The shortage of talents that have specific digital skills continues to be a pressing issue for businesses since the lockdowns caused by COVID-19. Despite the growing demand for tech-savvy specialists, there is still a limited supply of individuals possessing digital skills, according to a recent survey by GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s recent survey*, “Digital Transformation and Emerging Technologies in the Healthcare Industry”, reveals that a lack of specific skills and talents (43%), followed by insufficient funding (40%), and organizational silos (36%) were seen as the most significant hindrances among the surveyed healthcare industry professionals.

Urte Jakimaviciute, Senior Director of Market Research at GlobalData, comments: “The digital skills shortage continues to be a major challenge for businesses that first experienced a significant scarcity of such skills shortly after the arrival of COVID-19. A severe lack of investment into digital skills, even before the COVID-19 outbreak, training and education takes time to resolve. Until the talent shortage gap is bridged, businesses will continue to compete for currently available resources.”

According to GlobalData’s survey tracker on digital transformation*, lack of specific skills and talents has been viewed as one of the top hindrances for digital transformation in healthcare since 2020. The pandemic and related workstyle changes have forced a lot of businesses to move online and employees to adopt a hybrid or remote style of working.

Work style changes and ongoing digital transformation made shortages of tech-savvy employees even more pressing. Due to increasing levels of digitalization and technology adoption, this issue is only going to grow. For example, there is a lot of buzz around an increasing uptake of AI-based solutions, however, if we take a look at healthcare services, there are many healthcare workers who do not have direct experience with AI technologies.

Jakimaviciute concludes: “While bridging this skills gap requires immediate attention, it is not an easy problem to solve. It requires innovative thinking, education, re-training, and most importantly, time. Rather than just relying on attracting new talents, upskilling and reskilling current employees may be one of the solutions to fill the gaps in the workforce.”

* GlobalData’s survey fielded with 114 healthcare industry professionals, between 6 September 2023 to 17 October, 2023.