The South African IT services market is expected to grow to R182bn by 2028, according to BMIT, fuelled by soaring demand for cloud services, with the local cloud industry anticipated to reach R92.4bn in 2028. But with all this growth, are there enough skills in South Africa to make use of everything cloud has to offer? With businesses of all sizes and in all industries seeking flexible, scalable and cost-effective computing solutions, cloud has become an appealing option, says BCX. Businesses can now use different cloud providers for certain workloads, but will have to find the right fit to maximise efficiency and performance. However, skills shortages are a persistent issue.

JJ Milner, founder and MD of Global Micro Solutions, says there’s a gap between what is taught in academic institutions and the skills required by the industry. “A lot of the stuff we’re seeing is very generalist, but this is insufficient when you’re a developer working for a business in an industry with stringent regulation,” he says. “For example, data sovereignty and data privacy legislation, like PoPIA, within highly regulated industries like financial services, stipulates that sensitive customer data must remain within the jurisdiction of the country where it was collected, and companies must comply with strict rules regarding cross-border data transfer when using cloud services,” he says.