The lack of digital abilities has long been acknowledged and discussed in the literature. Employers are now facing this dilemma head-on as businesses transition to a digital-first strategy with cloud computing at the core of their IT infrastructures. One of the many business advantages made possible by the cloud is increased speed and agility. Other advantages include cost savings, energy savings, and company continuity. However, because of the complexity of their legacy systems, certain sectors were slow to adopt the cloud until recently. With certainty, we can state that is no longer the case. The COVID-19 pandemic’s effects prompted businesses that were waiting to act, and the digital economy was maintained by a remote workforce. The cloud-native world is here to stay, and there is a growing need for competent IT people in order to compete and satisfy consumer needs for fast, global service delivery.

Winning firms now differentiate themselves from their competitors by being able to recruit and keep employees with the appropriate capabilities. The pace of technological advancement makes it difficult for employees to keep up with and for employers to see where gaps may exist, even for those who make good hiring decisions. The hiring process for specialized IT skills is time-consuming and costly. One software engineer may cost more than $50,000 to employ, not including onboarding, ramp-up, and unexpected turnover costs. For technology executives, this has made talent development a crucial element of the success jigsaw. But identifying people who are prepared, eager, and capable of picking up new skills to take on new roles continues to be a difficult task in and of itself.