If you suspect that the cloud skills gap hasn’t narrowed in recent years, or that it has actually widened, consider Pluralsight’s statistics. The online learning provider noted that while 98% of the customers it spoke to have already begun their journey to the cloud, only 7% have acquired the skills needed to complete the process.
To find out why, the company’s State of the Cloud 2023 report is a helpful reference point.
In short, it’s not capabilities that hold organizations back, it’s complexity. As a map is mastered, another set of mountains appears ominously in the distance.
Take multi-cloud, for example: A study from Oracle this time last year confirmed that multi-cloud is “the new reality for enterprise technology.” The vast majority of enterprises surveyed using public cloud have adopted a multi-cloud infrastructure provider strategy. Add to that the exponential potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning—“leverage it to find additional advantages,” as one CIO in the State of the Cloud report put it—and it’s easy to get lost.
The good news is that companies like Pluralsight are ready to assist, but organizations first need to know where they stand. “It’s a journey and it always will be a journey,” explains Nick Bec, principal consultant for engineering transformation at Pluralsight. “You can’t think too far ahead, you can’t boil the ocean. It needs to be small, incremental steps.”
Pluralsight has two main products. Through Pluralsight Skills, customers can engage with online video learning content across multiple technologies, including cloud, cybersecurity, software development and artificial intelligence. Pluralsight Skills also provides hands-on learning experiences such as sandbox environments and skills assessments to help technicians identify knowledge gaps. Pluralsight Flow is a platform that provides organizations with insights by aggregating engineering metrics.
Bec explains why skills gaps may arise and the long-term problems they cause. Consultants and contractors will come in with simple cloud migration responsibilities, lift and shift—without tying a long-term strategy to it—and then leave the company to clean up the mess.
“What typically happens is when a company goes through a transformation, say they want to move to the cloud, to bridge the knowledge gap they bring in a lot of contractors who are present in whatever vendor they’re migrating to. expertise and will move all their applications to the cloud,” he explained.
“That’s great, but those contractors are there for a limited time; they’re not going to be there forever, and hiring a group of contractors is also pretty expensive,” Bec added. “When they finally leave, there’s a huge skills gap and a huge knowledge gap.
“So what we tend to find is that whenever a contractor leaves, [companies] Almost back to their old ways, they were in the same situation, they had the same applications they had before, all in the cloud, but there was no way to really innovate, no way to move forward. “
The key is to deliver what Pluralsight calls “outcome-driven solutions” for successful cloud transformation. As Bec points out, this includes the entire workforce – for example, moving from a capex model to an opex model will have a significant financial impact – from the committed to the slightly cynical. It all comes down to change management.
“There will always be critics and people who are stuck in their ways, that’s always the case, but we have meetings with identified SMEs [subject matter experts], people know what they are talking about in different areas of the organization,” Bec said. “When we talk about strategy, where do you think you should go, that tends to be consistent with their long-term goals.
“We try to minimize disruption by leveraging these small and medium-sized enterprises – we try to attack these critics before they become a problem,” Baker added. “The change management part becomes easier because the questions are answered; any frustrations they have about the role, any concerns they have about the role, or what their new day will look like. Those questions are answered before they even start their transformation journey Got the answer.”
To emphasize that cloud maturity is a journey rather than a destination, Pluralsight provides organizations with a cloud maturity matrix with 11 different functional areas spread across five different tiers. Most organizations fall somewhere in the middle. It goes beyond basic lifting and transformation, but there is still work to be done for optimal results.
Bec is a keynote speaker at the Cloud Transformation Conference on February 15, where he will outline how companies can connect strategic dots and further bridge gaps. “Cloud transformation is an evolving process that involves changes in thinking, skills and attitudes,” he explains. “It’s not as big and scary as they think it is. You focus on one or two areas first and then that area will grow organically; so don’t think ‘we need to move everything overnight. “
“I think [attendees] They have several ideas in mind so that whenever they start their cloud transformation journey, [we’ve] Give them some small ideas to help prepare them and make things run more smoothly. “
Image source: Pluralsight
Check out the upcoming Cloud Transformation Conference, a free virtual event for business and technology leaders to explore the evolving cloud transformation landscape. Book your free virtual ticket to gain insight into the practicalities and opportunities of cloud adoption. Learn more here.
