The skills gap in South Africa’s information and communication technology (ICT) sector is considerable and is widening as a result of digital transformation, and this requires greater intervention.

This is according to the tenth edition of the ‘Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) – Information Technology Professionals South Africa (ITPSA) ICT Skills Survey’ report, released in late September.

The report examines the acquisition of skills, the challenges of closing the skills gap and the trends affecting skills development in the South African ICT environment.

Speaking at the report’s release, in Johannesburg, JCSE director Professor Barry Dwolatzky said that, while digital technology was having a considerable impact on organisations and institutions, the term ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ (4IR) was somewhat misleading.

He said 4IR had to be understood to comprise two separate components: ‘evolutionary’ and ‘revolutionary’.

The former refers to an ongoing process of digital transformation, which began with the advent of the computer and is continuously unfolding, as has always been the case with new tools, processes, platforms and processes replacing older ones.

The latter refers to technology systems that are a radical departure – both in terms of the business model they support and the way in which technologies are combined – from what has gone before.

The report notes that South African companies largely follow an evolutionary path for digital adaptation; therefore, companies will require skills which are already familiar, such as the skills of developers, database administrators and user interface signers.

New skills will still need to be added, such as those associated with emerging technologies like Big Data and the Internet of Things.

The report indicates that, from an employer’s perspective, there is slowing demand for existing skills; however, the ongoing pressure from the introduction of innovative technologies continues to ensure that the skills gap is not closing.

ITPSA production consultant Adrian Schofield said that the report showed a definite digital skills gap in the country’s ICT sector. Skills associated with the current set of emerging technologies were the scarcest. These findings mimicked key findings from previous years.

Therefore, he emphasised the need for legacy skills and core competences to be the foundation. This required fixing the school education system, with increasing emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Further, there was a need to ensure that students did not fall out of the education system between school and tertiary level.

Schofield noted two prevalent themes in the report: a lack of access to technologies, and lacking digital education, with the education system at all levels requiring more attention.

As noted, digital transformation was changing the world of work, and, with the considerable skills gap in emerging technologies, this too will need to be addressed.

This year’s edition posed a new question to participants regarding the need for the reskilling of employees and whether this is necessary.

Schofield indicated that the response was largely positive, with the majority of employees seeing the need for this.

Collaboration between government and the private sector will be key, as will the expansion of successful initiatives that are already taking place.

Further, the report indicated that strengthening the skills pipeline was as important as creating work opportunities for the newly skilled.

In terms of enterprise ICT priorities, the report found the top three to be information security or cybersecurity, Big Data or data analytics, and artificial intelligence.