Despite occasional arguments that the U.S. IT talent gap is a myth , plenty of evidence (see my last post) points to what appears, in fact, to be a rather significant IT talent gap that’s particularly wide in cybersecurity , cloud computing , big data, analytics, and information management .
As I’ve mentioned, the IT talent gap costs plenty , imposing stress on existing employees that ripples across the enterprise to delay new products, services, and tech deployments; to hike costs while reducing both customer satisfaction and revenue; and to cause business to be lost to competitors.
Those running extensive IT operations — where it makes economic sense to sustain highly specialized expertise on staff — may meet their talent requirements effectively with expanded recruiting, learning sabbaticals, and apprenticeship programs. If yours is a more modest operation, though, you probably struggle to retain sufficiently qualified IT staff.
Fortunately, there’s a solution. It involves a simple two-step:
1 Understand the value of certifications
Technological change has become so rapid that continuous learning and training is part of a tech expert’s life — and one of the key ways to continuously learn is via earning certifications. These days, 89% of IT workers worldwide hold at least one certification ; the average among IT workers is three. It’s not hard to see why:
|
% of North American IT decision-makers indicating certification benefits in… |
|
| Closing organizational skill gaps | 46% |
| Meeting client requirements | 45% |
| Taking less time to troubleshoot issues | 35% |
| Getting an edge over competitors | 35% |
| Boosting productivity | 33% |
| Completing projects faster | 31% |
| Reducing employee turnover | 28% |
| Deploying products/services quicker | 22% |
| Making hiring easier | 21% |
| Reducing direct or indirect expenses | 11% |
Source: Global Knowledge 2018 IT Skills and Salary Report
2 Engage the right kind of technology consultant
Unless the staffing organization you’ve turned to has in-the-trenches experience across a wide swath of IT specialties, it may not be able to provide you with the certified expert IT talent you require.
In our era of lightning-quick technological evolution, you’re better off with a deeply experienced, award-winning technology consultant that offers expert professional IT services , an extensive suite of cloud and managed services anchored by a global network of highly secure and resilient state-of-the-art data/network operations centers , tailorable support plans that ease the burdens of day-to-day IT management — and a sophisticated IT-focused staffing service .
What makes this approach different — and valuable to anyone seeking well-screened IT expertise — is its emphasis on highly qualified IT talent .
Whether your concern involves assessing the state of your IT infrastructure, migrating servers, building mobile apps, staying secure, integrating cloud environments, managing network performance, redoing a business continuity plan, or something that defies easy description, this sort of multi-faceted technology consultant will get you the certified experts you need as staff (direct hire, staff augmentation, or temporary/temp-to-hire) or via project-based professional services projects or cloud/managed services.
Make sure the technology consultant you choose offers technical and IT-focused staffing services that access a relationship-centered, carefully screened pool of top talent. And make sure these services are augmented with certified training courses on topics ranging from application development to cybersecurity, project management, end-user training, and cloud computing training.
