IT Workforce: Balancing Client and Provider Needs

1. IT Workforce: Balancing Client and Provider Needs Christine V. Bullen, Ph.D. Stevens Institute of Technology

2. Motivation for Studying the IT Workforce • Consistent top concern of IT management • Changing times • Lowered university IT enrollments • Pending baby boomer retirements • Migrating skills • Clients increased use of providers - 2005 study

4. Phase 1 – Client Firms - 77

5. Phase one – Clients only – Critical Today Technical = orange Business Domain = blue Project Management = green

6. Mission Change for IT • From • Delivering technology-based solutions • To • Managing the process of delivering solutions

7. Phase 2 – Provider Firms • Total in sample = 126 • What capabilities do IT providers seek? • Not internally, but rather to serve their clients • Looking at the “other side” of the question • Looking at staffing and career patterns in the providers around the world • How do provider responses compare to client responses?

8. Demographics of Providers • Geographical Distribution • North & South America 66% • W. Europe, E. Europe/CIS 17% • Australia, India 16% • Revenue • F500 >$3B 14% • Large $500M-$3B 15% • SME <$500M 71%

9. Client Emerging Skills Provider Emerging Skills

10. Match between Client and Provider Emerging Capabilities • Business Domain • Industry Knowledge • BPR • Change Management • Communication • Technical • IT Architecture & Standards • Security • Project Management • No exact matches • Sourcing • Managing 3PPs

11. Client Declining Skills Provider Declining Skills

12. Client Critical Skills Future Critical – 3 Years Hence Provider Critical Skills

13. Hiring Practices • What is the marketplace demanding in our graduates? • Entry Level data for both clients and providers • Mid-level data for both clients and providers • Conclusions regarding requisite skills

14. Client Entry Level Provider Entry Level

15. Entry-Level Observations • Clients rank technical skills high in entry-level hires • Softer skills are also emerging as important • SPs show a more balanced approach • Seek technical, project management and industry knowledge • Other than the Project Management Skills, both clients and SPs are seeking a mixture of technical and business domain skills

16. Provider Mid Level Client Mid Level

17. Mid-Level Observations • Clients and SPs much closer in requirements • Both showing need for project management skills • Very different from entry-level • More closely aligned with critical skills • Important question is how do entry-level IT workers develop mid-level skills

18. Skill Category Analysis • Developed from client data • Results six categories to date • Next step is to validate categories with vendor data • Categories begin to provide a framework of REQUISITE SKILLS for IT Workers • Developed using thematic analysis • Examined skill rankings across questions

22. IT Professionals Require a Requisite Set of Skills • All six categories are important to an IT professional’s success • Professionals may choose to focus on a particular category or group of categories • Need some competency in all six if they are to grow in their career • Skills categories are interdependent • Not mutually exclusive or exhaustive

23. Missing Entry Level Skills • 5 are business domain • 4 are project mgmt

24. IBM “Skills for the 21st Century” 24

25. Implications for Curriculum and Hiring • Marketplace – both clients and providers – demanding new patterns of capabilities • Universities should respond with curriculum adjustments • T-shaped people – 2 versions • Deep technical and broad client-facing skills (Developers and Specialists) • Deep client-facing skills and broad technical ones (Analysts and Managers) • Need for client-facing skills is increasing especially in high wage areas • Project management • Communication • Business domain

26. How should firms respond? Clarify career paths for IT professionals

27. Overall Employment - 2Q2008 Yearly Occupation Employed Increase Computer/IS Managers 488,000 9.9% Computer Scientists/Systems Analysts 848,500 13.4% Computer Programmers 528,300 -3.6% Computer Software Engineers 969,500 9.9% Computer Support Specialists 385,500 15.9% Database Administrators 98,000 -3.9% Network/Systems Administrators 230,800 21.4% Network Systems/DC Analysts 407,300 9.3% Source: BLS, Eric Chabrow, CIO Insight

28. How Are Career Paths Defined for our young professionals? • A plethora of paths • Technical • Computer science • Systems Development • Infrastructure • Help Desk • Managerial • Project Management • Systems Analysis • Requirements Analysis Confusion!

29. What Education is Valuable in the Entry-Level Hiring Process? • Computer Science undergraduate degree • IT undergraduate degree • Math undergraduate degree • Music • Liberal Arts • … More confusion!

30. What is the purpose of a career path? • Laying out a logical progression for increasing skills that are valuable to the organization • Providing growth opportunities for individuals • Making career opportunities visible to employees Why is this an issue in IT?

31. How should firms respond? • Define career paths for IT • Create alternate career paths • Entry Points examples • QA/Testing entry point for analysts • Help Desk/Operations entry point for managers • Programmers entry point for developers • Job rotation through functional areas • Recruit from multiple degrees • CS predominance is not warranted given skills mix • Business school IS/IT degrees provide the T-shaped person skills

32. Future Directions and Issues • Continue data collection on a regular basis to establish longitudinal data set • Examine the impact of the financial crisis • Work with industry to design career paths • Include salary implications • Map with expectations of Generation Z • Anticipate retention issues

33. What is the Future for the IT Professional? • Globally Integrated Organizations • The T-Shaped Person – both versions • IT is still viable & valuable option for careers

34. ITWF Team 2009 Christine Bullen, Stevens Institute of Technology Keith Frampton, The Marlo Group Kevin Gallagher, Northern Kentucky University Tim Goles, Texas A&M International University Steven Hawks, University of Wisconsin - Parkside Kate Kaiser, Marquette University Judith Simon, University of Memphis Cynthia Beath, University of Texas - Austin