Dive Brief:
- Cisco is rolling out new services driven by AI and ML to manage risk, lower expenses and help bring businesses new training models, according to a company announcement Tuesday. The new services, called Business Critical Services and High-value Services, can find solutions to issues 41% faster and cut costs by about 21%, according to Cisco.
- The Business Critical Services features include automation in remediated services, analytics regarding the state of current infrastructure and security provided to help mitigate human error. High-value Services include support for Cisco software, hardware and options for third-party partners.
- The AI and ML-powered training is meant to alleviate the growing skills gap in IT, the largest challenge for executing digital strategy and transformation, according to IDC. In the next three years, digital transformation is expected to cost $6.3 trillion with about $2.6 trillion dedicated to hiring third-party providers.
Dive Insight:
Technology is outpacing the knowledge of those in the field and companies like Cisco are looking for ways to close the growing gap. Understaffed or under-skilled technical and security workers is an issue for 60% of IT professionals. About one-third of CIOs said finding qualified candidates is one of the top barriers in hiring their IT workforce.
When there are failings in basic structures like security teams, overall digital transformation is stalled. Companies that try to implement new technologies face losing more than $6 billion annually if equipment is not properly managed or implemented.
The move to transition workloads and training through AI and ML-powered capabilities could create more jobs and therefore provide more talent, according to 55% of varied industry executives.
Gartner predicts three areas of talent prioritization in the future — AI, security and IoT. The development of those skills begins with adopting AI technologies because companies "need to hire leaders who in turn will develop others." Cisco's new services are the gateway to developing more AI skills while also training existing staff to reduce risk of delayed transformation and reduce cost through automation.
