Exponential growth of automated trading systems in media trading and the blistering pace of change could exacerbate an existing talent crunch.
Australian firms need to upskill, invest in staff and prepare for change to stay ahead of US-based technology firms who will soon be fishing in the same small pool.
That's the view of Dan Sheppard, Practice Lead for Mosaic Recruitment’s Programmatic Trading Division.
He told AdNews that media companies trading inventories in real time must be realistic in expectations of staff for whom, because of ongoing change, they may not have clearly defined roles.
Sheppard, who helped Morgan Stanley automate its trading activities before swapping London for Sydney, said the skills shortage in programmatic/real-time trading is "vast" across Asia Pacific.
"There is a massive challenge in acquiring strong, talented individuals into programmatic trading markets," said Sheppard. "A lot of the firms looking to set up shop here don't see how difficult it is going to be."
While prescribed skill sets are scarce, Sheppard said people within the media sector and outside "who can bridge the gap between technology and analytics... ...are highly desired in this market".
At a client level, key traits were "the ability to understand analytics and the conceptual ability to grasp how technology influences planning decisions", Sheppard said.
"The main problem is the complexity. Both the market and the technology is evolving at such a high speed with frequent changes of direction. This is massive, with many variables and unknowns".
Media firms investing in Programmatic Trading could counteract those variables if they could be "more realistic about how much they can invest in upskilling," said Sheppard.
They must "upskill, invest and take appropriate steps" to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving game.
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