Majority of firms blame skills shortage for hindering multi-cloud growth

A lack of skills is the most common barrier to multi-cloud growth in firms, according to the third annual State of cloud Strategy Survey.

The survey, conducted by Forrest Consulting and commissioned by cloud infrastructure automation firm HashiCorp, focused primarily on the adoption of a combination of technology and organisational best practices at scale within firms, with each organisation given a maturity ranking.

The survey claimed that 92% of high cloud maturity organisations said that their move to multi-cloud is paying off.

However, according to the Forrest Consulting poll, although the majority (80%) of firms rated skills as a top driver of multi-cloud success, firms are struggling to enhance their multi-cloud goals due to a lack of.

The report says that most firms are addressing skills shortages with automated workflows, as well as reskilling and upskilling their workforce.

48% of firms are working with partners within their plan to tackle the issue, but only 36% are willing to boost their budgets.

Other statistics in the survey suggest that, although the current economic climate is low, more than half (56%) of respondents increased their spending on cloud in the past year, compared to 22% who cut their spending.

Although, almost all of the respondents (94%) said they felt that their company was wasting money in the cloud, due to over-provisioning resources (53%) and idle or underused resources (55%).

Almost half of the respondents also blame a lack of skills for their unnecessary spending as well, which they believe would be cut if roles within were filled.

“Respondents of all maturity levels noted that the lack of skilled cloud talent is the most common issue, hindering companies’ ability to operationalise multi-cloud. Mature organisations have a key advantage, however, with 74% saying their multi-cloud strategy helps them attract, motivate and retain talent,” said HashiCorp in a statement to Computer Weekly.