responsibility and ESG. "The Cybersecurity Leadership Centers we're co-creating with Historically Black College and Universities epitomize our commitment to the Black community and STEM education; it also builds on our pledge to train 150,000 people in cybersecurity over three years."

IBM will collaborate with the following 20 HBCUs across 11 states to co-create Cybersecurity Leadership Centers, helping to create talent for employers and opportunities for students. (Six of these collaborations were previously announced in May*)

• Alabama - Alabama A&M University, Talladega College, Tuskegee University

• Florida - Edward Waters University, Florida A&M University

• Georgia - Albany State University, Clark Atlanta University*

• Louisiana - Grambling State University, Southern University System*, Xavier University of LA*

• Maryland - Bowie State University, Morgan State University*

• Mississippi - Alcorn State University

• North Carolina - North Carolina A&T State University*, North Carolina Central University

• South Carolina - South Carolina State University*, Voorhees University

• Texas - Texas Southern University

• Virginia - Norfolk State University

• West Virginia - West Virginia State University

Story continues

Through IBM's collaboration, faculty and students at participating schools will have access to coursework, lectures, immersive training experiences, certifications, IBM Cloud-hosted software, and professional development resources, all at no cost to them. This includes access to:

• Cybersecurity curricula: IBM will develop for each participating HBCU, a customized IBM Security Learning Academy portal - an IBM client offering - including courses designed to help the university enhance its cybersecurity education portfolio. In addition, IBM will continue to deliver access to IBM SkillsBuild.

• Immersive learning experience: Faculty and students of participating HBCUs will have an opportunity to benefit from IBM Security's Command Center, through which they can experience a highly realistic, simulated cyberattack, designed to prepare them and train them on response techniques. Moreover, HBCUs' faculty will have access to consultation sessions with IBM technical personnel on cybersecurity.

• Software: Multiple IBM Security premier enterprise security products hosted in the IBM Cloud

• Professional development: Forums to exchange best practices, learn from IBM experts, and discover IBM internships and job openings

About IBM Education

As part of the company's Corporate Social Responsibility efforts, IBM's education portfolio takes a personalized, diverse, and deep approach to STEM career readiness. IBM's pro bono programs range from education and support for teens at public schools and universities, to career readiness resources for aspiring professionals and job seekers. IBM believes that education is best achieved through the collaboration of the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors.

IBM SkillsBuild is a free education program focused on underrepresented communities, that helps adult learners, and high school and university students and faculty, develop valuable new skills and access career opportunities. The program includes an online platform that is complemented by customized practical learning experiences delivered in collaboration with a global network of partners. The online platform offers over 1,000 courses in 19 languages on cybersecurity, data analysis, cloud computing and many other technical disciplines - as well as in workplace skills such as Design Thinking. Most important, participants can earn IBM-branded digital credentials that are recognized by the market. The customized practical learning experiences could include project-based learning, expert conversations with IBM volunteers, mentors, premium content, specialized support, connection with career opportunities, access to IBM software, among others. As of February 2022, IBM SkillsBuild operates in 159 counties and is supporting 1.72M learners since its launch.

About IBM Security

IBM Security offers one of the most advanced and integrated portfolios of enterprise security products and services. The portfolio, supported by world-renowned IBM Security X-Force® research, enables organizations to effectively manage risk and defend against emerging threats. IBM operates one of the world's broadest security research, development, and delivery organizations, monitors 150 billion+ security events per day in more than 130 countries, and has been granted more than 10,000 security patents worldwide. For more information, please check www.ibm.com/security, follow @IBMSecurity on Twitter or visit the IBM Security Intelligence blog.

* Announced in May 2022
** Cost of a Data Breach Report 2022, conducted by Ponemon Institute, sponsored & analyzed by IBM

Media Contact:

Ari Fishkind
IBM Media Relations
fishkind@us.ibm.com

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from IBM on 3blmedia.com.

Contact Info:
Spokesperson: IBM
Website: https://www.ibm.com
Email: info@3blmedia.com

SOURCE: IBM

View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/720635/IBM-Teams-With-20-Historically-Black-Colleges-and-Universities-to-Address-Cybersecurity-Talent-Shortage