IT decision-makers are used to challenges: cost pressure, increasing requirements for cybersecurity and data protection, renewal of core systems, dealing with shadow IT and many more. Despite the many issues, solutions were always implemented quickly, especially thanks to the IT staff. In many places, however, this pillar of support is eroding: The ageing of the workforce and the high cost of training employees to keep up with developments are affecting the organization. The shortage of skilled workers and the declining attractiveness of well-trained junior staff aggravate the problem. All in all, this makes it difficult to meet the increasing demands on IT, especially as a result of digitalization. A personnel strategy tailored to IT, which focuses on the core tasks and, linked with innovative approaches to personnel recruitment, serves as a a concrete solution and makes the IT workforce ready for the future.
What kind of requirements does the IT have to face?
Product lifecycles are becoming shorter, business models in the business are being further or even newly developed and employees are working in a more networked and mobile way. As in the past, IT must meet the resulting requirements with stable and secure IT services. However, the established procedures and ways of thinking have long since ceased to be sufficient to meet the pressure for innovation.
Increasing innovative strength in IT: challenge as well as opportunity
As simple as it sounds to be increasingly "innovative" as an IT organization - it is difficult to do so in practice. Previously trimmed to standards and reliability, now focused on agility and speed in anticipation. This is not just an increase in expectations, but rather a cultural change that must be carried out in parallel with the existing problems:
- Cost pressure - a cost pressure that has persisted for years and the expectation to constantly raise the efficiency of existing IT services
- Legacy IT - complexity in applications and system interfaces despite all standardization initiatives
- Security and data protection requirements - increasing networking and cybersecurity as well as stronger data protection requirements in the context of the DSGVO
- Ageing and lack of skilled workers - unfavorable age structure of existing employees and difficulties in attracting well-trained specialists to IT
The last point is particularly important and is a real brake on innovation. Even with a representative age distribution and the usual fluctuation, an average of more than 12 out of 100 employees leave IT each year! The challenge of attracting new, motivated employees is not made any easier by the increased competition on the job market from in-house business areas, start-ups and even the big techs (e.g. Google, Amazon).
Therefor the daily routine in IT organizations can be summarized as cost pressure, legacy IT, excessive demands, and not enough qualified employees? This picture would clearly be too negative because there are also opportunities. If IT organizations succeed in developing into innovative consultants and partners for the business, the value contribution and long-term competitiveness of IT will increase. A dedicated IT personnel strategy helps to make the IT staff well-considered and ready for the future!
IT personnel strategy based on the service portfolio
At the beginning of all personnel strategic initiatives for future-oriented advancement is always the question of the self-conception and (business) purpose of IT. To this end, at least the following strategic questions should be answered:
- how do I want to position IT together with the business and stand out from the large external IT providers and thus justify my existence?
- which services do I want to offer the business as IT?
These essential questions should be considered and decided on the management level. The results serve as a basis for the definition of a strategic business service portfolio, which as a target image is also decisive for the personnel strategy. In a further step, a viable operating model is now defined for each service on the basis of standardized sourcing models, which defines the degree of in-/outsourcing, i.e. the target level of production depth. Particularly in the area of legacy and commodity services, the targeted, sensible use of external service providers can generate internal capacity that can be used in the area of services that differentiate the company from its competitors.
This procedure has little in common with operative personnel planning but is the decisive basis for the further steps.
As a rule, a deviation (surplus/shortfall) in the staffing of (future) services that were previously defined in the strategic service portfolio can be assumed.
The competencies required for service provision can be recorded on the basis of standard market frameworks (e.g. SFIA®) and combined into standardized (target) job profiles. Depending on the strategic service portfolio, new profiles (e.g. data engineer) as well as classic profiles (e.g. change manager, project manager) are created.
Operational personnel planning consists of the detailed assignment of employees to job profiles - actual and target. It is particularly important to include the individual personnel development of each employee regarding professional orientation and personal development goals. In addition, framework parameters such as agreed working hours, but also (planned) models such as partial retirement must be taken into account. These agreements can usually be easily integrated into existing personnel (development) discussions.
Usually, a deviation (surplus/shortfall) in the staffing of (future) services previously defined in the strategic service portfolio can be assumed. This must now be considered on a case-by-case basis and the appropriate measures must be initiated, usually in coordination with the HR department. Experience shows that many areas or services can be well staffed by regrouping and further training. A positive side-effect: the employees are usually offered a rewarding perspective. If the required skills cannot be adequately provided from within the own organization, appropriate recruiting measures should be initiated. The recommendation here is clearly that IT organizations must become much more actively involved in employee recruitment themselves. The competitive situation on the job market described above makes it necessary to actively present oneself as an innovative IT employer at trade fairs, universities and job fairs - a job advertisement on the company portal will no longer be sufficient in the future.
Strategic personnel planning as a continuous process
Strategic personnel planning is a continuous process and not a one-off task. Understood and used correctly, a sustainable value contribution of IT is created, linked with motivated, satisfied employees! This does not happen overnight; a partial pilot area can be used here within the framework of a project to generate experience values. The important thing is not to hesitate too long and to act within the agile mindset - implement and test quickly!
