Tech Skills Report

AI is everywhere in the enterprise now. 96% of organizations have invested in AI tools for at least some of their employees. But most organizations still aren't ready to use the technology effectively. That gap is expensive. 61% of executives say skills gaps cost their organization $250,000 or more last year, from abandoned projects to budget overruns.

Buying more learning resources won't close this gap. Organizations need to change how they develop employees and validate their capabilities.

Unfortunately, traditional enterprise learning methods aren't working. 77% of executives have seen an employee finish training or earn a certification and still be unable to do the job. And most tech executives (90%) and L&D leaders (84%) worry their skill measurement can be gamed.

Solving this means building a readiness strategy that keeps employees engaged, proves capability, and ties learning to real business results. AI is changing every tech stack we run. How we build capability has to change with it.

We surveyed 1,500 tech executives, learning and development (L&D) leaders, and tech practitioners across the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia to understand why upskilling today is falling short and how to build a readiness strategy.

This report is for tech executives, L&D leaders, and anyone responsible for tech skill development in their organization.

More than half (52%) of organizations report that most or all of their employees are AI literate. But 28% have invested more in AI tools than AI literacy. This can lead to security risks, excessive token consumption, and misconfigurations.

Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) organizations have abandoned projects due to a lack of tech skills. Of those, cloud, cybersecurity, and AI/ML projects suffer the most.

84% of organizations also say skills gaps cause tech projects to go over budget at least some of the time.

Organizations also suffer from direct and indirect costs like hiring, outsourcing, lost revenue, and poorly maintained technology.

Add it all up, and 61% of tech executives say skills gaps have cost their organization $250,000 or more in the past year. The global average is even higher: Skills gaps cost organizations an average of more than $400,000.

Right now, organizations rely on continuous learning and training participation (57%), project and delivery outcomes (53%), and formal certifications and qualifications (52%) to evaluate employees’ tech skill proficiency.

But there’s a problem: The vast majority of leaders and practitioners don’t trust the metrics they use to measure tech skill acquisition.

90% of tech executives, 84% of L&D leaders, and 88% of practitioners are concerned tech skill measurement can be easily manipulated to falsify completion. 

77% of tech executives have also seen employees complete training or earn certifications and still not be able to use those skills in their day-to-day work.

The real problem isn’t measuring tech skill development. It’s relying on completion metrics as a way to validate capability.

To close capability gaps and get value from tech investments, organizations need to shift from an isolated skills strategy to a readiness strategy that connects learning directly to business impact.

Download the full report and learn how to:

• Upskill teams in a changing tech landscape
• Overcome the top barriers to upskilling
• Connect skill development to business ROI
• Develop a successful workforce readiness strategy 

We partnered with Wakefield Research to survey 1,500 tech executives, L&D leaders, and tech practitioners across the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia between June 30th and July 20th, 2026. 

Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 2.5 percentage points in the global sample, 3.7 percentage points in the U.S., 4.4 percentage points in the U.K., 5.7 percentage points in Australia, 4.0 percentage points for the executive and practitioner audiences, and 5.7 percentage points for the L&D leader audience from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.

Pluralsight is a technology learning platform that helps organizations keep workforce capabilities aligned with changing priorities. We give leaders visibility into current capability, identify critical skill gaps, and equip teams to execute through expert-led learning, hands-on practice, assessments, and workforce insights. By connecting learning to real technology priorities, organizations can move beyond participation metrics to build workforce readiness and turn it into measurable business impact.