The cloud is one of the most promising emergent technologies we have today. With businesses realizing how useful such an innovation is, cloud adoptions have been rapid and enthusiastic across many arms of the industry. PR News Wire mentions that the cloud computing market is likely to hit $761 Billion by 2027. While this statistic came out before the COVID-19 pandemic, the chances are that the revamped statistics will be more sizeable. As companies start to realize how useful the cloud can be to their remote employees, the demand for cloud providers will soar. However, it carries with it a concern about how businesses will approach this technology, especially in a post-COVID world.
Maximizing the Benefit of The Cloud
We already know that businesses are becoming increasingly reliant on the cloud to fuel their remote work interface. Information Age notes several benefits to remote workers that the cloud provides. However, using the cloud to keep remote workers connected is only the tip of the iceberg. Businesses that want to embrace the full benefit the cloud has to offer should go beyond the most typical uses of the technology. Developing talent needs to consider how vital IT support, which operates as cloud developers, will be to a cloud-based workforce.
Cloud computing has already turned a lot of our understanding of IT on its head including those at Atlanta Parent Magazine. Seeing what it can offer to businesses in terms of a test environment that’s infinitely scalable and agile pushes us to do more. However, to truly utilize the power that cloud offers to businesses means changing our outlook on how we see IT support. Instead of support staff, IT will have to be the front line of development for the company.
Taking Advantage Of Massive Talent Pools
Businesses are looking at moving their entire operation into the cloud. McAfee states that as many as 40% of large UK businesses want to become cloud-only by 2021. Sadly, many of these businesses mistake outsourcing their IT departments with moving into the cloud. The prevailing belief in many companies is that if you lease your IT department into the digital space, it makes your business cloud-ready. Aside from a fundamental misunderstanding of the benefits of the cloud, it also shows a lack of desire to use this innovative technology to the business’s advantage.
The problem with outsourced IT departments lies with the value those departments offer to the parent company. If the business can no longer afford to pay for the leasing of those services, they lose the benefit of the knowledge contained therein. Enterprises need to be more proactive when it comes to generating value from their cloud projects, and that means training their IT departments to develop their cloud computing talent in-house. Digital training for the personnel with ability as cloud developers within the business’s IT department should be prioritized over outsourcing IT responsibilities.
A New Type of IT Role
IT’s role as a developer will come to the forefront as the business transitions more fully into the cloud. The skills that IT currently have won’t be completely wasted, however, far from it. The new role of IT requires them to understand the principles of troubleshooting hardware and infrastructure. However, it also means debugging or developing cloud computing applications that will help the company achieve its goals. It’s not far-fetched to think that IT personnel will need to understand other emerging concepts to perform their duties. While they may not be required to know blockchain to the level of experts, they will still need to be aware of other emerging tech to do their job. This will involve consulting various tech blogs.
Development must also encompass an understanding of digital and cloud-based security protocols. No developer should try to design and implement systems that leave the company vulnerable to attack. IT personnel, as cloud developers, will need to scale the steep learning curve of internet and cloud security before they can be trusted to develop their own applications.
Finding This New Talent
It would be incomprehensible to ask employees of today for the skills of tomorrow. Most IT support staff already know the basics of cloud infrastructure and how it works with an on-premise system. However, if the business wants to move to the cloud entirely, the talent they hire needs more than just rote knowledge of how to fix issues. Instead, they should have a depth of curiosity in technology and a willingness to learn. Developing a learning environment, replete with relevant certifications, and understanding the meeting point between workers’ and the company’s needs is crucial to finding and keeping this talent.
To develop a company’s talent pool requires a business to avoid placing the focus on technical skills. Individuals who think “outside the box” and ask searching questions are the employees the talent pool needs. No longer will IT professionals rely on a handful of technical courses to push them. Instead, their development will be mostly self-motivated, focusing on “Why” rather than “How.” The company needs to develop a culture of constant learning and temper it with consistency on the job and flexibility in catering to the employee’s needs.
