Tackling the Number One Obstacle to Digital Transformation
In preparation for an upcoming customer event, I'm putting together a brief keynote on digital transformation. One of the topics I’ll be addressing is why some organizations fail in their digital transformation effort. In preparation for that keynote, I came across some research that I find fascinating.
In a survey, almost 4,000 IT decision makers were asked what hurdles they faced with their digital transformation initiatives, and the number one answer (from 54% of respondents) was lack of IT skills. This response data reflects the reality I see on the ground in my day-to-day life, as I speak with my organization’s clients about their digital transformation.
In this article, I want to explore this specific roadblock and provide some potential solutions. My hope is that some of those survey respondents stumble upon this article, and I can provide them a bit of relief.
Lack of IT Skills
One of the major obstacles organizations encounter is a lack of IT skills. In this age of digital transformation, businesses need a skilled workforce to implement and maintain technology-driven initiatives. Unfortunately, the skills gap in the IT industry is widespread and growing. According to a separate survey by ISACA, an independent IT governance association, 59% of respondents said that their organization has a skills gap.
If you don't have the appropriate skills at your disposal, your team is going to experience an incredible amount of anxiety. Thankfully, there are a few solutions.
Identifying a Skills Gap
First and foremost, you need to identify all the skills you need. And in order to do that effectively, you’ll need a defined vision of what your organization is going to look like in the future. Do you have that? If so, great. If not, that’s where to start. Once you know the skills your digital-era organization needs, assess those against your current team. Are there gaps? No worries. There are a few ways to address them.
Training Up Your Existing Team
If you have strong people with a lot of “horsepower between the ears,” they’re naturally going to be intellectually curious. Most individuals cut from that cloth would jump at the chance to be enabled. So, enable them! Send them to train. Have them shadow other experts. They’re already on your team and willing to learn, so give them the focus they deserve. Granted, this does take a time investment, so if you need to fill the skills gap immediately, I'd suggest the next option.
Outsourcing and Bringing In Consultants
I'm not a big fan of using consultants forever. When I was the Americas CIO for a FTSE 100 organization, I preferred to outsource the mundane stuff and have my internal team focus on the interesting things. That's a great long-term strategy, but sometimes you just need to bring in the hired guns.
Look for consultants that you trust and have experience in the skills you’re looking for. Then, have your best people shadow them. If your consulting partner is truly a partner, they’ll jump at the opportunity to help your team improve. If they balk at the idea of helping you train your team, then maybe you should be in the market for a new partner.
At the same time, look for opportunities to outsource other operations in your organization to free up individuals to work on your digital initiatives. Do you have a rockstar network admin who could be doing cool things in your Azure or AWS landing zone, but they’re tied up supporting the corporate network? Consider outsourcing the management of those network devices and re-focusing your engineer on more high value tasks. Digital transformation is not only an opportunity to reimagine how your company will service its customers, but also an opportunity to reimagine how you and your team will drive value within the business.
Hiring new talent
This is the least desirable option in my opinion, but sometimes it’s necessary. Maybe you have an organization with a lot of folks who aren't interested in developing their skills (another problem entirely, but you already knew that). Or perhaps you’re at capacity and need additional resources anyway, so why not hire an employee of your future-built organization? Whatever the reason, be deliberate in your hiring process (hire slow, fire fast). Bringing in the right person is going to take time.
Don’t pick just one
Most successful organizations I've worked with don't pick just one of the above options. They usually do a blend of all three! They often bring in consultants to help define the vision, architect the solution, and build/migrate/refactor, all the while upskilling their current team and maybe hiring a new architect or two along the way. No matter how they tackle it, organizations that address their skills gaps aggressively are, on the whole, wildly more successful in their digital transformation initiatives compared to the organizations that neglect this important task.