IT is the backbone of the modern enterprise, and the ‘to do’ list of an IT department never ends. Over the last 5-6 years many IT workforces, as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, were trimmed to the bare minimum and investment in IT infrastructure was halted. Technology hasn’t stood still in this time, it’s changed at a rate of knots. As a result, the skills that made an IT ‘professional’ six years ago have changed enormously.
Trends like mobility, cloud and big data are creating a need for whole new skill-sets that continuously fluctuate. Having the right mix of skilled staff that can satisfy these needs is a significant challenge. In this environment of constant change, IT departments need to become far more agile when it comes to the skills they have on board, to keep pace.
Skills on demand
As the demand for certain skills and staff changes so often in today’s business environment, maintaining a constant staff level ‘just in case’ is clearly expensive and inefficient. Depending on the workload of the IT department and what projects are underway, the amount and type of people needed could be different from week to week. A big IT workforce can potentially pose a risk; there is a chance that given the constant changes in demand, it can fall out of date when it comes to skills.
Whether for a Java development expert or a Hadoop specialist, the sudden requirement for a particular skill can catch IT teams off-guard. When particular skills are in demand, the most able workers are quickly snapped up, leaving businesses unable to fill vacancies or using in-house staff that lack experience. As technology continues to innovate at pace, this shortage of IT skills will only worsen.
An agile IT department must be able to quickly adjust the number and type of people it has to ensure the right balance of skills; whether for something as simple as covering maternity leave or for needing extra staff during a critical time in a project. But finding skilled people at short notice is a recruitment and management headache. It’s impossible for a business to keep pace with the cycle of change, leaving them caught in a vicious circle. They can’t train staff quickly enough to keep up with new technologies, yet even if they could, training staff in every new technology that emerges isn’t a viable long-term solution, as those skills will also date quickly.
A significant part of an IT department’s work is completing projects, which throws yet more pressure on skills requirements. Often, core IT staff are unable to work on the projects they want to be involved in because day-to-day work monopolises their time. At the opposite end of the spectrum, core IT staff may be willing, but lack the skills and experience. Not having the right skills for the job puts IT projects at risk.
The pressures are many, but organisations must plan for these changes and deal with skills shortages by gaining entry to a flexible supply of resources that can be accessed when needed. This ‘on-demand’ model is termed flexible resourcing and in many ways, is applying Cloud principles to people.
It allows businesses to dip in and out of the talent pool of a trusted external provider that can simply provide skills-as-a-service. Flexible resourcing can provide an answer to fluctuating skills needs; helping businesses augment their core of permanent employees through temporary staff with specific skills. This helps IT departments to become more adaptable, and able to satisfy the shifting needs of the business in both the short and long-term.
A lack of access to the right skills at the right time is stopping IT departments from delivering a workforce that satisfies the growing demands of business. Through implementing an intelligent flexible resourcing system that alleviates pressure on the IT department, the IT team can become a far more agile business resource, delivering value to the business via a skilled department that flexes in line with business needs.
