New RapidScale report reveals a growing disconnect between executive confidence and frontline execution, contributing to delayed cloud and AI initiatives.
RapidScale, a Cox Business company and leading provider of enterprise managed and professional services for public, private, and hybrid cloud environments, unveiled findings from “The Talent Gap: Why Cloud & AI Investments Aren’t Delivering,” a report surveying 259 IT professionals about the state of skills amid accelerating cloud and AI adoption.
Despite strong executive confidence in AI preparedness, the report reveals a significant disconnect between leadership perception and operational reality. While 93% of senior leaders report confidence in AI readiness, only roughly half of those responsible for implementation agree. That gap is contributing to stalled execution, with 32% of IT projects delayed due to talent and skills shortages.
While leaders are layering AI into long-term plans, roadmaps and budget, data suggests they are failing to allot time for training and upskilling on new platforms, tools, and features as they enter the tech stack. As IT environment complexity increases, the development of specialized skills across industries is failing to keep pace with business needs.
“Organizations are moving quickly on cloud and AI strategies, but many are overestimating how ready their teams are to deliver on them. When leadership and operational teams are not aligned, projects slow down and expected value does not materialize,” said Duane Barnes, president of RapidScale. “Leaders must consider operational realities and determine the underlying business pressures in their environments before addressing talent gaps. Investing in coaching, creating space for teams to build skills and outsourcing support to partners are all mutually viable paths to keep critical initiatives moving.”
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Key findings from the report include:
- 93% of senior leaders report confidence in AI readiness, versus roughly half of those responsible for implementation.
- Executives are confident in their approach to addressing skills shortages, with 90% saying their efforts are effective. However, only 39% of technical teams report seeing meaningful impact.
- 32% of IT projects are delayed by skills gaps, and 22% of organizations say more than half of projects are impacted.
- 62% cite increasingly complex IT environments as the primary cause of skills gaps, marginally ahead of 56% who report limited time for training and upskilling.
- Nearly 75% of respondents report applicants lack the critical skills needed to fill open roles, creating a bottleneck that extends hiring for highly skilled roles to take four to six months or longer.
- 70% say AI and automation will significantly reshape required skills, even as more than a quarter of organizations continue to resist adoption, creating culturally detrimental pressure.
Executives are confident in their approach to addressing skills shortages, with 90% saying their efforts are effective. However, that confidence is not shared by technical teams, where only 39% report seeing meaningful impact. Investments in training, hiring, and tools are not translating into the day-to-day support teams need, underscoring a broader disconnect between strategy and execution. Closing this gap will require more than continued investment. Leaders must work more closely with frontline teams to align priorities, understand operational realities, and apply skills in real-world environments. Without that alignment, organizations risk falling behind as demand for advanced capabilities rises and AI investments fail to deliver expected value.
“The teams making the most progress are the ones treating skills development as part of the work,” said Jason McKay, chief solutions officer at RapidScale. “Too often, leaders underestimate the time it takes to embed learning into delivery cycles. The ones getting it right are simplifying where they can and leaning on partners for specialized expertise to keep projects moving. If you don’t, you’re just compounding today’s skills gaps and slowing your ability to scale AI.
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