Vision 2011: IT security skills shortage forcing vendors to boost support and usability

BARCELONA: The dearth of fully qualified, experienced IT security professionals is putting increasing pressure on security vendors to build products that are easier to use and support, according to Symantec chief information officer David Thomson.

Thomson told V3 that even larger, better resourced customer organisations end up having to call Symantec support for advice on how to operate its products.

"Customers are struggling to find IT professionals. They're more and more reliant on vendors, suppliers and resellers to support them," he said.

"This means we have to shift our focus to make the products easier to use and support and enable customer education, or else the burden of support will continue to grow on vendors like Symantec."

Symantec provides around 85 per cent of its training online to help support its customers in the most efficient and cost effective way possible, and tries to make its products as easy as possible to operate, but this isn't always possible, Thomson explained.

"Some of the technology we build is very intricate so it may require hands-on practice," he said.

"However it has become a definite competitive advantage if you focus on ease of use, making the interface more intuitive, self-configuring and self-diagnostic. We're adding telemetry to our technology so we can be more sure how our products may be deployed."

The skills shortage in information security is not only affecting end user organisations but security vendors themselves, as the numbers of science, mathematics and technology graduates continues to fall in US and UK universities, said Thomson.

This has forced Symantec to partner with universities, investing money and resources into sponsorship programmes and internships, as well as looking internationally for talent.

"It's a serious challenge and a growing concern for governments," he said.

The number of UK students choosing technology subjects at A-Level continued to decline in 2011.

The Computing A-level exam was sat by 4,002 students this year, down from 4,065 in 2010 and 4,710 in 2009, and a 20 per cent drop-off since 2008.

The more popular Information and Communications Technology A-level, meanwhile, attracted 11,960 students this year, a slight drop from the 12,186 in 2010.