More innovation is on the way

IT pros kept their organizations running through 2020 and into 2021, despite tremendous disruption and constant pivoting during the pandemic. According to the Snow 2022 IT Priorities Report, a survey of 1,000 IT leaders in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Australia and India, 87% of IT leaders say their organization is prepared to weather global events. More IT leaders also say they currently have an influential seat at the executive’s table, with 90% indicating that they’re a trusted advisor to the business, instead of a one-stop-shop for technology.

What’s on their plate in 2022? The answer is clear — more innovation. Of the survey respondents, 94% say innovation is a top strategic priority, and 76% say their IT budgets for emerging technologies will grow. To drive that innovation over the next five years, they plan to implement more IoT, hybrid cloud, AI, private and public cloud, machine learning, edge computing and other technologies.

Rising innovation calls for new skills

Of course, integrating more emerging technologies fuels the need for more skilled talent. Around 93% of those surveyed say that skills must evolve among their employees to best leverage these new technologies. However, according to Skillsoft’s Global Knowledge 2021 IT Skills and Salary Report, IT still faces a critical skills gap that has increased 145% since 2016.

When asked about the need for more highly skilled IT professionals, a few of our Snow Software team members underscored the unease over evolving requirements. Jesse Stockall, the chief architect at Snow, says nearly everyone has some type of cloud strategy today, so cloud architects are in great demand.

“More languages are also supported now, too. Azure and AWS developers have added more languages than they have taken away. There is more assembling rather than building from scratch. While this is okay, it does add to the complexity.”

Jesse Stockall, chief architect at Snow

With the move from traditional, primarily on-prem network security to increasingly cloud-based business, cloud security engineers play more of a role, says Jesse. Data governance and privacy professionals are another growth area he emphasizes, particularly as GDPR grows in prevalence and the volume of data in the cloud grows.

The tech landscape badly needs data scientists, too. As Snow CIO Alastair Pooley described in a recent blog post, new technology brings new data and data-driven strategies, but only after IT understands how to harness the data produced in their entire technology estate. “Understanding and processing data to make it work for the organization is key going forward,” says Becky Trevino, vice president of Snow product marketing.

“The ability to think through data, visualize it and find new insights will be expected table stakes rather than a differentiating skill set.”

Becky Trevino, Vice president of Product Marketing at Snow

Data classification, analytics, governance and security skills are also in great demand.

Developer advocates for organizations that build technology products are another employee type we will see more of in 2022. “Savvy companies are fostering community around how customers use their products today,” says Jesse. “As your ecosystem grows larger, you need to be able to support that community.”

Resolutions for change

Within all this change, there is good news. Organizations recognize their evolving needs, and they are ramping up as a result. According to the Snow IT Priorities Report, 69% say their budget for IT practitioners will increase in 2022. This increase in funding provides plenty of new opportunities. Sometimes, however, the best approach to finding the skills you need is training the people you already have.

To address the skills shortage, our team suggests institutionalizing these three approaches in 2022.

1. Fuel the flame of curiosity.

Technology and automation are changing jobs across the board, says Lizzie Burton, executive vice president of people and culture at Snow, and every human will need to “upskill” in the coming years. “The biggest challenge to this is the time it takes,” she explains. “It’s easier for people to fill their days with their to-do list rather than reflecting on what needs to be done differently. Organizations should build excitement and fuel the flame of curiosity at every stage, encouraging people to become continuous learners who constantly challenge themselves.”

2. Upskill existing employees.

Retraining and upskilling existing employees is an easier effort than searching for and hiring new employees, asserts Jesse. Investing in current employees is an important investment that builds team loyalty and it almost always costs less, too.

3. Foster willingness to accept and try new ways of doing things.

The pandemic helped create a sense of urgency to change, says Alastair. “Had a CIO suggested many such changes pre-pandemic, they likely wouldn’t have happened. Shedding legacy technology created opportunities for organizations to try new things, and IT departments now have more acceptance from leadership to take risks. People are also more adaptable.” Lean into this new willingness to try new ways of doing things. You’ll likely be surprised at how well new approaches can work.

Though we won’t likely solve the entire skills gap in 2022, the most logical place to start is by investing in your current team members who have shown such great resilience over the past two tumultuous years. You’ll foster feelings of goodwill and growth as everyone leans into lessons learned, embraces a newfound acceptance for change and ultimately makes positive steps forward.

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Throughout 2021, our home and working lives continued to adapt to the pandemic. Where possible remote working remains the preferred model today and some kind of hybrid working model (part home, part office) appears to be the most likely future of work for many. Through massive change in 2020 and 2021, the Information Technology sector stepped up and adjusted to the needs of a distributed workforce with a reasonable degree of success.

According to our new 2022 IT Priorities Report which studied the changing role and expectations of today’s IT leaders, 90% say their organization is able to deal with the challenges of hybrid work efficiently and effectively. But what comes next?

At the time of the year when predictions are popular, the work we have done at Snow has allowed us to make a few of our own. Each is rooted in this new landscape and may help you fine-tune your focus.

1. Digital transformation efforts have grown in importance, but CIO’s must focus on the joint priorities of improving customer experience and fostering better data for decision making

The pandemic led to increased efforts on digital transformation, whether that was growth in e-commerce, the switch of paper to digital processes or the wholesale replacement of legacy systems. However, in 2022 there will be more focus on improving the customer experience as an attempt to differentiate from competitors and leverage this advantage. Increased digitalization will also generate far more data than organizations had from paper which has the potential to enable faster and accurate decision making in 2022.

2. Make use of the increased reliance on IT to drive further innovation and make use of the increased willingness to change

While remote work isn’t new, the pandemic greatly accelerated its adoption. Had CIOs suggested such a dramatic change to this working style pre-pandemic, they likely would have been rejected. But today, there is a real willingness to innovate, and IT professionals can take hold of this new appetite for change in 2022 to make further progress. On the vendor side, we will see more companies launch new features tailored to improving hybrid work experiences addressing the challenges of office-based staff collaborating with those who are working remotely.

3. Adopt new technologies to improve day-to-day operations and train staff with new skills to support them

IT cost reduction was of utmost importance last year as organizations worked to navigate the disrupted economy. In 2022, we will see a heightened appetite for adding emerging technologies (such as IoT, hybrid cloud and AI according to the study) and therefore, there will be an increased need for skills required to manage their success. Companies will seek employees skilled in AI and machine learning, containerization, cybersecurity and DevOps but given these are in short supplying in the market, training current staff will be crucial.

4. IT can have an impact on sustainability initiatives and it is vital that advancements be made

As new regulations arrive on legislative agendas around the world to combat the damaging effects of growing electronic waste, CIOs (and other c-suite members) are best advised to pay attention to this challenge. 2022 will see added emphasis on green computing with the vast majority of IT leaders saying it is a rising organizational IT priority, whilst accepting that their company must do a better job at driving responsible sustainability initiatives.

The last couple of years have brought unprecedented change for everyone, but especially to the Information Technology sector which has risen to meet the challenge. In the new year, leaders now have an opportunity to build on the important lessons they have learned.

As technology estates continue to evolve and multiply, it will be increasingly important for IT leaders to understand what assets they have and how they are being used. Comprehensive technology intelligence, or full visibility into their current technology investments, greatly assist the ability to make informed data-driven decisions, draw up future priorities and fuel further innovation. The best intelligence platforms also provide key control measures for managing sprawl, allowing full oversight of the evolving estate and ensure that it is as secure as possible.

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