One year to Brexit: Focus on skills development or risk halting digital progress

With one year to go until Brexit, UK CIOs must ensure their IT departments have the skills their organisations need – or risk further delaying their digital transformation initiatives.

According to Ovum’s ICT Enterprise Insights research of more than 6,300 CIOs globally, less than 10% of enterprises consider their digital transformation to be complete and most firms are still in the early stages of their plans.

That scenario could be aggravated in the UK, where the pace of digital change is also “glacial” and IT decision-makers are “looking to cover as many bases as possible” over the next few months ahead of Brexit, said Ovum research director Maxine Holt.

“CIOs are very cautious about Brexit, particularly when it comes to areas such as contract structures with suppliers,” she said, adding that this particular area of uncertainty could mean digital transformation projects in the UK might suffer further delays.

To mitigate these pressures, one of the areas Ovum is advising UK IT leaders to look at is the internal expertise needed to deliver projects going forward. In that sense, said Holt, Brexit could be the force behind a much-needed new approach to skills development.

“If Brexit is what it takes [for CIOs to look at skills development], then so be it,” she said. “Traditionally, IT departments have been split into those who keep the lights on and those who work on change. The upcoming changes could now work as an opportunity to, for example, rotate people, give them new jobs, train them and keep them engaged.”

Although the looming Brexit date has left many IT leaders feeling uncertain about what the future will bring, there is a general consensus to try to make the best of the situation.

According to Andy Haywood, chief operating officer at UK retailer N Brown, Brexit was “another unwelcome challenge” on top of the usual business intricacies around meeting consumer demand, engaging the workforce and driving shareholder value. But his company has been looking at possible opportunities. 

“Over the last 12 months, we have been scenario planning various potential Brexit outcomes, thinking about risks and threats,” said Haywood. “However, we have also been busy looking at where the upsides might be.

“I don’t believe Brexit will fundamentally change our IT strategy, but we must be much more willing to bend and flex as the post-Brexit landscape becomes clear.”

Looking at possibilities has also been the focus for David Ivell, CIO at The Prince’s Trust. According to Ivell, although Brexit came as “more of a surprise than it should have been”, the charity has tried to look at it in a positive light. 

He said some key employers that the trust works with have cited availability of skilled entry-level staff as a major risk and have been asking for the organisation’s help in providing young people for those positions. 

“Putting the politics or personal preference to one side, there is already an impact where thousands in the UK economy in entry-level jobs have started returning to their home countries and the speed of repatriation will only increase in the next two years,” said Ivell. 

“There are hundreds of thousands of young people here in the UK that we work with and there is now a greater opportunity for them, with the help of The Prince’s Trust programmes, which provides much-needed employability skills to get entry-level jobs.”