It goes without saying that the last year has brought many challenges: from natural disasters, to health crises and governmental strife.It has also been a forcing function for IT-led organizations.
The need for technology to work 24×7 as remote work became a necessity — happened overnight. While the rapid advancement in cloud technology and AI drove the need for super-human responsiveness.
Companies are looking for near superhuman talent that can roll with the punches, has the right skills set and can rapidly onboard programs. There used to be the luxury of time, but the current state has required technology companies to jump and jump fast into solving IT challenges.
In terms of the “jumping in”, here are some areas that CIO’s now have added responsibility, in comparison to years prior:
Cybersecurity: More people, businesses, systems online means ever present risk of a cybersecurity attack, as evidenced in the 2020 cyber attack of the US government.
Data Privacy: Similar to cybersecurity but with differing laws depending on your geography as to how personal data is processed and handled.
Customer Experience: In lieu of being able to visit physical locations as easily as we did prior to COVID-19, creating a customer experience that is breakthrough, unique and drives sales growth is key.
So what does this mean for hiring and retaining top talent? Well, it means there’s a lot of pressure on our CIO’s. They need to know they have the right people in the right jobs so they can navigate forward and even transform the organization. IT departments are typically under pressure to cut costs and in a downturn market, that’s understandable. That said,
CIO’s need well skilled talent who can innovate, create and help the CIO with some of the most pressing challenges their companies face.
“The number one thing that keeps me up at night is the war for talent.”
-Nimesh Mehta, CIO National Life Group
From a hiring perspective, organizations anticipate difficulty finding candidates versed in an array of crucial technical skills, including cybersecurity (39%), AI/machine learning/RPA (31%) and cloud services (18%). Finding legacy technology skills remains an issue for 18% percent of respondents. (CIO Magazine study, 2020)
If there’s a war for talent, what are we doing to prepare for it? Using an outside, highly specialized recruiting firm who can help find the needle in the haystack, is key. VeriCour has placed candidates with emerging skill sets and we have a lock on the hidden job market. Our network is robust and our screening is second to none. For a free talent strategy session on emerging technologies, please contact: information@vericour.com
Current State: IT in 2021
