An approach to sourcing technology resource in 2023
The UK tech market is playing a leading role in some of the most exciting tech-based businesses across the globe. However, access to skills and resource is curbing the pace and progress of a number of organisations. Businesses across multiple sectors need to be agile to the changing headwinds of the economy, recovery from the pandemic, and the shift from office to hybrid and remote working, all the while maintaining access to the best people to help drive their organisations forward.
There’s no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to recruiting and resourcing, and many businesses are now looking for more innovative, scalable and agile approaches to their technology resource challenges. With the progression of collaboration tools and the change in traditional office-based employees, there is a shifting mindset towards onshore, nearshore and offshore resourcing models.
We’ve taken a look at the current market for technology skills and resource and spoken to our network, those businesses that are dealing in the day-to-day reality of sourcing expertise and nurturing skills to help their organisations succeed.
Onshore, nearshore and offshore: the technology resource guide provides a contemporary view of the technology marketplace and its current challenges, providing an alternative view for tech organisations, tech leaders and hiring teams for the options available to them as we embark on a new way of working in a post-Covid environment.
The UK faces a dearth of tech talent in some of our most vital industries
From cyber security to DevOps, data analysis to development, skilled tech workers are in incredibly high demand as our country continues to revolutionise their digital offerings, and transform them into future-proof services.
Digital transformation, and the requirements for improved digital services, are ubiquitous - macro-trends in tech innovation such as cloud adoption and the increased use of AI and automation clearly indicate a future built around an interconnected, technically augmented living and working environment.
There are, however, huge variances in digital transformation approach, requirements, scope, scale, and cost, which have created unique demand pressures on the burgeoning tech professional talent market. Naturally, the need for tech talent has increased, but for every computer science graduate who exits further education, there are quite literally thousands of roles that still need filling.
Statistics show this sort of incredible rise in tech demand is not an outlier event. It represents a wholesale shift in enterprise priorities from the physical to the digital, and the facts bear witness:
- “The Global Digital Transformation Market is Expected to Grow from $469.8 Billion in 2020 to $1,009.8 Billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 16.5%”.
- This is “driven by increasing penetration of IoT and the adoption of cloud services…(and the) increasing penetration of mobile devices and apps”.
Accelerated digital adoption
The widespread digital transformation has been a major challenge for many businesses in the UK, as they struggled to maintain customer connections, remain operational, and focus on survival during a time of economic uncertainty.
The pressure on technology teams to meet this incredible demand amid a system of legacy computing and poor digital resilience - and, critically, how tech talent understood their impact on business development and company success throughout - was staggering.
- A scattergun approach to digital transformation was compounded by ageing legacy technology, with surveys noting that, “75% of technologists say their response to the pandemic has created more IT complexity than they have ever experienced…(and a) 3X increase in digital transformation and rapid innovation deployment has led to a complex patchwork of legacy and cloud technologies”.
- “79% (of respondents) said the technology decisions they make directly impact the performance of the business…(but) 66% said they lack the strategy and tools to effectively measure how technology decisions impact business outcome”.
This gulf - between workloads and outcomes, between action and consequence, between the modern and legacy - is one of the primary pillars of poor tech workforce management, and a major reason why tech and IT teams struggle to effectively manoeuvre in this new, tech-focused era.
Understanding why demands on tech teams have increased, how those increases affect specific industries, and building strategies of workplace retention to mitigate them should serve as a platform on which to create more attractive long-term tech and IT resourcing and retention strategies.
A cross-industry view
Not all industries have approached, or have needed to approach, this wave of digital change in the same way. This has been one of the driving contextual forces behind the “great resignation” and churn of tech talent across the UK.
- McKinsey’s “How COVID-19 has pushed companies over the technology tipping point” executive research piece highlighted how some industries - such as consumer
packaging, automotive, and assembly - reported, “relatively low levels of change in their digital-product portfolios”, whereas the “healthcare and pharma, financial services, and professional services” reported a “(digital) jump nearly twice as large” as other sectors.
It’s worth also noting that in the same McKinsey report, it was stated that the largest digital changes were often the ones that are more long term in implementation, those of “remote working, changing customer needs, and… customer preferences for remote interactions”.
At the business end of enterprise management, effective digital implementation was corollary to higher revenue, “Those reporting the biggest revenue hits in recent years acknowledge that they were behind their peers in their use of digital technologies”.
The UK tech workforce - a snapshot
In light of the above, how is the UK tech workforce faring against these great winds of change?
- According to Robert Walters, “More than half of employers find candidates lack the right technical skills necessary for technology positions”,
- A Harvey Nash report states, “Shortage in cyber security professionals highest ever – jumping by nearly a quarter this year”,
- In Computer World6, KX reported that “despite the growing importance of digital skills and the popularity of coding, 43% of students say it is not taught in schools”,
- And TechHR7 noted, “tech jobs are up 121%” in 2021, with significant increases in demand for tech talent in Cambridge, London, Manchester and Oxford.
And, again referring to the McKinsey report above, “Demand for tech talent is now spiking, with “two-thirds (63%) of digital leaders from smaller companies” noting shortages in tech talent, with demand equally as required on the front end as well as the back (operations, supply chain, production etc) with “rate of adoption …consistent across regions”.
For enterprises seeking talent, the landscape seems bleak and unyielding. But there are resources and strategies to call on that can help mitigate some of the worst effects of this tech shortage and immediately do so at scale.
Next steps
Take a deeper dive into the pros and cons of each resourcing approach, and find the perfect resourcing model for your tech team or business. Read our in-depth article on "What is Onshore, Nearshore, or Offshore".
Unlock the secrets to successful resourcing strategies with our comprehensive guide on “An approach to sourcing technology resource: Onshore, Nearshore, Offshore” - Download PDF.