I recently read a very good article about the bottlenecks of IT specialists.

I worked as HR Director in a large IT company during the years before the financial crisis in 2008 and here I experienced what bottlenecks means for a technology company and its opportunities to develop.

In the recent years it has become very difficult to find skilled IT employees and the wages have been increasing. The Corona crisis may have slowed down the rapid development of wages and employees demands for benefits for a while, but I will claim that this situation will once again impact the European and GCC companies with full strength when the societies get started again

Therefore, I do not believe that the IT industry can solve such a substantial part of its challenges through talent development, trainee training or by outbidding each other. We will again end up with a “prima donna culture” right down to junior level.

The digitalization and the use of IT continues to increase and many people are already predicting that the IT industry is one of the industries that will emerge quickly from the shadows of the Corona crisis. When taking into account that most countries in EU and GCC have to few graduates within the tough IT disciplines, the road is yet again paved for high wage demands, extensive staff benefits and frustrated managers who cannot deliver what their organization need to in order to satisfy market needs.

One may wonder why this development has not been seen by executives at all levels and why companies have not attracted talents in time. I do not think this is due to lack of insight or timely care, but rather that completely different management disciplines have been in focus all the way back from the financial crisis. A crisis that has also led managers to rightly seek flexible and cost-effective solutions. In my world – and yes, that is what we are dealing with at CrossWorkers – the solution is clear outsource, offshore, nearshore or outstaffing.
Also in the future there will continue to be a need for gifted local IT professionals, but to justify their high labor costs, we need to move them closer to business and customers, let them make a difference where they are helped by their cultural understanding of the market. There is no doubt that the companies will benefit from that. By combining a permanent onshore team with an offshore team, you will get the best out of both worlds. Greater use of IT offshore combined with onshore teams, will help companies not to be burdened with a shortage of labor. This way of working is a far more flexible model that takes into account both low costs and large access to highly qualified labor.My experience is that an offshore employee typically is better educated and extremely motivated. This approach will also strengthen the growing entrepreneurial culture that is emerging in many countries. Often it is the lack of finances that prevents great ideas from being implemented fast enough before other companies around the world exploit the opportunity. Through the use of IT offshore, smaller companies can also get the chance to implement their strategies.

However, the IT offshore market continues to be a gray market, where countries and partners should be carefully selected to ensure that the foreign team can work smoothly with the company’s organization. At this point, I would recommend that you do not get too “exotic” in your choices. Choose a partner who knows your country and its culture really well, and make sure that the country you choose to offshore to is stable, secure, has the same time zone, a short travel time and IT employees with good language skills.

If you want to know more about what CrossWorkers can offer please do not hesitate to contact us.

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