In recent years, the importance of IT to business success continues to trend upwards. Technology has become instrumental in the day-to-day running of an organisation as well as driving businesses forward. However, skills deficiencies, in core and emerging technologies, are having a detrimental impact on businesses.

A huge 85% of businesses claim they are not where they want to be using technology and the IT skills gap is the main reason they are being held back. Additionally, not only are businesses experiencing a lack of technical skills, but they also agree a wide lack of soft skills is being felt. This means a diverse range of key business areas are impacted – from customer service and staff productivity to new product development and speed to the market.

In addition, the main factors influencing hiring decisions is the lack of skills amongst existing staff, the difficulty of assessing knowledge and the pressure to make an efficient hire. In a recent TalkTalk Business survey, 64% of companies said that any extra budget they receive would be spent on IT staff training, so businesses are recognising the value of this.

This demonstrates how important it is to find and retain skilled staff who you can rely on to keep up with the changing landscape and ensure your business runs at full capacity in terms of productivity and efficiency.

In a survey 500+ IT and business managers admitted it was a big challenge to find qualified staff skilled in developing techniques and technologies – from IT security to mobility, collaboration and virtualisation.

Many companies believe that these difficulties can be overcome through hiring IT staff with certifications. It indicates to businesses the skills and knowledge coding bootcamp in Phoenix Arizona level a candidate already has and determines whether they would be able to do the job effectively before they are hired. This means they can add value to the organisation and reduce the skills gap as soon as they are employed.

In addition, if a company hires certified staff, they are ensuring their employees share a common foundation of knowledge. This results in the entire workforce resolving issues in the same way, which in turn enables them to provide a more consistent and efficient level of service to clients. Staff with IT certifications are also more likely to understand how issues arise in the first place allowing them to be more effective and resourceful, as well as adding a preventative barrier before problems occur.

Nearly half of organisations believe certifications will increase in importance over the next two years as certified staff are increasingly recognised as valuable to businesses as they are shown to perform to high levels of productivity and efficiency.

This year, CompTIA created a hub for companies and young professionals dealing with the reality of the IT skills gap. Here you will find out more information on the benefits of hiring IT certified staff. There are free datasheets, guides and case studies exploring the issues surrounding the skills gap and offering the latest facts and figures.