REINVENT AND YOUR BUSINES
CXO INSIGHT
The seemingly unending growth of the global tech sector is under threat as massive skills shortages reach an alltime high just as companies across the world signal their intentions to increase technology investment ( 60 %) and headcount ( 61 %) to record levels , according to one of the world ’ s largest and longest running survey of senior technology decision makers .
The Harvey Nash Group ’ s Digital Leadership Report also found that as the global tech skills crisis reaches new heights , eight in 10 digital leaders report that , post-pandemic , new life priorities amongst staff are making retention even more difficult .
Bev White , CEO , Harvey Nash Group
Bev White , CEO of the Harvey Nash Group , talks to us about the report , her career and the future of work . . .
What ’ s your career looked like so far ?
I got a degree in computer science . I ' ve always been driven by curiosity . So , for me , being into business analytics was how I started my career – understanding how organisations work , how we can improve things , make the work more interesting and so on .
My last big technology role was at Virgin Media . After , I moved into management roles – my job now is the perfect mix of technology and leading the Harvey Nash Group . I feel very privileged to do this role .
Can you tell us about the skill shortages highlighted in Harvey Nash ’ s recent Digital Leadership report ?
The pandemic had many terrible elements to it ; however , businesses got the opportunity to reinvent and rethink themselves , in terms of how they would present services to their customers .
The growth of digital services and Digital Transformation projects just rocketed everywhere in the world and with that came an even bigger demand on tech skills . Tech skills have been a real premium , globally .
There are three top skills in the UK and the US . Unsurprisingly , the number one is cybersecurity . The more we expose our business in a digital world , the more chance we ' re going to have cyberthreats so the need for more cyberprofessionals is essential .
The second thing is Big Data analytics , as we were gathering more data and people were buying more products online . Now
“ Cherish the people you ' ve got and make sure they understand they ' re valued .”
Bev White is CEO of Harvey Nash Group , a global recruitment consultancy and IT outsourcing service provider , and was recently identified as one of the most influential women in UK tech . She spoke to us about skill shortages in the tech sector , gender diversity and the future of the office .
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