Dive Brief:

• Technology talent is currently the biggest impediment to digital transformation, according to a new survey by Gartner Inc.

• Not only do companies need more people with tech skills, they need those people to have fresh skills. “Existing skills in older analytics concepts and technologies are insufficient for working with real-time data from Internet of Things sensors, social media, mobile computing and other modern sources of data,” according to the survey.

• Gartner said such skills are critical because companies are investing more in digital transformation technologies like cloud computing. The budget for digital transformation related technologies at the average company is expected to grow to 28% by 2018, up from 18% today.

Dive Insight:

The labor market for talented tech personnel is growing increasingly competitive and the push toward digital transformation is adding more pressure on all types of companies to find people with those skills.

“It doesn’t matter what size or kind of company you are, you face a skills problem,” Andy Rowsell-Jones, research vice president at Gartner, told The Wall Street Journal.

An August study from International Data Corporation found most IT spending worldwide is currently spurred by investments in solutions that enable digital transformation efforts. Another survey released by Quickbase indicated digital transformation is now a priority for an overwhelming 97% of the C-level respondents.

The Gartner study also found that companies that consider themselves top-performing allocate more of their IT spending to digital transformation efforts than companies that don’t consider themselves top-performing.

The Gartner survey included 2,598 CIOs and other tech executives in 93 countries.