Modern information technology tools bring amazing possibilities but only if there are skilled people to realize them. Evidence shows that U.S. companies and government agencies both have too few people versed in cloud and related technologies.

Pluralsight’s recent survey, for example, found that nearly eight in 10 projects end up abandoned because of skill gaps. That’s according to Drew Firment, chief cloud strategist at Pluralsight.

“The top two challenges remain cybersecurity, number one, and the need for a skilled workforce is number two,” Firment said during Federal News Network’s Cloud Exchange 2024.

“We’re really focused on helping these agencies mitigate the impact of the skills gap and really, ultimately, teaching the federal government how to use cloud computing and artificial intelligence so agencies can more effectively achieve their missions.”

In effect, both the cyberthreat situation and skill gaps amount to a single problem, Firment said. He cited a recent Government Accountability Office report pointing out the need for urgent action on critical cybersecurity challenges.

 AI to the government’s rescue?

Firment said the wide and widely planned adoption of AI will help resolve the convergence of the cyberthreats to data and the rising level of cloud adoption — and the skills needed to deal with them.

“We are starting to see emerging technologies like AI and machine learning being deployed to help improve IT capabilities like cybersecurity,” Firment said. “And as cloud environments and data footprints expand to support AI, ultimately this focus on security is going to be even more critical to protect that data.”

AI and the scalable, elastic nature of commercial cloud computing go hand in hand.

“Agencies now have the ability to scale AI using cloud,” Firment said.

Among the specific skills needed in the cloud and AI computing era are two in particular, he said.

“The government is still focused heavily on the general IT skills to maintain legacy systems,” but agencies need to pivot to data engineering and managing cloud services and characteristics, Firment advised.

He also recommended that moving toward hiring based more on skills basis rather than academic degrees would help agencies target and recruit people with skills in cloud architecture and cloud-native AI and encryption services.

It’s begun to happen but will take time to bring in new hires. Firment also lauded training efforts underway in agencies to expand cloud and cyber skills as well.

“It is encouraging to see that skills development is now a pretty significant investment for the federal government, and they’re making those investments in their professionals to help their workforce better manage and secure their cloud computing systems.”

Discover more articles and videos now on Federal News Network’s Cloud Exchang2024 event page.

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