How to solve the deficit of digital talent in companies?

In the last two years, the digitization of organizations has accelerated. And, with this, the need to have digital talent prepared in different digital disciplines. Immense skill shifts and large-scale digitalization have been created. Unfortunately, skills shortages within companies still exist.

The challenge of the IT talent gap is an organization-wide phenomenon that needs all areas of the business to collaborate to solve this problem. Here you will discover how to solve the IT talent deficit in your company.

Consequences of the digital talent deficit

In a competitive job market with more pressure than ever to recruit skilled employees, new ways of thinking are needed.

According to different studies such as Employability and Digital Talent 2019, more than 80% of Spanish companies fail to incorporate IT professionals. In addition, if this talent deficit were resolved, the economy would achieve more than 360 million euros per year. And this, in turn, would increase skilled job creation by 15%. Therefore, IT talent for companies is one of the concerns.

Reasons to develop and retain talent

As digital transformation in businesses disrupts the workplace, one factor, more than any other, will determine which companies turn digital into an advantage. That critical element is people: talented employees who are able to use existing digital technologies and adapt to evolving methods and new approaches. Without these employees, companies will not be able to digitize and will disappear because they need multiple disciplines. From Industry 4.0 and robots to virtual reality, AI,
big data
and new digital business models. Retaining talent in a company is one of the most important issues of any business that wants to survive.

For this, it will be necessary to focus certain efforts and measures to develop and retain IT talent.

Analyze what competencies are needed

Companies may not realize it, but they probably have some gaps within their workforce. With a skills diagnostic tool you can find out what faculties and competencies employees have or need. And in this way they will be able to perform the job as well as possible. This strategy starts in the employee selection process. When recruiting for new positions within the organization, you need to determine the competencies that are needed.

In this sense, specialists agree that there are several basic digital profiles that will need to be included in an organization. Although there may be some exceptions, most of what any company needs in digital talent is included in these profiles:

1. Digital strategist. The person who provides leadership at any stage of a digital business model.
2. Automation specialists. Professionals who know artificial intelligence, the use of bots… interact with customers online.
3. Designers specialized in user interface. They are part of the web development area. They focus on user interfaces and experiences within the web or applications.
4. The data scientist. It analyzes and interprets the data and is able, for example, to find hidden connections or interesting patterns in the data.
5. Robotics and automation engineers. They build, configure, and test robots, primarily for manufacturing purposes.
6. Staff with knowledge in agile methodologies such as scrum. For the management of development projects and facilitate agile ways in working.

Create a digital transformation plan

To achieve any goal, you need a thoughtful and well-focused plan. A digital transformation plan should provide an understanding of what the goals are and what steps to take to achieve the goals. Since digital transformation is different for every organization, the goals of each organization will also vary.

Putting talent at the center of digital transformation will be the first point. The biggest challenge of any digital transformation is not to renew technology, but to change the mentality of the company so that new ways of working are adopted.

Transformation must have people at its center, and leaders must inspire, listen and invest in change management.

Employee training

It is necessary to establish and recognize what are the reasons why an employee does not stay in a company. Some of them are:

1. Overwork and stress to the maximum.
2. The reality of the function to be performed in the face of what was promised does not coincide.
3. You are not going to progress in your career.
4. They want better pay conditions and more responsibility.
5. There is no training on the part of the company. The employee does not feel that he learns new skills, nor does he feel that the company invests in him being able to advance. And according to different surveys, the training offered by the company to the worker is a motivating factor. Training will be a fundamental part of the digital transformation in companies. In additional terms, workshops will need to be offered for employees to learn the fundamentals of a new IT skill. In addition, it must be ensured that there is time for them to assimilate the new knowledge. In this case, a
   digital skills bootcamp
   program will be the fastest and most efficient training solution. These types of programs will offer the experience and skills needed for an easy transition to a successful career in technology.

If those needs are met, the best talent will stay with the company.

Include IT talent in the company for its success

Digital talent in Spanish SMEs is more necessary than ever. But to retain it and get it you must have a strategy. It has never been more important to adapt, evolve and update the skills of people who play a key role in companies. If you want to survive in an increasingly digital market, human capital must have digital capabilities that carry out this digitalization.