The cloud is everywhere. From Google Mail to Dropbox, from Netflix to Salesforce, it's become a part of the fabric of our lives. So much so that we barely register it as "the cloud" anymore.

In the business world, life comes at you fast. One minute you're installing updates on a handful of point solutions, the next you're spooning vast reservoirs of data into cloud storage solutions.

This large-scale, industry-wide transition from on-premise infrastructure to subscription-based SaaS, PaaS and IaaS services has been as rapid as it is game-changing.

Some days, you might feel like someone who unlocks the front door to find that the furniture has been rearranged and all the pictures are upside down. A cloud technician is sitting on a bean bag and says, "Are you ready to innovate and unlock cost savings?"

But the truth is that while the era of digital transformation is quick, speedy and effective, it has brought about one key problem – skills gaps.

Skills gaps are nothing new and they don't only exist in cloud tech. Any time there's a discrepancy between the skills that employees and job seekers have and the skills their employers need, that's a skills gap.

In the world of the cloud, it's really no surprise. Cloud tech is relatively new. It's simultaneously hyper-sophisticated and wet behind the ears. It's like a baby that can speak sixteen languages and has somehow learned to tap-dance.

The inevitable consequence of this is that many companies suffer from skills gaps. It stands to reason – if suddenly every office needed an in-house sword-swallower, the same issue would apply.

The IT world is full of highly-skilled, value-adding network engineers – but their skills don't necessarily translate to the world of cloud-based solutions.

What problems can the cloud skills gap cause?

At its worst, the cloud skills gap can have far-reaching, long-lasting consequences.

According to a 2020 report by Accurics, 93% of cloud deployments looked at had misconfigured cloud storage services – and most had at least one network exposure. We all know what that means: data breaches.

Worse still, the report reaches the sober conclusion that as adoption continues to gallop along, cloud breaches will grow in magnitude.

Meanwhile, Netwrix's Cloud Data Security Report 2022 asked 720 IT professionals across the world to list "factors that slow down cloud adoption".

Thirty-one percent of respondents reported a lack of expertise in cloud environments, and 36% put it down to a lack of staff resources.

These in-house challenges mean that cloud adoption is slow or mismanaged. And while there are all sorts of training programmes to upskill jobseekers, the industry is moving faster than the job market.

In-house challenges

Here's the conundrum that many companies face. You hired your team for a reason. They add value. They fit in. You don't want to lose them but you also need some cloud expertise on your payroll.

One solution is to upskill your existing employees, but this has two major disadvantages.

In-person training costs a bomb, and the alternative – online training comprised of videos and quizzes – rarely cuts it.

And anyway, it's not enough to have a handful of cloud experts onsite. You need your whole team to be cloud-fluent – and this process of retraining can be expensive, disruptive and unwelcome.

The worst-case scenario is that you shed staff because they feel overloaded or resistant to change. But even at best, company-wide upskilling is a tall order that requires deep pockets. 

However, help is at hand in the form of cloud consultants.

What are cloud consultants?

A cloud consultancy firm looks at your cloud strategy and infrastructure, then recommends an efficient way forward.

Whether you need help migrating, managing cloud sprawl or monitoring your configurations, a cloud consultant can help.

Instead of the time-sink – and money-sink – that retraining a whole department creates, cloud consultants add value to your company by focusing on business-orientated needs.

In other words, you go to them to help your business grow. It's not simply a case of keeping the lights on. It's about having a cloud infrastructure that fits in with your overall growth plan.

This removes the need to reskill every last member of your team. They can focus on what they're good at, rather than wasting time on what you want them to be good at in an ideal world.

In principle, it's not that different from ordering a pizza rather than getting your own pizza oven installed. Or going to the barber rather than having a private salon. It's about offloading tasks that you don't specialise in.

Your cloud consultant is on top of the latest trends in cloud technology. They know a container from a micro-service and can reel off the upsides and downsides of different vendors.

But you're not only leveraging their expertise – you're also spreading the risk. Migrating to the cloud is worthwhile but risky if mismanaged. This is your data we're talking about. It's not a store cupboard full of Biros.

When you work with a cloud consultant, you can define your relationship and share the risk between you.

In short, they add value, skills and expertise to your team that you wouldn't be able to afford on your own. They can problem-solve, innovate and help you meet your business goals.

So if you're feeling the negative effects of a cloud skills gap in your company, consider working with a cloud consultant. You might just find that it makes a complicated situation that much simpler to manage.

Are you looking for cloud consultancy services? Ascend Cloud Solutions helps businesses of all sizes and sectors make the most of their cloud investment. Get in touch today to arrange a no-obligation meeting.