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The demand for AI skills is outpacing supply at an extraordinary rate. According to the latest Nash Squared/Harvey Nash Digital Leadership Report, 51% of global tech leaders now say their organisation has an AI skills shortage, almost double the 28% reported just a year ago. AI has leapt from sixth to the number one most-scarce skill in just 18 months, marking the steepest rise seen in over 15 years of research. Featured in a recent ZDNet article, Nash Squared CIO Ankur Anand , offers timely insight into why the gap has grown so significantly, and what organisations can do to address it. He points to the speed of innovation as a key factor: “There’s an unprecedented pace of development in generative AI and the supporting large language models… Professionals must learn new skills quickly, and traditional learning methods can’t keep pace.” The article explores how forward-thinking leaders are adapting, from rethinking recruitment to embedding continuous learning, and ensuring their organisations can attract and retain the right blend of AI expertise and ethical awareness. You can read the full ZDNet article, including Ankur Anand’s insights and reflections on the fast-moving AI skills landscape, here.

Harvey Nash’s Helen Fleming, Executive Director, and Peter Birch, Director of Technology and Digital Executive Search recently featured in a Computing article exploring why some technology leaders are receiving inflation-busting salary increases, and what sets them apart. Drawing on the latest insights from the 2025 Harvey Nash Digital Leadership Report, the article reveals that over half of technology leaders globally received a pay rise last year, with 11% securing an uplift of over 10%. The data points to a clear pattern, the most rewarded leaders are working in businesses where technology is seen as a growth engine, not just a cost centre. These organisations are more likely to be investing in AI at scale, expanding their tech teams, and backed by leaders who view technology as a strategic enabler. Helen and Peter share advice for tech leaders looking to improve their earning potential - from aligning with forward-thinking, tech-driven organisations to choosing sectors with stronger demand and budgets for senior digital talent, such as financial services, healthcare, and defense. To find out how the most successful leaders are shaping their careers – and their compensation – read the full article in Computing.

Scaling Fast, Dressing Smart: Engineering lessons from Rent the Runway What do you get when a fashion disruptor scales into a tech-first logistics machine? A story about pivoting through a pandemic, building globally distributed teams, and making engineering culture fit for the runway. SVP of Engineering Becky Case and VP Engineering Ronan Conlon from Rent the Runway join David at Dublin Tech Summit to talk leadership, culture, and the realities behind scaling a business that blends tech, logistics, and luxury fashion. From launching a Galway engineering hub just before COVID, to avoiding the temptation of hypergrowth, Becky and Ronan share the backstage view on building with intent—and what it takes to preserve creativity and collaboration when you’re growing fast. Tech Talks Podcast Tech Talks is a podcast that probes the minds of tech leaders, hosted by Technology Evangelist David Savage. Each week, the show releases three episodes with new guests, covering the latest tech news, exploring new products and cultural transformations that drive the tech industry. Founded in 2015 Tech Talks has published over 650 episodes and attracts over 18,500 streams a month from a global audience. The podcast offers insights and ideas from leading technologists on culture, innovation, finance, growth, sustainability, and more, providing a platform for the c-suite, founders, and senior figures to hear from others facing similar challenges and tap into a wider community. Find out more about Tech Talks here.

On 16th May, Andy Heyes, Managing Director UK&I & Central Europe, joined industry leaders and policymakers at parliament for the official launch of the UK’s National Hiring Taskforce, a new initiative from the Better Hiring Institute. The event brought together voices from across government, business, and recruitment to discuss how the UK can modernise and improve its hiring landscape. With a central theme of ‘reimagining recruitment’, the Taskforce aims to explore how we can make hiring faster, fairer, and more inclusive through technology, data, and innovation. Andy represented Harvey Nash in discussions focused on the evolving role of technology in recruitment, particularly how innovation can reduce friction in the hiring process and unlock untapped talent across all regions and sectors. A key theme was the need to move beyond traditional job titles and qualifications, instead focusing on individuals’ potential and transferable skills to build more diverse, agile and skills-driven workforces. By bringing together key decision-makers and forward-thinking organisations, the launch highlighted a shared commitment to making recruitment work better for everyone in the UK. As a leader in technology recruitment, Harvey Nash is proud to contribute to these important conversations. We see daily how innovation can connect people to meaningful opportunities and help organisations build diverse, high-performing tech teams. Being part of the National Hiring Taskforce reflects our continued dedication to shaping a recruitment industry that is modern, inclusive, and future-ready.

From Touchline to Timeline: James Doyle on AI's Playbook for Sport James Doyle, CEO of iReel, joins Tech Talks to explore how generative and agentic AI are transforming elite sport. With roots in football and a reach across multiple sports, iReel is helping clubs move beyond dashboards and into conversational analytics—making once-siloed performance data accessible, insightful, and actionable. James discusses the startup’s fast rise, the risk of robotic sport, and why human creativity still has a vital role in the AI age. Tech Talks Podcast Tech Talks is a podcast that probes the minds of tech leaders, hosted by Technology Evangelist David Savage. Each week, the show releases three episodes with new guests, covering the latest tech news, exploring new products and cultural transformations that drive the tech industry. Founded in 2015 Tech Talks has published over 650 episodes and attracts over 18,500 streams a month from a global audience. The podcast offers insights and ideas from leading technologists on culture, innovation, finance, growth, sustainability, and more, providing a platform for the c-suite, founders, and senior figures to hear from others facing similar challenges and tap into a wider community. Find out more about Tech Talks here.

The UK financial services sector is facing its biggest technology skills shortage in over 15 years, driven by rapid advances in AI. Rhodri Hughes, Executive Director for Financial Services at Harvey Nash, featured in a recent City AM article, warns that this growing AI talent gap threatens the UK’s status as a leading global financial hub. Our 2025 Digital Leadership Report reveals a 260% (up from seventh to the most scarce technology skill) in just 18 months. Despite 89% of financial services tech leaders investing in AI, more than doubling from the previous year, over half are not providing essential AI training, widening the skills gap. Larger firms with budgets exceeding $500 million report better returns on AI investments, but intense competition for AI talent is leading financial institutions to recruit heavily from big tech companies. At the same time, internal software engineers are increasingly seeking AI experience to advance their careers. Looking ahead, Rhodri predicts that by 2030, UK banks will have smaller but more specialised tech teams adept at working alongside AI tools. However, as Rhodri explains, regulatory frameworks are struggling to keep pace, with few firms feeling ready for upcoming AI regulations, a gap Hughes highlights as a critical concern. Read the full City AM article featuring Rhodri Hughes here.

Management Today - Five ways to bridge the growing AI skills chasm In a recent article for Management Today, Ankur Anand, Chief Information Officer, and Andrew Neal, Chief People Officer at Nash Squared - parent company to Harvey Nash- shared their perspective on one of the most urgent challenges facing technology leaders today - the widening AI skills gap. With the latest Harvey Nash/Nash Squared Digital Leadership Report revealing that 9 in 10 organisations have some form of investment in to AI (up from just 59% only 18 months ago) the demand for AI capability has never been higher. In the UK, AI has rapidly risen to become the most in-demand tech skill, with over half of technology leaders now reporting a shortage in this area. Despite this, many organisations are still not investing in upskilling their teams or embedding AI training across their workforce. In the article, Ankur and Andrew reflect on the need for businesses to act with clarity and intent. This means setting a strong leadership vision for how AI will be used, allocating appropriate resources to learning and development, engaging with available government initiatives, and working closely with trusted technology partners to expand internal capabilities. Just as importantly, they highlight the shift in hiring priorities, where AI aptitude and willingness to learn are increasingly seen as non-negotiables for future-fit talent. As generative AI continues to evolve at speed, Ankur and Andrew provide a timely and practical perspective on how organisations can respond. In the full Management Today piece, they outline five principles to help businesses build a more AI-ready workforce, read the full article here.

This year, David Savage, Tech Evangelist at Harvey Nash attended Dublin Tech Summit for the first time, immersing himself in the tech community of Ireland’s capital. As a seasoned tech evangelist and conference host, David found the event refreshingly human-centred, with conversations that went beyond technology hype to explore real-world impact and challenges. Discover David’s own reflection on the summit and the themes that stayed with him. My trip to Dublin Tech Summit My trip to Dublin Tech Summit marked my first time attending this vibrant event in the heart of the Irish capital. Having been lucky enough to moderate and speak at conferences around the world, it’s easy for the themes and stories to blur together - “Did someone really say that? And was it in Lisbon, London, or Amsterdam?!” But Dublin stood out in a refreshing way. The atmosphere felt distinctly more human and less about tech hype, which made the conversations far more compelling. So, as I sit back at my desk reflecting, here are a few key lessons still resonating with me. The illusion of intelligence in AI Several speakers challenged the notion that AI is truly intelligent. We know it’s not “smart” in the human sense, it’s fundamentally about predicting patterns in zeros and ones. But when the output sounds convincing, it’s easy to forget that. A chatbot saying it wants to see the mountains doesn’t come across as fake, it sounds self-aware. But it isn’t. Fawad Qureshi, Field CTO at Snowflake, put it well when he called AI a “stochastic parrot”, confident, yet a shallow mimicry of real intelligence. The takeaway? We need to stop anthropomorphising AI and remember the philosophical gap: AI will never genuinely understand emotion, values, or principles. From problem-solving to problem-framing As AI tools grow more powerful, our role evolves. Richard Skinner of Phased AI described this as the last digital transformation we’ll experience. Going forward, it’s about how we apply judgement and curation. We must act as the ethical handbrake, because abdicating responsibility risks catastrophic consequences. His argument was a strong one for teaching people to ask better questions, not just to write better code. AI adoption from the ground up It’s not only leaders or IT teams driving change; frontline workers are experimenting with AI tools to solve problems in real time. Shadow ChatGPT usage is on the rise. James Doyle, founder of iReal, is harnessing AI to democratise training insights in sport, levelling the playing field for modestly resourced clubs with high-quality data. But he also cautioned against the risks, sport could become overly robotic as data dominance grows. Arsenal’s obsession with corners, which has hurt their open-play scoring, is a cautionary tale. Is there a lesson there for all of us? If we lean too heavily on AI for creativity, do we risk losing our own human ingenuity? Democratisation is exciting, but boundaries and oversight remain crucial. Meaningful debate and authentic conversations The panels I attended and hosted were rich in debate, authentic, and tackled the real challenges we face - both as an industry and a society. That felt meaningful, and I applaud Dublin Tech Summit for creating the space where this could happen. Thank you to everyone who gave their time and shared their candour. I’m also excited to share that we recorded six ‘Tech Talks’ podcasts live from the conference floor, launching from June 16th. Tune in to hear the voices of Dublin Tech Summit, along with ideas and actions you can take into your own work. David Savage, Tech Evangelist and host of Tech Talks, hosted two panels at DTS:'Ops! AI Did it Again!'AI is driving business and redefining how we work, but let’s be honest, sometimes it gets things dangerously, or financially wrong. From hallucinating chatbots and autopilot failures to AI-generated fake news and billion-dollar compliance risks, this session takes a no-filter look at the most unexpected, absurd, and high-stakes AI blunders and what companies can actually do to prevent them. We’ll dive into: When does AI’s confidence become its biggest flaw? How do enterprises build AI that knows what it doesn’t know? How do businesses prove real AI innovation without getting caught in the hype trap? AI is now making financial, legal, healthcare, and enterprise-critical decisions. But what happens when it gets things very, very wrong? What operational guardrails actually work to stop bad AI decisions before they go live? Key Takeaways: How enterprises can spot and prevent AI hallucinations before they cost money, credibility, or compliance fines. Practical strategies to test, validate, and govern AI outputs before they cause reputational or financial damage. What AI regulations and compliance trends mean for businesses using AI at scale and why no company is immune to AI failures. How AI leaders across industries are building smarter, safer, and more resilient AI ecosystems for real-world deployment Let’s unpack what happens when machines make mistakes at scale and what to do when it’s your AI that screws up.Panel included: Fawad Qureshi, Global Field CTO, Snowflake, Emerald De Leeuw, Global Had of privacy and AI, Logitech, Nathan Cullen, General Manager, IBM Ireland, Laetitita Cailleteau, Accenture Responsible AI Lead, Accenture. ‘The New Org Chart: Humans, AI, and the End of Traditional Leadership.’In a world driven by disruption, the future of leadership isn’t just about being faster or smarter, it’s about being purposeful. The rise of AI-powered intelligence and fractional leadership is shattering old corporate hierarchies and making room for leaner, more agile, and values-driven structures that align with how we should work in the future. This isn’t about scaling for the sake of growth, it’s about rethinking leadership to drive innovation with intention, fuel human potential, and build organisations designed for real impact. Here, AI augments decision-making, and fractional leaders bring precision expertise without the full-time bloat—creating dynamic leadership ecosystems that are flexible, scalable, and ethically focused. This is leadership with purpose blending human ingenuity with machine intelligence to forge teams that lead with vision, not just velocity. Key Takeaways Purpose-Driven Disruption Fractional Leadership for Smart Scaling Human-AI Synergy for Ethical Decision-Making Building an Agile, Impact-First Organisation Scaling With Purpose.Panel included: Charlene Hunter MBE, CEO & Founder, Coding Black Females, Mark Jordan, CEO, Skillnet, Samuel Legrand, EMEA Field CTO, ControlUp, Essam Elhalhuli, Senior Enterprise Account Manager, Coursera. These sessions dove deep into how AI is reshaping continuous learning, leadership models, and the delicate balance between risk and opportunity.

Reforming Fitness: How Tech is Reshaping Pilates with Data, Design & Mind-Body Impact David Savage speaks with Yvette McGaffin, co-founder of Reform RX, about how her company is reimagining Pilates for the digital age. What began as a traditional studio has transformed into a tech-forward fitness platform that combines sleek design, biometric feedback, and data-led training—making the modality more accessible and scalable. Yvette shares her entrepreneurial journey, the tech powering Reform RX, and how innovation is helping overcome outdated perceptions around fitness, especially for men and older audiences. Tech Talks Podcast Tech Talks is a podcast that probes the minds of tech leaders, hosted by Technology Evangelist David Savage. Each week, the show releases three episodes with new guests, covering the latest tech news, exploring new products and cultural transformations that drive the tech industry. Founded in 2015 Tech Talks has published over 650 episodes and attracts over 18,500 streams a month from a global audience. The podcast offers insights and ideas from leading technologists on culture, innovation, finance, growth, sustainability, and more, providing a platform for the c-suite, founders, and senior figures to hear from others facing similar challenges and tap into a wider community. Find out more about Tech Talks here.