More than 5 million jobs in information technology are expected to be added globally by 2027, according to a recent report from Cisco and IDC. Furthermore, these IT jobs are the most important roles for an organization’s success. Unfortunately, though, there is a skill shortage for many of these roles and combined with the tight labor market the United States will face over the next decade, companies need to really evaluate how they will handle workload outpacing their ability to hire and maintain IT employees.
IT roles are hard to fill because technology is cutting edge and almost every industry out there needs some form of an IT department. As tech jobs spread into sectors such as finance, retail, manufacturing and other traditional industries, job candidates have the more options and more bargaining power during the hiring process.
The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the labor force will expand by only .5% annually over the next decade, roughly one-third as fast as it did between 1950 and 2016. This can create a huge deficit in the IT space, especially since most companies are realizing they need an organization, not just an individual, focused on protecting employee and customer information, as well as their digital assets.
Companies need to look to fill the gaps between workloads and their ability to hire not just the right talent but also the right amount of talent. Below are some things your organization can do to properly staff an IT staff.
- Adopt tools and platforms that allow for more automation of workloads and provide the ability to scale workloads quickly.
- Hire an IT consulting company to do a full evaluation and assessment of their IT needs.
- Partner with an IT firm that employees teams of specialists.
- Develop flexible operating models, organizational structures and career paths centered on skills rather than business functions.
- Understand the balance between your IT department’s capacity, ever-evolving technology and your company’s overall business objectives.
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