How an MSP Can Fill IT Skills Gaps

If your company is thinking about downsizing, you’re probably concerned about how to address the IT skills gap you might create. In fact, 70 percent of information technology professionals claim IT skills shortages have impacted their organization.

Simply put, a skills gap is the difference between the skills a business needs and the skills its employees currently have. Long-term, sustainable growth demands that businesses close that gap to meet their goals and remain competitive.

However, IT skills gaps may be difficult to fill with traditional recruiting methods. Today, we’ll discuss how you can identify and resolve IT skills gaps to ensure a smooth transition without compromising your IT infrastructure.

How to Address IT Skills Gaps

Information technology skills gaps have an especially significant impact on smaller companies, which often have limited financial resources. To successfully address the IT skills gap, SMBs need to conduct a skills gap analysis to develop a concrete plan.

Here are the five essential steps to identifying your IT skills gap so your organization can move toward its business goals:

Step 1: Identify Your Company’s Objectives

By identifying your company’s overall business goals first, you can more easily compare where you are now to where you want to be. While it can be easy and even exciting to start closing the skills gap right away, this research step is essential. Ask yourself questions like:

Where do you want your organization to be in a year? In five years?
Given your current skill set, how can you develop strategies to get you where you want to go?
What areas of the business do you lack knowledge or resources?
What jobs do you need to fill to drive your organization toward its business goals?
What skills do you need to meet these goals?

Step 2: Figure Out Which Tech Skills Support Your Objectives

After you better understand your business’s objectives, consider which IT skills your team needs to acquire to meet these goals. Focus on the essential skills that support your overall objectives (like IT infrastructure maintenance and 24/7 monitoring) if you plan to outsource your IT needs to a managed services provider (MSP).

Determining which IT skills are necessary to achieve your business goals will help you delegate resources to where they are most needed. Staying focused on your overall business goals instead of improving everything at once helps control costs and prevents overtaxing existing resources.

Step 3: Understand What Skills Are Already in Place

Once you have a clear idea of your business goals and the skills you need to get there, look at your team’s current skill sets. If you’re downsizing, chances are that list of skills has become shorter — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Many SMBs have transitioned to a leaner workforce to focus their limited resources on high-priority areas of their business, like strategy, research and development. Comparing your team’s skills before and after the transition can help you more accurately identify your IT skills gap.

Step 4: Identify Your IT Skills Gaps

While downsizing allows for more efficient and focused operations, small businesses still need IT expertise for infrastructure maintenance and everyday technology needs. The most effective way to identify your skills gaps is by conducting a skills gap analysis of your enterprise, particularly areas you’ve recently downsized.

For example, if you’ve recently downsized or eliminated your IT department, that doesn’t mean you don’t need those skills anymore. Determining your IT skills gap can help you find the right partner to close the gap without interruption to essential needs like IT compliance and cybersecurity protection.

Step 5: Make an Action Plan

Once you have identified your IT skills gap, the final step is to make a plan to close that gap. While it’s common to invest in training programs to develop the skill sets you need or hire more skilled workers, it isn’t ideal for downsized SMBs that have reduced costs.

Finding a reliable partner that can manage your IT needs can often provide your business with more qualified IT specialists than a time-consuming in-house hiring process. With the right managed services provider, you can reduce costs, implement better cybersecurity measures and gain peace of mind.

Partner With Helixstorm To Fill IT Skill Gaps

MSPs work with businesses to support their IT needs, like managing cybersecurity programs and dealing with day-to-day technical issues. Partnering with an MSP enables your business to close its IT skills gap by outsourcing your IT needs to a dedicated team with the skills needed to help you meet your long-term business goals.

At Helixstorm, we align technology with your business goals to support a future-proof strategy. Our managed IT services give you access to a team of technical experts with decades of experience — at a fraction of the cost.