IT skills shortage: How bad is it?

IT decision makers in the U.S. and Western Europe are struggling to fill important positions within their organizations, especially when it comes to cybersecurity, according to a new survey from the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG).

ESG surveyed 651 IT decision makers at midmarket and enterprise companies representing more than 20 industries and found other top areas where IT managers face skills shortages include IT architecture planning, server and virtualization administration compliance management and data protection.

"The cybersecurity skills shortage has multiple implications," ESG senior principal analyst Jon Oltsik said in a blog post. "Organizations don’t have the right sized teams and operate in a perpetually understaffed mode. Often, the cybersecurity team lacks some advanced skills in areas like security analytics, forensic investigations, or cloud computing security, putting more pressure on the most experienced staffers to pick up the slack."

"Finally, many organizations are so busy with day-to-day security operations that they have little time for ongoing cybersecurity training," Oltsik wrote. "According to research from ESG and the information systems security association (ISSA), 62% of cybersecurity professionals believe that their organization is not providing an adequate level of training for them to keep up with business and IT risks."

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