Information Technology Staffing

The Cincinnati market is known for being conservative when it comes to using software. Most application development people I know would say that big software, from the big firms, either three lettered companies, or their name ending in “soft”, are the only code found in shops. There is the occasional open source item here and there, but usually in smaller shops. Why is that? Well, some firms don’t create their custom application development, they just enhance out of the box software. They need a vendor to yell at and fix things when it breaks, because their staff can’t fix the code, or don’t have access to it. For many firms, it is better to pay a vendor for support than to maintain it themselves. As long as you can point to somebody, it’s ok. Some firms actively fear that open source means that everyone will have their intellectual property somehow. They fail to realize that it is the same proprietary code that everyone uses too. Since, you have the source code, you can see if there is a backdoor coded in the application, something you can’t do with proprietary code.

With these fears aside, many firms, even in Cincinnati, are looking to use open source solutions for their issues. Certainly many are using the free (as in beer) code to save costs. I hope though that some firms will see how this free (as in liberty) also helps their business. It’s a tough call whether to purchase a pre-made business process package (I am looking at you SAP), or to roll your own. I think the best of both worlds would be to use an open source application, and to enhance it. It is a popular misconception that you MUST contribute code, or that you can’t change the code. You can create your own code for use; you can’t sell the application with YOUR enhancements as YOUR NEW application. There is some legal wrangling, yes, but the bottom line is that you have application development teams, so use them. Your best business plan is to use your process as a competitive advantage, not to shoehorn your process into software that all of your competitors use. I think the goal is to beat them, not join them.
The best thing to do is to give your application development team a couple of old boxes to play with, and let them do some research on applications that can save your money, and are flexible enough to work with your processes. You may end up with an inexpensive system, and get that application that outperforms your competitors.

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?

 

The recent Swine Flu fears highlights what I think all application development team members already know, nearly all organizations are unprepared for any major disruption. Recently my boss blogged about this from a management perspective, but I think the technical side needs to be addressed.
First let me ask a question, how much work can you get done if your servers were down? Everyone, not just application development team members would answer "nothing". With that in mind, let me ask some other question about your preparedness. When was the last time you implement your disaster recovery plan? Where is the plan? When did you last review it? How many of your staff (not just application development) can work remotely. Can your system handle the increased remote traffic? It’s not just as easy as "send everyone home". If you have problems answering these questions, or you don’t have a plan in place, look for technical consultants to help. You may even have a great plan in place, but the recent economic downturn may have created big holes in your plan. Even if the Swine Flu doesn’t become a pandemic, the CDC reports that 36,000 people in the US die from the flu every year. It is also tornado season, a little review may be the difference between business survival and bankruptcy.

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.
 

The news this week is Oracle buying Sun. As a Java application development guy, this is very important news. I recently wrote about my feelings for an IBM merger, so this pairing is interesting. Larry Ellison had big praise for Solaris and Java, but nothing on MySQL. This is my take on the big points and questions I have.
Solaris
It is apparent that Oracle wants an OS to be a full service enterprise application development provider. They want to compete against Microsoft and IBM. I don’t see Oracle doing anything to hurt Solaris. I think Oracle can do a better job than Sun in this regard, as long as they use Sun’s customer service model.
Java
Oracle is a big Java user. The question for me is will Oracle "IBMify" Java? Creating proprietary hooks where none is needed to make a profit is dead wrong. Java is the dominate language, but other languages were dominate in the past. If Oracle can resist the temptation and just be the caretaker, java application development will be dominant for some time. If not, Java is open source, which means a "free" Java will be around, but multiple, incompatible versions of Java will kill it. I see Scala as a viable successor to Java, so I think the fragmentation issue will disrupt application development, but not move everything to .Net.
NetBeans
The fate of my favorite IDE is in much better hands with Oracle than IBM. NetBeans is a big part of Sun’s offerings, so I don’t think there is an issue.
MySQL
Many people lament that Oracle has MySQL finally. There is some well founded concern, but I see Oracle using MySQL as an entry into smaller markets. If you can brand MYSQL as Oracle’s "lite" database, then small businesses can use MySQL, and then seamlessly move to Oracle when the business grows.
Questions
What about JavaFX? This is the first step to the great convergence of write one set of code to run on mobile desktop and web. How much autonomy will Sun staff have? What about Glassfish? Only time will tell.

I’m sure many of you have heard the expression: it's not what you know, it's who you know.  In the Cincinnati and Dayton IT job market, that seems like a true statement.  I just read this post on CIO insight and in it, the author is suggesting that now is the time to upgrade your staff, not simply cut your staff.

That seems like a great idea, on the surface, but how do you know, which staff have better technical skills than others?  We at STAR BASE can objectively determined technical skills with our Now You Know assessments.   More importantly, should technical skills be the sole data point for determining who might stay and who might go? 

I would be interested in hearing what you think.  How would you go about upgrading your staff?

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?
 

You guys have nothing to worry about, we're professionals…Professional what?  I think that is a great line from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  I thought of it when I was looking at this post.   In it the author makes the point that is better to hire a IT professional sometimes rather than doing it yourself.    His rationale is that most companies are not in the application development business, so why try and internally do something that is outside your core competency.

Here are some reasons that you might want to bring in an IT Consultant.

1. Knowledge and Experience - The key advantage that an IT Consultant brings to the table is that they have a diverse amount of training and education that is expensive to hire in-house. They may also bring certifications to the table that gives them more credibility and knowledge about ways to improve your company’s use of technology.

2. Strategic Involvement - An IT Consultant could begin as a consultant for you and will investigate your current use of technology and will present you with a wide variety of options for improving your use of technology. Often, they will know more about what kind of options are out there and will have the ability to quickly identify with your business and help you choose the right solution.  Wellness Check anyone?

3. Custom Software Solutions - The ideal solution for your company will be something that is unique and works better for you than anyone else. A good IT Consultant will have the ability to either combine different software packages to best meet your needs or design and write a custom piece of software that is best for your company. In either case, they will have the ability to expertly match your processes with the software’s functionality, giving you the results that you’ve been striving for.  Open Source Solutions could work well.

4. Implementation - Unfortunately, selecting the right software is only half the battle. You must be able to implement the software and train your staff on the proper way to use the software. At STAR BASE we call this mentoring.

5. System Analysis - If you’ve already got a software package that meets your needs and are just looking for a couple of ways to manipulate your current software to improve effectiveness, an IT Consultant can help. They have a diverse knowledge and understanding of software and have the ability to work with a variety of packages, find ways to improve them, and find solutions for your company.  
 

There are hundreds, even thousands of successful application development projects that have been implemented using an open source solution.  In fact, we recently implemented a customized Magento open source e-commerce for one of our customers.  Given the time frame that we had to work with, an open source IT Solution was the only way we were going to get the project done in time. 

One of the other benefits to using an open source project in our application development efforts, was there were a tremendous amount of features already built and tested.  Neither we nor the client had to think about them or more importantly specify them.

One of the things that I'm surprised about is how some companies are resistant to an open source solution.  It's almost as if they have “not invented here” syndrome.  You've heard of that, haven’t you?  If you haven't, it is where some IT departments view anything that wasn’t written in house by them, it is viewed as some how being inferior. 

Unfortunately if this attitude is being displayed by your IT staff, it could be costing your company thousands of dollars.  I recently learned of a company that is spending over $100,000 more for a custom solution rather than using open source software as the base and customizing it to meet their need.  What’s even more unfortunate is that the business doesn’t know any different.  It reminds me of an old saying: “No body ever got fired for buying IBM.”   Today, some may say that about Microsoft.
 

In weak economic conditions, your company’s decision makers need the ability to understand how the company is performing against its targets. They simply do not have the time to sift through stacks of reports to find out what’s right – or wrong.  By linking applications, processes and information technology support together any organization will be able to measure exactly how they are performing against their targets.

The management team of any organization uses dashboards, gauges, charts and other graphical elements to translate complex information into a dynamic view of business conditions.  Is it possible to take this same approach when it comes to mapping IT’s relevance to the business targets of the organization?  The short answer is absolutely, but one must start with a plan and that plan should begin with an IT Wellness Check™.

In the IT consulting industry we find too many organizations that try to piecemeal their information technology systems together.  The problem with this is the mere fact that everyone everywhere is dependent on technology, and in this environment, every CIO and IT manager must know that their IT departments are in line with the business goals of the organization.  In these times of economic downturn downturn IT departments are one of the first departments to be cut.  In many cases, this results in the slowdown of production and contributes to missing the business targets of the organization.

An IT Wellness Check™ protects against economic challenges by shoring up internal operations to ensure the entire organization is running at peak efficiency.  IT is a vital part of any organization's internal operations, and a proper IT strategy is critical for IT departments to gain insight and to connect operational details to business drivers.  The IT Wellness Check™ is your business plan to make sure there are no inefficiencies, that you are operationally sound and that there is less chance that your budgets and your department will get cut.  That application development services project that you are trying to get approved will have a better chance of acceptance if you can show exactly how it relates to the business goals of the organization.

Remember, non-technical people often do not realize the consequences of the actions they take when they cut budgets and staff.  It is our job as responsible information technology professionals to make sure we are always operating at peak efficiency and paint the picture for upper management that shows why specific people, applications or IT infrastructure are necessary to assist them in meeting the business targets of the organization.
 

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. 
 

Enterprises will soon recognize that IT is an organizational asset, not simply an organizational structure. Senior leadership will embrace that their understanding of IT and the ability to apply this knowledge in imagining future possibilities is essential to extracting greater value from IT-enabled initiatives.  In addition, there will be broad-based acceptance that day-to-day business operations are dependent on IT and that the costs and risks are too high to continue to place the burden of responsibility solely on the CIO and the IT team.

I believe IT will transition from being the sole provider of the asset to enabling the IT capabilities of others in the enterprise.  Application development projects will no longer be centrally controlled but will be part of an entire enterprise-wide solution.  IT department will become enablers not the central focal point of technology.  Information technology consulting services will need to meet the needs of the entire organization not simply the IT department.  The dedicated IT staff of the past will need to ensure that information technology is applied in direct support of the business strategy to help the business to compete and grow while outperforming their competition.

IT business solutions will shift from servicing to coaching on the proper solutions based upon the company need.  IT departments will grow into corporate leaders instead of trying to be the one stop shop for all technology products and services.  Leaders from each department will be accountable for their own needs.  They will be accountable for meeting the needs of the business and that includes technology.  Once business leaders achieve their goals by increasing their knowledge of systems, business processes, and information and how to identify justify and execute IT-enabled change, organizations will operate as a truly integrated enterprise instead of a company of soloed departments.  Once this type of approach is embrace, communication will improve, measurable progress will be seen and a true integrated enterprise will be realized.  

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!