CIOs challenged to rethink skills requirements and hiring

Transformation in Technology And Employee Behaviour Affecting It Hiring, According to Hudson

CIOs challenged to rethink skills requirements and hiring approaches

Auckland, New Zealand – 24 OCTOBER 2012 – Changing business demands and technology trends, such as Cloud computing, mobility and the consumerisation of IT, are profoundly changing the role of CIOs and redefining the skills needed to be successful, according to the latest Hudson ICT Leaders Series report – Cloud, BYOD & Teleworking: Mastering the Skills Mix for Today’s IT Function.

Today’s CIOs are faced with a range of challenges including budgetary pressures, a rapidly changing technology and digital landscape, and new operating models. There has been a seismic shift away from operationally-focused IT functions to business technology teams who work with the organisation to drive business outcomes.

Many CIOs are turning to ‘new world’ technologies to find more flexible and cost effective ways to help drive innovation and productivity. For example, 43% of respondents’ organisations are using the Cloud to deliver services and this requires a different set of skills than a traditional IT environment.

“User-driven technologies such as flexible working, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and social media, combined with technology developments and increasing business demands are driving transformational change. IT is no longer supporting the organisation – it is a key driver of business outcomes,” said Roman Rogers, Executive General Manager for Hudson New Zealand.

More than half of organisations (52%) provide flexible working arrangements for some employees and just over a third (38%) have introduced a flexible device usage policy. Almost two-thirds of organisations use social media as a promotional tool and it is increasingly being used as an internal communications tool. Trends in Cloud computing and social media were generally viewed as beneficial with 54% of respondents stating productivity was enhanced, while 57% felt that innovation was also improving[1].

More than half (52%) of respondents bring their own smartphone to work, while 24% bring their own tablet which has implications for asset management and security.

Feedback from ICT Leaders Series respondents indicates the requirements of IT professionals are changing. They need to be able to adapt to a constantly changing technology environment, embrace employee demands, negotiate and manage partnerships and projects, manage services and provide advice that supports business aspirations. They need to effectively engage with their organisation and articulate what is required to achieve buy-in to succeed.

Christchurch City Council’s Gavin Till sees the IT function taking on the role of an integrator, pulling the various providers and services together. “Moving forward, there might be multiple Cloud solutions and part of our job will be to ensure all solutions integrate together without impacting the business,” Till says.

“Ultimately the success of an organisation’s IT function comes down to the quality of its people and never before has the pressure to acquire the right people been greater. These trends are prompting a rethink about skills requirements and hiring policies of many of the CIOs. In the war for talent, CIOs must either adapt or risk falling behind,” says Rogers.

With the right skills increasingly harder to find, combined with the need for leaner teams and flatter structures, the report states that it is critical for CIOs to spend more time finding and managing the best talent. IT decision-makers need to continuously assess whether they are adapting quickly enough to have the right people in the right jobs at the right time.

Rogers continued, “More than ever before, today’s CIOs need to work closer with human resources to identify where the skills gaps are and find the right workers to fill those gaps. Attracting and retaining talent is now as much part of the CIO’s role as technical skills.”

Suggested ways for CIOs to address staffing challenges in the report include closely monitoring graduate programmes, mapping the competition to find out where the best performers are going and building a talent pipeline. To help retain staff IT leaders need to focus on workplace culture to achieve this and competitive advantage.

CIOs interviewed understood the crucial difference between filling a vacancy and evaluating candidates to identify high performers. Many have identified core performance drivers beyond pure technical skills and deploy techniques such as job trials, intelligence and personality testing, and behaviourally based interviewing. Motivational and behavioural attributes are better predictors of high performance and should be focused on as part of any recruitment process, according to Hudson ICT.

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