How to address the telecom skills gap

Our industry is facing unprecedented change driven largely by technology which is stimulating end users to demand more of less and to have it all, right now!  Processing power, high speed broadband and mobile connectivity, low-cost storage – glued together with software controlled by apps – are the technology drivers.  But are there the people with the right skills to deliver these expectations? Looking first at some of the numbers.  In 2014, some 7.5m people across the EU were ICT professionals - that’s 3.4% of the total EU workforce - growing on average by 1.2% year-on-year [e-Skills in Europe whitepaper].  Half of these people work in the ICT sector itself with the rest in the ICT activities of other sectors.  The UK had 22% of the EU’s ICT professionals – the highest workforce of any EU country.  However, the gap between the number of jobs and the demand potential is increasing from a gap of 470…