A recent survey by NPower questioned CIOs about the talents that are most likely to be in demand in the future. Among the most noteworthy results was the fact that remote IT support and troubleshooting features highly on their results.
The Full Details
This survey asked 75 CIO and technology experts from financial services, technology, and consultancy companies for their opinion on a range of matters. Leading firms such as Bank of America, Deloitte, Citi, Dell, and Microsoft were among those included.
The results included the fact that close to 73% of respondents said that remote IT skills can be classed as “very important” in the months ahead. Indeed, virtually all of the IT leaders confirmed that they expect remote working to become ever more popular in the US from now on.
Among the major companies to support the idea of staff working from home this year are Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, and Coinbase. Meanwhile, the likes of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and PayPal have all extended the remote working options for their employees.
An example of how remote support can be implemented, without major investment in training or infrastructure, comes from the Dameware remote support software. This provides remote administration software to allow end-user support and troubleshooting from anywhere on the planet.
In a similar vein, an increased level of demand for cloud support IT roles is expected. 90% of the industry leaders that were questioned classed this area as being either very important or extremely important.
Another part of the results showed that 98% of those surveyed believe that cybersecurity workers will be a vital part of businesses in the next six to 18 months. This is due to the fact that businesses are looking to protect their employees from the increased risk of cyber-attacks and phishing attempts.
Close to 70% of those who took part in the survey believe that businesses will now invest more in increasing the skills of their staff in emerging IT areas. Among the main factors with remote staff is the need to keep them updated on company culture, role clarity, and soft skills, as well as IT, subjects.
A recent blog post from Honor Credit Union shows some of the challenges faced in adapting to support a 100% virtual working environment. It mentions the need for regular communication and agility, as well as the availability of online training resources.
What Will the Jobs Market for Remote IT Support Be Like?
Another area that was covered in the questionnaire looked at what the future holds for the IT jobs market. The general agreement here was that entry-level recruitment will be limited in nature for the remainder of 2020.
The first six months of 2021 should see this area improve, as companies look to expand their recruitment efforts. 64% of the companies that took part in the survey expect to use a combination of American and overseas IT suppliers, as a way of protecting their business continuity plans from different eventualities.
2020 has undoubtedly seen a major shift in how we work. We can expect this trend to continue and for companies to adapt their strategies to deal with this.
