Considering the speed at which demand is growing for specific cloud-oriented enterprise software applications, those that manage the corporate IT infrastructure must map out strategies that allow the organization to make intelligent choices about mobile and tablet computing. They must also immediately begin to develop talent strategies that are aligned with projected IT needs.
IT staffing providers will play a crucial role in this transition, both for the clients they serve and the candidates they place. To better understand the role that IT staffing has to play, consider some of the statistics from the Forrester report:
- 669 percent: Tablet device growth by 2016
- 3 years: Average life of a tablet device
- 33 percent: Tablet growth to be driven by business use
- 40 percent: Tablet growth to be driven by emerging markets
Again, even if these numbers are off by 50 percent, the incredible pace of increasing demand for and adoption of tablets will require IT teams to address and manage this footprint. IT staffing must help drive the maturation of the talent communities that can serve this demand and help clients manage the talent pool efficiently and effectively.
Accelerating talent community development
According to information provided by CareerBuilder’s talent intelligence database, today there are fewer than 0.07 active job seekers for web development and software applications development postings that require some sort of tablet computing experience. This is where IT staffing partners must be willing to invest. Consumers of IT staffing services should ask what their provider is doing to help educate the talent community. For example, what is the firm doing to ensure that contractors placed on tablet computing assignments are properly positioned to quickly accept new, related assignments?
A client of IT staffing services should be concerned with how its partner represents collective opportunities across the entire ecosystem that demand similar skill sets. This communicates to the talent that the IT staffing company is a reliable source for opportunities. While this establishes a committed talent community, the IT staffing provider must also make available information and resources that help members of the community educate themselves.
Managing the talent pool
IT staffing providers already categorize and qualify job descriptions to help clients refine their talent search. By using best practices developed by the IT staffing provider, the client can trust that its sourcing methods are aligned with how the best candidates are seeking opportunities. The risk for IT organizations is new job categories and positions created for the purpose of tablet or mobile specialization. But an IT staffing provider will most likely align the talent demand with existing positions – web development, application development, network specialist, and so on. These positions have existed for some time and must be refined to include tablet and mobility requirements.
As the tablet market grows there will be many decisions that impact the identification, sourcing, and management of talent. IT staffing will undoubtedly play an important role by enabling enterprise IT to handle this growth. Yoh will continue to monitor and communicate how the increasing market share of tablets in enterprise IT affects talent decisions.
