Three quarters (72%) of UK businesses increased their use of technology tools, training and talent investment in 2020 by an average increase of £1.48 million, according to new research by CWJobs.
However, just 9% of companies have trained staff to use all the technologies correctly, which has resulted in a technology knowledge gap among employees.
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Digital platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams allowed businesses to maintain business continuity throughout the pandemic, as they allowed teams to communicate remotely.
However, according to CWJob’s Tackling Tech Training report, although tech hiring and training budgets surged by nearly £400,000 only a quarter (27%) of IT decision-makers were satisfied with their employees’ abilities to use these new technologies properly.
One of the most notable gaps in training was for analytics tools, where less than 4% of companies trained up all necessary staff. This was followed by software platforms (8%) and cloud infrastructures (8%).
A quarter of IT decision-makers cited a hesitance from both workers and their superiors to make time for training (25%) as the main reason for a lack of technology training.
In addition, a third (33%) said they struggled to deliver sessions while working remotely and 31% said they can’t keep employees engaged for long enough to complete proper training.
Dominic Harvey, director at CWJobs, said technology is only ever as effective as the employees that use it; if training isn’t provided businesses risk creating digital skills gaps.
He said: “Whilst it’s encouraging that training budgets are surging, our findings show that these budgets aren’t being spent effectively.
“It is imperative that employers find creative ways to navigate the challenges of remote training and engage their workers to avoid their investments going to waste, as well as close the tech talent gap.”
CWJobs’ Tackling Tech Training report surveyed 1,000 tech workers and 500 IT decision-makers in the UK from 19 January to 26 January 2021.
