An Outlook on Tech Skills for 2016

Let's take a look at what talents and expertise businesses will demand in 2016.

Regardless of the industry that an organization competes in, it has likely just been disrupted by technology. In fact, almost every sector has drastically been altered in the past few years thanks to cloud computing, enterprise mobility and big data. As a result, businesses scramble to improve their tech stacks - from data centers to software - in an attempt to bring them into 2015, enabling the digitization of workflows and processes.However, with new technologies, systems and software, organizations must adopt new skill sets to properly take advantage of those innovations and, in turn, reinvent operations. This means that 2016 will be a year of growth with respect to tech talent. Enterprises will have to create educational seminars, as well as invest in business process outsourcing to shore up areas of their company that lack the expertise required to handle technology in the near future. But what tech skills are required in the next year? Let's take a look at what talents and expertise businesses will demand in 2016.

Programming
Software development will continue to top IT priority lists in 2016. According to Computerworld, 40 percent of C-suite leaders have strategies to onboard more programmers in the upcoming year, and mobile devices and the Internet of Things are largely to blame. But in addition to developing those specific programs and applications, enterprises will invest in software developers who create Web portals, integrate cloud services into existing tech stacks and make the sharing of data across systems seamless.

With respect to specific coding languages, businesses in 2016 will look for a lot of different areas of expertise. Some platforms such as Salesforce Connect make programming easy to amateurs, but other systems might require knowledge of MySQL, C++, .NET and more.

Tech support
Help desk and tech support have been integral to the success of digital transformations, and as such, it is predicted that the need for professionals with these skills will steadily increase throughout 2016. There are many reasons for a spike in tech support demand.

For one, the Robert Half Technology 2016 Salary Guide noted that in order to embrace bring your own device and go fully mobile, enterprises must make their tech support teams larger, better and more efficient. With so many devices and such a reliance on them, businesses need to ensure that their employees' issues can be corrected accurately and quickly. Furthermore, tech support will play a big role in the successful adoption of cloud services. When organizations deploy software-as-a-service solutions, those help desk teams will ensure that employees smoothly transition.

The source explained that tech support professionals must be great at communication, dealing with customers happily and solving problems. Many businesses are likely to turn to BPO services to improve their help desk teams, as finding a large, qualified group of those individuals will not be easy.

Cybersecurity
While 2014 will always be remembered as a year of mega-breaches, in 2015, businesses were not much better at protecting sensitive data and sealing enterprise applications. That means that in 2016, organizations must buckle down on data security, especially since there are still millions of threats out there in cyberspace.

Specifically, TechRepublic predicted an increased demand for tech skills in the mobile payment realm, as well as a larger need for more professionals with the ability to prevent attacks from becoming data breaches. Of course, that is only half of the puzzle. Network security-savvy individuals are necessary, and employees must practice good data hygiene to reduce risk.

Internet of Things
The IoT has been in the spotlight for a few years now, but in 2016, all efforts will come to a T, as technologies finally line up. Hospitals will start to connect all of their systems and sensors to truly monitor patients at all times, marketers will improve customer service with improved personalization efforts and manufactures will track products throughout their entire lifecycles.

This means that IoT skills will not fall into just a single bucket. Instead, various departments will all work with information, and professionals in those sectors must start to familiarize themselves with platforms that monitor "things" and collect data. Equally, the IoT will introduce a whole different level of tech support, and businesses must determine whether to turn to BPO for IoT management and support or to keep these processes internal.

Big data
Most tech trends will contribute to big data collections, and enterprises must act quickly to find professionals that possess talents in this regard. From data scientists and big data engineers to data modelers and report creators, there are a lot of positions that larger corporations will need to fill. That said, the high demand for those skills will likely make salaries high and hiring difficult. Businesses might need to turn to external help for some of those roles, but as long as they have expert consultants to assist them, investments will be worth it.

With 2016 almost here, enterprises must assess which of those skills listed above they will need to tackle the new year and set their businesses up for the future.