FEATURE : CIO PROGRESSION surprising how many enterprises are standing firm on this given that the number of remote developer roles is reportedly decreasing .
Sam Rowlands , Community Director and Co-founder , Distributed
Meeting the post-pandemic demands of the tech workforce will not only put CIOs in a better position to compete for highly skilled employees , but will open the door to alternative routes to engaging talent .
Remote offers a route to business success you may not have considered
These trends show that CIOs are in the perfect position to offer flexible working arrangements to the software engineers they crave so badly . After all , the only thing that stands in the way of two employees that are miles apart from working effectively and productively , is poor technology . It ’ s up to CIOs to dissolve that obstacle by deploying the solutions needed to improve remote working and put other business leaders ’ minds at ease . Meanwhile , employees will be happier and candidates will be drawn to the business that ’ s offering them the flexibility the desire .
But with such fierce competition for tech talent , CIOs are having to look beyond methods which are now commonplace . In fact , many have extended their search outside of full-time employees and into the freelance community – where many tech professionals found themselves when searching for more independent careers . Research shows that huge swathes of tech staff left permanent jobs in search of more independent careers since the pandemic ; for example , 11.2 % of developers were freelancing in 2021 , up from 9.5 % in 2020 . These are highly skilled workers , the migration of whom to a more ad-hoc working style may well have exacerbated the perceived labour shortage . management and provision of the tech workforce , rather than the adoption and implementation of digital initiatives . And in a paradoxical way , as the search for skilled workers becomes more competitive , it may well be down to CIOs to innovate in order
to find the talent to deliver said innovation . Tech leaders can ’ t pursue Digital Transformation without the right people behind them – it ’ s how they adapt to the evolving tech workforce that could determine organisational success . p
IF CIOS ARE TO DELIVER ON NEW ORGANISATIONAL
GOALS , IT STARTS WITH BUILDING THE RIGHT TEAM
AROUND THEM .
CIOs still have to access this talent and more difficult still , integrate them in a way that complements existing in-house teams and workflows . Rather than engage individual freelancers in a patchwork team that can involve lengthy recruitment processes , it is often more productive for leaders of digital projects to engage private talent clouds , such as Elastic Teams . These private talent clouds are managed communities of freelancers that allow companies more on-demand access to talent . This model gives CIOs access to global talent as required , without being burdened with additional management or recruitment duties .
If the role of the CIO had expanded in recent years , the post-pandemic period has required it to diversify even further . Although it ’ s the CIO that we look to for innovation , this increasingly means the efficient
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