New research from Expleo, the global engineering, technology and consulting service provider, shows that a talent drought and heightened salary expectations are threatening business transformation plans for half of UK organisations.
Talent shortages were cited as a growing concern among 49% of respondents in Expleo’s Business Transformation Index 2023, with nearly eight in ten (79%) saying a scarcity of skills in emerging technologies is a growing problem for their organisation.
A further 71% of those questioned admitted that they struggle to retain technology talent due to unaffordable salaries.
Richard Hartshorne, business unit director – Enterprise Markets at Expleo, said: “The findings suggest that employees with the skills to effectively harness the latest technology remain in short supply, despite recent job losses in big tech. In turn this creates upward pressure on salary expectations, with top talent able to influence unprecedented levels of remuneration.”
Expleo surveyed 1,395 business and IT leaders from large organisations in the UK, France, Germany, Ireland, India and the US to understand the impact of the pandemic, geopolitical tensions, and inflationary pressure on business transformation. This research informs Expleo’s “Business Transformation Index 2023”, a new report designed to help leaders navigate the rapidly evolving business landscape.
Hartshorne said: “The skills gap remains the most common barrier identified by transformation leaders in our survey, just as it was in our 2022 Index.
“However, the difference this year is a significant increase in the disruption this is causing – with the acute shortage of digital skills holding organisations back from harnessing the power of new technology such as generative AI.”
Battle for talent intensified by multiple forces
Of those surveyed from the retail sector specifically – 132 respondents – more than half (57%) acknowledged that tech skills shortage and its significant impact on their transformation programmes. This figure is up from 39% in 2022 and is again exacerbated by upward wage pressure. In fact, concern about this has more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, making it the fastest rising challenge among retail companies.
To counter this shortage of skills, 83% of retailers back in 2022 agreed that they needed to be far more radical in their adoption of automation. However, in 2023, this figure stands at 71%, which indicates an automation slippage, a top challenge currently impacting the struggle to scale up new digital concepts or pilots – mentioned by 42%. In the long-term, retailers are also more likely than other sectors to be interested in hiring tech talent from more diverse backgrounds – mentioned by 45%
There also seems to be a renewed focus on delivering improved customer experiences in retail, most notably within the hospitality sector – mentioned by 85%. Yet when it comes to the use of co-creation to develop innovative solutions with customers and partners to improve customer experience, the retail sector is behind other sectors – only 33% of retailers currently do this, compared to 47% in other industries.
Leaders struggling to adapt to disruptive global issues
In the 2023 survey, respondents point to economic uncertainty and global instability as the second most significant barrier to the success of transformation projects in the UK, moving up from sixth position in last year’s survey. This is largely due to disruptive global and macroeconomic issues causing greater concern among business leaders, with 58% scaling back digital transformation plans as a result.
Looking to the future, the research found that business and IT leaders are aware of the importance of being able to pivot at pace. In the UK, 45% now identify business agility as a discipline that will be a major focus area for their organisation over the next 12 months.
Hartshorne: summarised: “While leaders grapple with a changing skills market, they are also navigating choppy economic waters. The uneasy reality for some is that plans set out with a few years ago may not be the right ones for the market circumstances of today.
“To help keep transformation programmes on track, many organisations may be looking to external partners to fill gaps in expertise. Doing so can help provide flexibility and scalability to projects, and foster the harmonious blend of innovation, discipline, experience, and effective collaboration that is required for success.”
