IABM publishes Disruption Poll results and analysis
Component sourcing problems ease, but other potential disruptions are on the rise
IABM has recently published the results of a worldwide poll among broadcast and media professionals, conducted in March 2023, on what challenges their businesses are currently facing. The majority of respondents (79%) were MediaTech vendors, though buyers such as media technology service providers (15%) and media/production businesses (5%) participated as well. In this poll, we continued to track supply chain disruption issues (third year of this part of the survey) and added assessment of other threats such as geopolitical risk and talent scarcity for the first time.
In addition to the results, the IABM Business Intelligence team has also carried out extensive analysis of the results. IABM members can review the full report here. Following is a summary of the Disruption Poll report’s findings:
Sourcing hardware components: In 2022, 63% of respondents reported severe, and 34% moderate, issues sourcing components, with no one reporting zero issues. In 2023, the situation has improved markedly, with 24% severe, 38% moderate, 29% mild and (for the first time) 9% having no issues. Stockpiling has been the main strategy used to counteract supply chain issues.
Geopolitical risk: Only 23% of businesses experiencing no issues or mild supply chain issues have strategies to mitigate geopolitical risk, compared to 57% among companies that experienced moderate to severe issues. Diversification is the most popular strategy to mitigate this risk, with 77% of respondents saying they were diversifying suppliers and increasing their presence in politically ‘safer’ countries.
Talent shortage: Digital transformation has led to increased competition for talent between the broadcast and media industry and other sectors, including big tech companies, resulting in salary inflation. In March 2023, 87% of industry players said it was difficult or very difficult to recruit for tech roles. While 24% reported no change, 71% of respondents said that it became more/much more difficult to recruit candidates for technical roles in the last two years, which is about 80% of all who experience difficulties with recruiting.
“This report highlights that our industry is facing some real challenges at present,” said Lorenzo Zanni, IABM Head of Knowledge. “Strategies to address supply chain shortages, geopolitical risk, and talent scarcity can be long-term or temporary; one of the main long-term strategies is diversification. Businesses in the MediaTech industry are diversifying sources of hardware components to address supply chain issues. MediaTech businesses are also getting better prepared for geopolitical risks by diversifying their geographical presence across regions. Increasing awareness of tech roles in the MediaTech industry by partnering with universities and other educational institutions can help diversify tech talent and improve inclusion in the industry. Another strategy to address the skills shortage is upskilling and reskilling tech talent by providing more technical training.”
