BY STAN MOOTE

In the latest IABM Industry Trends Survey , ‘ development capacity ’ and ‘ skills and staff ’ are once again by far the biggest factors limiting companies ’ ability to fulfil orders and contracts .

These two categories are , of course , interwoven to a large extent ; with the move to software-based systems , attracting software engineers for R & D work is a growing challenge . These same skills are in high demand in other verticals such as telecoms and IT , and while we like to think that the broadcast and media industry has more ‘ sex appeal ’ than most other industries , too often the career paths offered by the much larger players in these spaces , as well as handsome remuneration packages , prove to be decisive .

Peter Bruce , director of APAC for IABM , points out : “ On the ‘ skills and staff ’ side of the equation , we have a two-way problem . As IP and IT technologies increasingly underpin broadcast and media production and distribution , traditional broadcast engineers have to learn a whole new language .”

The answer is not as simple as just importing engineers from an IT background ; they need to be trained about the nuances of broadcast and media ( specifically live to air ) as this requires a whole new approach to system design and operations for them .

The result is that broadcast and media has a yawning skills gap ; we need to adapt or our very special and niche industry will rapidly become just a sideshow to the IT-native overthe-top ( OTT ) players such as Netflix and Amazon , and the social media

companies who are themselves moving into the video space .

The skills problem is worldwide — as acute in Asia as it is in Europe and the Americas . Dr Ahmad Zaki , group GM , engineering at Malaysia ’ s Media Prima , sums up the current position perfectly : “ We face unprecedented disruption from OTT and new Web players . This is about digital disruption , and our focus should not just be on current skills but survival too . If we do not adapt , and develop the right skills , leaner and more efficient players from the world of IT and IP will displace us .”

“ The number of 16-21-year-olds entering the job market is falling in many countries , while competition for these new entrants and those who wish to develop technical skills is growing ,” says Andrew Jones , IABM head of Training . “ Huge tech-businesses such as Google and Facebook , the computer gaming industry and the finance industry are all out there competing to give opportunities to next-generation talent . Working to build new IP-based applications for the media industry and its audience can be very exciting and rewarding , but companies have to articulate the opportunities

The answer is simple but stark : we need to adapt or become history . And this means budgeting for training as a recurring line item in the balance sheet .

IABM ’ s Peter Bruce : Traditional broadcast engineers have to learn a whole new language .

and spell out the offer that they have to attract new talent to the business in an environment like this .

“ Everyone has a role to play in this ,” Jones continues . “ The larger companies can offer consistent recruitment and apprenticeship programmes , perhaps even collaborating on these . Smaller companies may find it harder to offer this consistently , although collaborating with others or with government initiatives or other professional institutions can be very effective . Offering summer work and internships to students has significant impact at lower financial cost . Connecting with university computer science , broadcast or engineering departments and offering research projects is another route .”

The answer is simple but stark : we need to adapt or become history . And this means budgeting for training as a recurring line item in the balance sheet . There is help out there ; organisations are

offering both classroom and online training . One of them is IABM , which offers a wide range of training resources , both in-class and online , which can help vendors as well as end-users to bridge the skills gap . This includes training your IT staff about broadcast workflows .

I asked a large broadcaster that recently put in a full IP installation about his IT staff and he stated that once the IT types learnt that video is more than just another data type they got very excited about the business — television is more variable and exhilarating than spending your day working on boring networks and computer servers .

Whether you see it as ‘ training to gain ’ or ‘ learning to survive ’, skilling up your staff should be top of your priority list . Never has continued professional development been so important for engineers and technicians , otherwise you won ’ t keep pace with the digital transformation . ❑

Stan Moote has worked worldwide in the industry for more than three decades and is the CTO for IABM , International Association for Broadcast and Media Technology Suppliers . Stan has a clear understanding of technology combined with a solid business twist . You can see many of Stan ’ s articles at theIABM . org .

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