Cloud may be the answer to insurers' IT talent shortage, study

According to a survey sponsored by Rackspace Technology, 51% of insurance IT executives say that a shortage of IT talent is a leading issue for businesses. 

Talent attraction, employee retention and wage inflation all contribute to this staffing challenge in the insurance space. The survey, conducted with over 1,400 IT leaders in the finance and insurance industries, suggests that cloud 2.0 technology may ease the difficulties of the talent shortage through accelerated and improved digital processes. 

The survey notes a number of barriers IT executives struggle to overcome from the ongoing talent challenge – survey responses include that 65% of IT projects are delayed due to staffing shortages, and 64% of IT leaders indicate that their staff has experienced burnout. The survey also includes ways in which management actively attracts talent: 38% provide training opportunities, 32% incentivize with salary increases and 39% offer flexible hybrid or remote work schedules as 78% of leaders say that their employees prefer to work from home. 

Jeff DeVerter, chief technology evangelist at Rackspace Technology, explains that he also wanted to include questions regarding cloud technology in relation to the talent challenge. DeVerter says, “I threw a question in [the survey] that is really interesting to note. And the question was, ‘Do you envision a time in the next five years where your company won’t own a data center?’”

Fifty-four percent of respondents report that they do not plan to own a corporate data center in the next five years, as adopting serverless computing is a major priority, and 5% of insurers respond that they already don’t own a data center. 

“More than half came back and said, ‘Yes, we envisioned a time where we won’t own a data center,’” notes DeVerter, “It tells you that…there’s been this mind shift change.”

When asked how cloud technology improves business performance, 46% of respondents state that the cloud increases speed in testing and providing products or services, and 53% claim that the technology simplifies and improves experiences on the customer’s end.

Security, though, is still a leading barrier to overcome for 45% of insurers when choosing a cloud environment, and 36% claim they lack the internal skills to adopt and maintain the cloud. 

“Here comes the problem. There’s only one set of people who can make that stuff work. And that’s the tech talent,” states DeVerter, “They become some of the most important people in the organization because, again, technology isn’t just a bunch of servers shoring up the operation. It is core to everything that’s happening, and so having people who can have that conversation and manage that becomes important.”

DeVerter explains that the initial obstacle of finding IT staff starts with drawing in talent with technology like the cloud – digitalization results in improved, accelerated and streamlined processes that will attract IT talent. 

“Especially in industries like insurance that are fraught with manual processes, the staff that’s getting hired today, these younger staff, are much more technically literate than anybody we’ve ever hired before in business today,” he states, “They’re looking for ways to glue things together in ways to make their day easier, to make the business better and to be more efficient. Robotic process automation is key to that.”

With more than half of insurers planning to transition to serverless computing over the next five years, insurance IT leaders must consider how to incorporate digital advancements into their business. DeVerter states, “I would encourage leadership inside of industries, especially this one, to really consider how you get [technology] closer to the business.”