Shortage of personnel with tech skills big threat to 58% of businesses in Nigeria — Survey

A Nigerian business survey has shown that 58 per cent of IT decision makers in Nigeria view a shortage of personnel with IT skills as one of the main threats to their business.

The survey also found that 34 per cent of tech decision makers in Nigeria are planning to move to a new region and 33 per cent into a new country, while 58 per cent view a shortage of personnel with IT skills as one of the main threats to their business.

The survey was conducted by Equinix, which completed the acquisition of Nigeria’s MainOne earlier this year.

The company said as part of the Equinix 2022 Global Tech Trends Survey, 100 business leaders in Nigeria were interviewed about the opportunities and challenges their organisations faced – and their plans for the future.

The survey revealed that 54 per cent of respondents were planning on expanding in an existing country in the next 12 months, 34 per cent into a new region and 33 per cent into a new country. It also showed that 93 per cent of IT leaders in Nigeria said enhancing customer experience is a priority.

Some 55 per cent said their businesses were plagued by global supply chain issues and shortages, while 50 per cent specified the global microchip shortage as a threat to their business.

However, a number of potentially limiting factors were identified by businesses when it came to global growth including concerns and challenges in supply chain, cyber security, and staff retention and recruitment.

As part of their digital-first strategies, 85 per cent of respondents in Nigeria confirmed a key priority is improving cybersecurity, while 88 per cent said complying with local market data regulations is critical. Another 85 per cent highlighted the need to futureproof their businesses. According to IT specialists in Nigeria, the most feared threats were cyberattacks (73 per cent), security breaches and data leaks (68 per cent).

Staff retention and recruitment

Despite having one of the youngest populations and workforces in the world, 58% of IT decision makers in Nigeria view a shortage of personnel with IT skills as one of the main threats to their business. The survey showed that among the most common concerns for businesses in Nigeria are candidates with the wrong skill sets applying for jobs (56%), pay and compensation (49%), changing expectations around ways of working (41%), and the retention of current talent (38%).

Additionally, In Nigeria, the most in-demand tech employees are those with skills in areas such as AI/machine learning, data analysis, cloud computing specialists, data protection, security software development, IT technicians and security analysis

Tools To Grow Businesses

To help grow their businesses, 77% of IT leaders in Nigeria said they plan to move more business functions to the cloud including business-critical applications and security functions.

Hybrid cloud models were the preferred approach for 36% of respondents in Nigeria, although 18% still rely on a single cloud provider and 2% not using the cloud at all.

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Some 40% in Nigeria said they plan to facilitate global expansion plans by deploying virtually via the cloud, with over a quarter (26%) – 21% among IT decision-makers in Nigeria – doing so using a bare metal solution.

Meanwhile, 47% globally (46% in Nigeria) said they expect increased spending on carrier-neutral colocation solutions to facilitate the planned rise in digital deployments, while even more (59% at global level, 70% in Nigeria) said they intend to increase investment in interconnection services as they plan to progress digital transformation and build resilience.

COVID accelerates digital evolution

The pandemic also continues to have a significant impact on businesses’ digital strategies. More than half of IT leaders in Nigeria (64%) say they are accelerating their company’s digital evolution because of the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, over half (64%) confirm their IT budgets have increased as a direct outcome of its legacy—an insight into the now broadly acknowledged necessity for robust digital infrastructure to pivot to evolving business needs in an instant. Furthermore, almost three-quarters of respondents (73%) believe the technology changes and investments implemented during the pandemic are here to stay.

“The acceleration in digital transformation in Nigeria reinforces the need for businesses to have access to single points to interconnect locally,” said Funke Opeke, Managing Director, MainOne, An Equinix Company. “Increased speed of connectivity, increased flexibility of connectivity, and reduced cost of connectivity were identified by IT decision-makers in Nigeria as the most beneficial aspects of interconnection. MainOne provides a rich interconnection ecosystem that allows customers connect to each other multiple telecoms networks, and Cloud, Payment and Content Providers in a single location.’’