M&A dealings revamped as the Tech Talent Shortage continues

An interesting report published recently by The Wall Street Journal caught our attention, leading to research on our own referring M&A deals. During the pandemic, when global dependency on the web grew considerably in a minor period, there was a shortage. Even before that, the tech sector is too vast to fill with experts.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) makes up for a considerable sum of profit and loss in the share market of tech firms. Inadequate services or ones clinging to survive but barely doing so seeks for traction via M&A. Sometimes case can be different; the company may be a child project of a whole other sector, and M&A means quick escape with a fat cheque.

And most importantly, what we are focusing on is the lack of tech talents. The WSJ said the coronavirus is responsible for sparking a 10 per cent increase in IT and business-services deals in 2021. last month had about 340,000 vacant positions in IT, 11 per cent higher than the year-over-year average. CompTIA, an IT industry trade group, published the information.

The shortage of information technology workers prompts companies to buy firms for their employers. It’s an expensive strategy but gives immediate results. This fact alone is racking up numbers in M&A deals across IT and business services sectors.

If we stock up facts, it is easy to see that acquisition of small companies by large companies is another great move for economic benefit. Rather than going bankrupt and disrupting, a financial backup from M&A saves jobs, services, and plenty more. Last month employers posted about 340,000 unfilled IT job openings. The IT industry trade group CompTIA analyzed Labor Department employment data on Friday.

Herbert groups chief research officer Tim Herbert said, “With the persistently tight labour market for tech talent, an ever-greater number of companies are willing to put all options on the table, including M&A.”

The $4.5 billion global IT spending is another excellent way to see how things move forward. Not the whole amount is going towards new product development and research; some are M&A too. The shortage of workers pushing companies to buy firms for their employers is a strategy practised globally.

Accenture PLC, another IT consulting firm, reported prolific M&A last year. It racked up nearly $4.2 billion across 46 acquisitions only. To “add skills and new capabilities in strategic, high-growth market areas,” it is necessary to find tech talents.

The same reason many IT firms or service providers have career options open for the public. Because no matter how long they ask for applications, there is a lack of true tech talents. Even with internship opportunities, many companies find the right individuals fit for the task. But some positions require tech talents who are ready to face the real-world challenge on the get-go.

Low code software has become much more popular nowadays, whereas we could hardly find quality low-code platforms two to three years before. Ryan Niemann, chief executive at Skuid Inc., talked about “certainty” and how it “plays into our M&A strategy.”

Skuid acquired InFlight Corp, a development firm for human resources software. Skuid, on the other hand, is a common code software platform. The move brought 45 new workers to Skuid, making 200 staff working full time for the company. In-depth details of the acquisitions were not disclosed, but we get its gist.

London-based IT and business services sector tracked a growing 10 per cent from 2020 to 2021, and after the second half of 2021, it grew another 23 per cent. The M&A advisory firm has more than 902 M&A deals in the sector. According to CompTIA, the US tech sector also got 24,300 workers in January, while IT companies increased the economy by 178,000.