Information Technology Staffing

I recently read an article about the state of the IBM “i” and the amount of complaining by IBM application development and business partner folk. I know several RPG application development folk, and it sounds familiar. That made me think about my Java Application development and career. Are there things to complain about, and uncertainty about the future? Yes, but there are 2 reasons why the Java community is in a better place; the business model and the community. Before the IBMers call for a holy war, I said COMMUNITY! I am not talking about the strengths or weaknesses of the hardware or software. The business model for IBM is that they make the hardware and software, and partner for the sales and service. I think that is a viable model until IBM competes in the sales and services with their partners. If a lead is brought in by a small partner, they are awarded by giving the business to someone bigger. This sets up a confrontational relationship between IBM, the big partners, and the little partners. IBM can also decide whether or not you are worthy to be a partner. Why does this affect the software application development team? Because most consulting firm are selling SERVICES not HARDWARE. If they are not seeing business because of political fighting, they don't have to sell it. There are viable options on other platforms, where interference does not happen. IBM never fostered a community, they created a hierarchy with themselves as the head.

Certainly Sun has done some things that made myself and others unhappy. Besides, complaining, we actively pushed to remove barriers in our path. We do have an open source Java. Is there a IBM community that can work with RPG to make it work for them? I also think its about scale and timing. It's not like IBM software developers have their own AS/400 at their home. It's easy for me to create and use nearly any kind of application at my home in Cincinnati, and pretty cheaply. It makes it fun to tell non-technical people about my application development. Nobody but accountants want to hear about accounting programs. Java, and newer languages have grown up with the Internet. I have friends from all over the globe that have similar interests. If I have a problem, I can go online to a forum, friend, or web page to find what I need. I can read and write blogs to voice my opinion (like now). These things are not ingrained in the Legacy community, and in fact, have been actively campaigned against. It is my belief that any software, hardware, or service will die when there is no vocal community to support it.

• Network security specialist: A person familiar with intrusion detection systems.
• Penetration testers: Someone who can assess a system's potential vulnerabilities.
• Incident handlers: People who understand attack methodology and can apply critical thinking skills to respond to incidents.
• Forensics Analyst: The person who looks for evidence after an attack.
• Research Analyst: The person to keep abreast technological advances in incident response activities.
• Team Leader: Leads the team through crises and communicates to the business incident activities and cost to the business.

• Preparation and Training: for both prevention and incident response.
• Identification: fast identification of an occurring attack and its impact on the IT infrastructure can help in minimizing the duration and cost of clean-up.
• Containment: Once an attack has been identified, steps must be taken to minimize the effects of the attack.
• Recovery and Analysis: The recovery period allows analysis and lessons learned of What happened? Why did it happened? Was the response effective?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2a8TRSgzZY

Check out this video, it’s so dead on.  Many of us in the IT staffing industry have dealt with this first hand.  “I can get <fill in IT skill> resources for $20 an hour less from XYZ".  Companies’ sometimes act like they are buying a commodity product like copier paper, rather than skilled IT consultants. 

No manger would ever dream of going to one of their employees and saying, I can get Bob to do your job for $10,000 less per year, yet it’s becoming more prevalent in the IT staffing business. 

One of the huge issues facing our industry is the use of H1-B IT consultants.  Our leaders in Washington are looking legislation specifically targeting IT consulting firms that use H1-B consultants to limit our ability to do so.  This is in the interest of saving American jobs.  Unfortunately, the bill currently being debated does not limit multi-national companies, so only the smaller companies will be hurt. 
 

I would love to use local IT consultants for all of our engagements, but the price pressure dictates we do things we normally wouldn’t chose to do.   But then again, we’re really just hurting ourselves.

I have written several posts that have talked about various IT strategies.  More often than not, we practice what we preach.  Star Base, Inc has been around for almost 18 years, so we would fall into what I would call a “mature company” category. 

I have always been determined not to be the cobbler’s children with no shoes, so we have invested in systems over the years.  Our CRM system was starting to show its age and even though business is down, I decided to invest in a new system.  Our new system is actually more than a CRM; it’s a fully integrated HRM (Human Resource Management) and accounting system as well. 

We are still learning about all the capabilities, but a couple that I think are really powerful are resume parsing and email capture.   Part of our business is IT staffing and that requires us to track a lot of resumes.  Our new system automatically parses IT skills out and creates a profile for the person.   It also monitors our email; any message received from someone in our system is automatically logged for that contact. 

Cincinnati and Dayton tend to be more conservative than other parts of the country.  Because of this, a lot of companies tend to have older IT solutions.  Could new web application development give you a competitive advantage that would allow you to leapfrog?

“I have a great idea; let’s bring in an IT consultant.”  “Terrific idea, we can let him/her gather the requirements for us.  If he/she is fast enough, maybe we can have them do some of the coding as well.  We might even get him/her to do all of the application development. “   “Those IT Consultants can do it all; they certainly get paid enough.”

I’m sometimes surprised about some of the perceptions about consulting, but perhaps I shouldn’t be.  A few months ago I was talking about Perception = Reality.  Even my fellow blogger, Matt Warman had something to say about IT consulting.

The reality is that consultants are people too.  I personally believe that if you’re in an IT position, IT consulting is a great way to go.  In my perfect world, IT consulting offers a way to advance one’s skills and to get experience at a variety of companies.  The problem is the world is not perfect and in today’s environment the line has really blurred between IT consulting and what I would call IT staffing. 

IT staffing is getting more and more commoditized and who would want to have a career in a commodity business?

 

I am back from spring break and finally gotten uncovered from everything that piled up while I was gone.  While on spring break, I had a chance to reflect on how diversified and specialized IT staffing has become.

Much has changed in the IT staffing industry the last few years.  IT skills are much more diverse than they once were.  There is a lot more in IT than just application development.  It used to be common to say that an individual worked in "computers". Today, just about every field involves “working with computers”. Once upon a time, a single individual could do everything from gather requirements to install the application into production.  This diversity of application development for IT means that individuals that may have never thought of themselves as technically-minded can find an IT position that is interesting to them.

Some IT skills are oriented towards creative endeavors such as web site design and Internet marketing. For individuals who love integrating the human touch into their IT skills, these are great choices. Understanding IT through this lens is often times the best option for those whose personality is more artistic than technical.

Individuals who enjoy being the expert in any given situation may wish to pursue user-support as a career option. The IT skills required to be an effective help desk technician are a blend of interpersonal skills, software troubleshooting abilities and hardware knowledge. Troubleshooting software over the phone is one of the most challenging endeavors the IT world offers.

Overseeing the server operations of a company can be an intense, high-stress job but, for those who have developed the right IT skills for the task, it's all in a day's work. These individuals work in the most critical areas of IT, keeping the server-level software running, adding components that increase the business's IT assets and making sure that the company is protected from the constantly-evolving threats to security.   Often these positions require an individual to work “non-standard” hours and offer some degree of flexibility.

There are some IT jobs that can seem, at times, to be downright magical. These individuals design, deploy and maintain business applications and networking technology. These are the people who can take complex tasks and automate them so just a mouse click is all that are needed.   They read server logs as if they were written in plain English, can fix just about any problem and who can design innovative solutions that allow companies to get the most out of their software and hardware investments.

A lot of these positions are performed by an outside contractor or IT consultant who comes into a business and makes everything work as if it were an orchestra being conducted by a skilled hand.
 

Organizations that build strong value-driven cultures frequently achieve high performance.  The values that are developed must touch every department in the organization or the overall operation will fall short of its targeted goals.

As an IT consulting firm in Cincinnati, we see many different approaches from many different companies and it is the “out-of-the-box thinkers that seem to continually apply lateral thought process on a continual basis and always stay a few steps ahead of their competition.

One would think that IT departments would observe and learn from this but way too often they do not pay attention to the business drivers of the organization and continue to stay with the same IT infrastructure year in and year out and resist change on any level.

There are those that would argue that “if it isn’t broke don’t fix it” and I agree to a point but I believe that if IT professionals are going to contribute to building a strong value-driven culture that works to achieve the business goals of the organization they are going to have to look at new approaches that may enhance the very work they are held accountable for.

Being responsible for business development for our Cincinnati IT consulting firm, over the past couple of weeks I have approached several clients and potential clients with some new value propositions.  Many do not want to talk about them, nor are some even curious on what they are.  Everyone has a full plate and little capacity for a new application development services, IT training or IT consulting project.

However, here is a question that I have for these individuals.  If it is true that information technology changes every fifteen to eighteen months, how can the IT systems and enterprise IT applications that you have had in place for the last three to five years continue to be relevant or simply as efficient as they could be?  Do you not owe it to yourself to at least listen to what an IT consulting firm here in Cincinnati has to offer?  Perhaps that IT consultant has significant experience with a solution that can make a difference but you are unaware of it because you are resistant to change and everything is running 'smoothly'.  I can understand your hesitation but what if the new solution could greatly improve your IT infrastructure, decrease costs, fuel improved productivity or more effectively balance your IT staffing needs?   Wouldn’t it behoove you to at least listen?
 

Just about every aspect of the world today is in transition and the IT services industry is no exception to this statement.  Professional IT services personnel must come to terms with the fact that the skills that they have developed in the past are valuable but they are not enough to sustain long-term growth in the IT field of today.

Technology touches every aspect of our lives and large enterprise organizations are dependent on technology to even operate.  The face of information technology consulting services has changed as well because being technical is not enough to meet the required skill sets of organizations.

Gartner has reported that the IT skills from yesterday are not enough to sustain an IT professional today.  The needs of business have changed and the IT professional of today needs to understand business and the business goals of their organization.  Everything and everyone needs to not only understand the big picture, they need to know how to flourish in it.

Gone are the days where IT departments were an island unto themselves.  The enterprise of today is an integrated machine that touches every part of the organization.  If an IT manager proposes a certain type of technology they must also be able to come up with the business case for their proposal.  Organizations need to understand and justify IT projects and not do them simply because the IT department suggests them.

This approach to business justification and accountability has also crossed over into the information technology staffing industry as well.  It is a fact that organizations will continue to need outside technical help but this technical help will have to be business savvy as well - there are no more shortcuts.  Just being technical is not enough anymore; an IT staffing person must appreciate the fact that they are placed in a position to do a job, but they must also understand the pressure that organization is dealing with when it comes to ensuring that information technology meets the needs of the company.  Firms are seeking staffers that can operate and function on both sides of the line, business and technology.

If one commits to this exciting world of information technology consulting services they must also commit to a pledge of life-long learning.  To not do so will not meet the needs of today’s business world and will place that person on the outside looking in and wondering why they did not get the position they sought.
 

It’s Friday, so why don’t we take a break form IT Strategy, IT consulting and IT staffing talk.  Last week I had the opportunity to attend the annual Leadership Luncheon at Cincinnati Christian University.  I’m on the president’s advisory board at CCU and had it not been for that, I may not have known about this wonderful annual event.  Ben Utecht was one of the speakers.  Something that I didn’t know is that he is a terrific singer.  One of his aspirations is to be on American Idol.

If you are in a leadership position in Cincinnati, I strongly encourage you to attend this event next year.

 

I was talking with someone at lunch yesterday about the economy.  Our consensus was the news media is talking down the economy.   While things are not great, they are not as bad as the media portrays.   This is especially true in IT staffing.  The chart below shows that IT employment has come down slightly from the peek last year.  Employment levels are up significantly from just a few years ago. 


If you would like to read the full report click here.   By the way, the restaurant we were having lunch at was full as well.  

If you're looking for a way to save some money in the tough economy, you may want to look for some help from an IT staffing firm.  Beyond typical staffing assistance, most IT staffing companies also employ IT consultants and software designers who can all combine to save you money, increase productivity, and increase your efficiency.

Believe it or not companies like mine, Star Base Inc., can do all of this.  Over and beyond placing candidates for your projects, Star Base can help improve productivity by ensuring that your company is using the right software for the right application.  If application development is not your organizations area of expertise IT staffing firms can recommend new software or write custom software that can meet your organizational needs.

Information technology staffing firms can help increase your efficiency.  My organization has developed subject expertise over the past twenty years.  We know all of the tricks and shortcuts that many people do not know.  Not only can we develop business applications and process improvement we can train users how to do tasks faster and can help identify jobs at your organization that can be handled by a computer but are not.  This usually saves companies time and investment

Finally, IT staffing companies can help reduce costs.  Yes there will be an initial investment, which is a very tough decision these days. However, in the long run they will find ways to save money and more than make up for their initial costs.  If the IT professionals can find ways to have software perform jobs currently being performed by company staff, they will free that staff up for you to use on company core competencies that can produce more goods and services while reducing payroll

When excess waste is minimized increased productivity follows. So you see, IT staffing companies offer much more than simply placing IT personnel.  They have the expertise to help cut back on wasteful activities and help you focus on activities that are efficient and designed to maximize your margins.  In a highly competitive marketplace, where all of us are stretched to do more with less, this is a competitive advantage that is worth having. 
 

I read today that unemployment has risen to 7.6%.  Yes, its official – we are in a recession.  However, that does not mean there isn’t opportunity because there is.  If everyone believed everything the press is saying our economy does not have a chance and the United States is going to cease to exist.

I also read today that the U.S. government is going to re-visit its parameters for H-1B Visas because they are being used by recruiting body shops rather than giving foreign nationals the real opportunity that they seek.  This means that application developers and specialist are going to be able to make up ground that they have lost to foreign nationals in the past.

My suggestion is for developers to increase their skill-set now before the economy begins to get worse.  Information technology consulting has never been a steady business it always has had peaks and valleys.  When the economy is good projects are plentiful.  When it starts to decline projects usually come to a grinding halt.  But is you have multiple skills it decrease your odds of becoming a statistic.

Organizations try to do more and more internally rather than outsource it when the economy begins to falter.  The more skills a person has the better chances one has to stay employed.  This holds true for IT staffing, development and consulting.  Additionally, when a developer or infrastructure architect can show an organization how to safe time, investment and people through the implementation of their solution they will endear themselves to that particular organization.

Good information technology strategy can more than pay for itself in this economy.  Organizations everywhere are dependent on technology and they need processes to become dynamically automated so they can accomplish more with less while the move towards models of efficiency that will contribute to the productivity of the organization.

Make it your mission to learn more applications and methodologies that can greatly increase the productivity of any company.  To do this is to build value for the organization and you by ensuring there will always be a job for those that are willing to innovate and create a better way.  

This is your opportunity.  Make it happen!

 In Part 1, I introduced the concept of segmenting IT solutions providers.  In this part we will look at the criteria on how you might do that.  Now for the IT consultant’s favorite phrase, it depends.  It depends upon the type of provider.  For IT staffing, you may look at the ratio of resumes submitted to the number of candidates interviewed to the number of candidates placed.  For an IT application development provider, you might look at project costs or more importantly overruns.  For hardware service providers, you may look at time from initial call to response, the number of call backs. 

Once you have established your metrics, the most obvious thing to me would be to communicate to the providers what your criteria is.  But that’s not always the case, I know of a situation where a company was looking to eliminate some of their providers.  When a manager at the company was asked how they would go about making the decision on who stays and who goes, the response was “we will use a scoring system on criteria that we have developed”.  When asked if they could share the criteria, the answer was “no, we can’t do that”.

It’s critically important that IT solutions providers know what they are being measured on.  It’s the only why a supplier can find out what they need to improve on.  Every business should be interested in improvement.  By segmenting suppliers, you have an opportunity to get great feedback from your strategic suppliers.  It also gives you an opportunity to give feedback to your suppliers.  I know that’s something I would appreciate!
 

There is trouble in the near future for talent needs and it is coming in various flavors:
 

• According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, in 2010 over 10M jobs in the United States will go unfilled – in 2022 it will be 30M jobs

• College graduation rates are down to 54% and 75% of new jobs will require a college degree

• Making the wild assumption that Baby Boomers (44 – 62 years old) will leave the workforce when they are retirement eligible (is that at 55 or 65?) – there isn’t enough Gen X (28 – 43 years old) to replace them (78M Boomers versus 40M Gen Xers). Gen Y (7 – 27 years old) is big (70M), but still lacks the experience (hello…most haven’t even graduated) to make an immediate impact

• The average time in a company for Gen X is four years; for Gen Y it’s more like two and while the Boomers have been pretty loyal in the past, but the technology market hasn’t exactly rewarded them for that loyalty.

• According to an AARP survey of Boomers - 31% of mature workers became responsible for a dependent parent; 23% had an adult child move back home; and 16% were providing child care or day care for grandchild.  50 to 80 hour work weeks, while tolerated by Boomers and some Gen Xers, won’t be tolerated by Gen Y and won’t be of interest to Boomers as they ‘mature’ in their careers and many take on the care of family members. So, since everyone knows that a 40 hour work week for technology professionals is a joke – who’s going to be doing all the work?

Well, I was thinking there are a couple of answers here but those answers will involve a major paradigm shift in the way we think about our workforce today. 

Baby Boomers are learning very quickly that retirement will have to be postponed because of our current economic conditions.  This wealth of knowledge can be instrumental in assisting those organizations that are struggling with Information Technology Staffing because these folks are going to be around a little longer than they planned!
 
Information technology departments will have to create a hybrid workforce model that will be made up of Baby Boomers, Gen Xers and Gen Yers.  Still another approach is to work closer with IT outsourcing partners to ensure you have the talent that you need.  My organization, STAR BASE, Inc. makes finding superior IT talent for IT jobs a fulltime pursuit.

Finally, another emerging model that will be downsized IT department with only mission critical personnel and several part-timers that will be used from time-to-time.  This model will be subsidized from time-to-time by outsourced to information technology staffing partners that can assist in bridging the gap.

The global economy is tanking, layoffs are everywhere but organizations need to remain positive and work through these difficult times.  Information technology is no exception to this statement.  Often times when companies decide to cut budgets the information technology department is a prime target to be cut.

So, what can a prudent CIO do to address budget cuts while still operating his/her organization at a competitive advantage?   Here are some suggestions that may help:

• Ratios - Look at your ratio of onsite permanent IT employees.  Perhaps you could reduce the number of permanent employees to only those that are essential to the mission.  Outsourcing the rest of the work to a local firm often times is far more cost effective than permanent employees.

• Time-to-Market – If products and applications can be delivered faster, though a combination of in house personnel and outsourced talent then companies will reap the benefits sooner.  Work closer with your outsourcing partners to save time, investment and even the dreaded budgets cuts.

• Revisit your Processes – By working closely with your outsourcing partner.  If your team can find how to deliver applications an automated process with fewer touches and less defects there will be less time and money spent on re-works.  IT departments must leverage knowledge, experience and tools to gain a competitive advantage while decreasing cost.

• Productivity Improvements – Your internal and your external outsourcing IT partner must embrace being able to accomplish more in less time and at a lower investment.  The true business value of IT will be felt across the enterprise.

• Negotiate Your Rates – Any true business partner or business technology consulting firm, will be open to rate reductions if you are willing to negotiate a long term partnership.  Dedicated consultants are looking for long-term business partnerships.  If you are willing to commit to a set amount of hours they will br eilling to negotiate rates with you.

Application development outsourcing and IT staffing outsourcing can have many benefits in these times of economic challenge.  Your organization still needs to operate on a day-to-day basis.  Re-think your approach for the mutual benefit of your organization and your outsourcing partner.
 

Like everything else, the economic downturn is affecting IT Departments everywhere.  Projects that were ‘earmarked” for completion are being put on hold and IT budgets are being cut as well.  However, IT Departments can help their organizations by selling them on the idea that IT can be used as a competitive advantage.

The key to running a successful IT department is knowing how your organization makes money and not proposing or running projects that are counter productive.  Until an IT department re-examines their current process and methodologies and puts together a plan that can transform IT into a competitive advantage for their organization - they run the risk of having budgets slashed and staff reduced.  Application development services must be developed with these facts in mind. 

Most people in IT use the MS Office applications the same way year in and out.  For the most part, they only scratch the surface on what they can actually do with these tools.  Additionally, every organization has developed specialty applications within their organizations to meet the needs of the organization.  However, far too many organizations have not optimized their applications to enhance the overall value of the IT department.  Projects and IT staffing cuts are made many times because organizations do not understand the impact and the value.

Making sure your organization fully understands the value proposition is more important than ever in these economically trying time.  The Information technology department can be the outstanding spot for any organization because it can do those things that save money rather than those that make money.  It’s not that you do not want to make money.  It’s that cost-saving projects tend to be easier to measure and are more predictable than products or services that are dependent on how a customer is going to react to what your organization is offering during these tough economic times.  I believe these cost-saving projects will assist any IT department in minimizing costs while maximizing value in these difficult economic times.

Information technology consulting enables me to observe many organizations and to determine what works and what doesn’t.  In the past the one basic quality that an IT strategy consultant needed was to be technical and to have a skill in a given area.  However what was true yesterday is not true today.  Today, it seems this is a nice quality to have but it is not the only characteristic one needs to advance their career in information technology.

To succeed today as an IT strategy consultant, and to advance your career to the “next level”, you need some very basic skills or qualities that most successful IT consultants have. There is a commonality amongst successful IT consultants that I see that enable individuals to stand-out from their peers.  Those traits include:

1. The ability to assess needs.  Technology as s business moves at the “speed of light” and organization needs true business partners to assist them with good judicial decisions.

2. The successful IT strategy consultant must be able to create a vision.  If you cannot articulate how an application or an integration solution should work, you cannot expect to have acceptance from the person or group you are trying to influence.
 
3. You must have the ability to create a plan and to create a map to carry out your plans.  Plans cannot be approved if they cannot be understood.

4. Ability to pool resources.  Focusing on how to identify the right resources at the right time greatly enhances the chances that your vision and plan can gain acceptance with your client or organization.

5. Must adapt to a “client service” mindset.  A high level of client service is important for any successful IT organization.  Make sure that you not only understand your department or clients needs, you also know how to meet them.

6. The ability to manage projects.  It is well known that over 70% of all IT project failures are a result of poor project management.  Make sure your projects do not contribute to this statistic.

7. Ability to accept and respond to change management processes.  Getting things done by accepting the fact that things will change will go along way in advancing ones career in IT consulting.

8. Ability to communicate effectively.  Many projects fail because visions and plans are not communicated effectively.  Organizations and/or clients cannot endorse what they do not understand.  Technology consultants that achieve the greatest career success are those that communicate effectively.

9. Understand how to prove return-on-investment (ROI).  Organizations and managers in today’s marketplace must be able to provide a ROI for any project.  Make sure that you can attach a clear picture of ROI for an application or project that you are a part of.

10. Be flexible.  Things change in today’s IT environment on a regular basis.  Make sure you are not so rigid that you are unable to “think outside of the box”.

The qualities that I have spoken about here are not etched in stone but they are qualities that I have observed to help and assist any IT strategy consultant that is trying to advance his or her career.