Tech Talent Drives Digital Transformation

Six in 10 business leaders believe digital transformation is the most critical growth driver in the post-pandemic U.S. economy. Furthermore, 77% of these executives view attracting and keeping talent—particularly workers with technical skills—as their primary strategy for enabling digital transformations.

That’s according to a PwC 2022 Pulse Survey. “Tech talent doesn’t want to feel like they are just doing back-office operations,” said PwC’s Julia Lamm. “To keep your staffers, make sure they feel invested at multiple levels of your organization.”

This growth theory aligns with basic economics, according to Seth Robinson, senior director of technology analysis for CompTIA, a leading IT trade association. Robinson says that positions working with technology have an estimated jobs multiplier of 4.8. “This means for every job in this tech subsector, an estimated 4.8 additional jobs are created or supported through direct, indirect, or induced means,” he explained in a blog post.

It’s a principle that applies to collaborative technical relationships inside and outside of an organization, as CompTIA’s research shows 87% of the world’s companies outsource IT support at least part of the time. A quarter of these firms turn to managed services providers (MSPs) for help with planning, deployment, integration, continuing maintenance and related technology needs.

With technology such a huge driver of your business success and the overall economy’s success, it’s more important than ever that employees feel like they are part of a team and that they are being mentored and developed professionally.

What are you doing to cultivate lasting relationships with tech talent this year? See our related article below for some tips.

Nurturing Relationships with Tech Talent

Human performance is more important than any other factory when managing business technology, CIO columnist Bob Lewis argued in a recent commentary.

“Without the right people, pointed in the right direction and motivated to succeed, your IT efforts will be futile,” Lewis wrote. Digital business refers to “strategies that create innovative products and customer experiences that increase revenue – and IT is in the middle of it all.”

How can you nurture these thriving relationships? Here are three tips.

  1. Focus on face-to-face. Hectic schedules and heavy workloads always tempt executives to minimize meeting time and the prevalence of remote work intensifies this temptation. But direct interaction – in person or on screen – is still he best way to cultivate business relationships of any kind.
  2. Emphasize emotional acumen. Technical skill is crucial in any IT relationship but so is grace under pressure, especially in trying times. Define and reinforce skills for navigating rough waters with clarity and calm.
  3. Define mutual success. Every relationship involves at least two parties. Always keep the requirements, goals, and aspirations of both sides in mind.

Incident Response for ‘Cyber Resiliency’

Cyber resiliency” is the ultimate goal for building your ability to respond to cyber attacks. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cyber resiliency as: “The ability to anticipate, withstand, recover from and adapt to adverse conditions, stresses, attacks or compromises on systems that use or are enabled by cyber resources.”

This definition makes two assumptions:

  • Your operations will be subjected to some level or cyber assault. Experts say a cyberattack of some kind occurs roughly every 40 seconds, piling up to about 2,200 in a day. About half of those attacks target small to midsize businesses (SMBs).
  • You must prepare your organization to respond to this continual threat. Analysts estimate each record stolen in a data breach can cost an affected business $146 per record on average, amounting to millions of dollars in lost information. Furthermore, research shows that about two-thirds of ill-prepared SMBs that suffer security breaches go out of business within six months.

For these reasons, we encourage SMBs to undertake rigorous incident response planning. Here’s a three-step approach:

  1. Implement basic protections. Manage risk by being ready to respond. The more time and technology invested in detecting and avoiding a breach, the fewer resources needed to to react and recoup.
  2. Set strategic priorities. Reduce costs by assessing the necessary speed and scale of response. Was customer data breached? If so, you’ll need to prioritize communications and compliance efforts.
  3. Standardize response processes. Collaborate with people within your organization and partners outside it. Practice, review and refine.

Need planning support? We’re ready to help. Call TeamLogic IT in Plano at (469) 573-3743.