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Peer Perspective. IT Leadership. Business Results

Crossing the Skills Gap

By Computerworld Philippines Staff

The field of IT is often a realm of creation and innovation, requiring highly specialized skills sets that cannot be acquired easily. Companies, therefore, are continually on the lookout for highly skilled recruits that can add value to the company, potentially driving its growth.

Often, however, hiring that skilled IT professional is like searching for the coveted needle in a haystack. For this issue’s CIO Roundtable, we invited four IT executives to thresh out the issues they face in getting the right people with the right skills and, more importantly, keeping them.

For Tee Jay Sumawang, IT manager of RFM Corporation, having the right set of people at the right time proves to be an advantage. “Managing the skills set of the people under me is a big deal for me. And in terms of satisfaction, I’m quite satisfied. I have the right mix of skills to ensure a smooth operation.”

One of the big headaches of IT managers, however, is the inevitable exodus of their IT staff to pursue greater frontiers. “There is really no guarantee that a person you hired will stay with you,” says Alma Villamarin, IT manager or Mesco, Inc., a provider of machines and engineering products. “In IT, you really have to pay attention to what would make your people happy because if you don’t, they would leave you much sooner than expected. It’s not a question of how to prevent them from leaving, but how to make them stay longer.”

CIOs, therefore, must strike the delicate balance between equipping their staff with the right skills sets and keeping them satisfied with their work, in order to avoid compromising critical IT projects. “Providing them a good working environment, and giving them good opportunities for growth can help sustain these IT individuals. I give them diverse projects which enable them to see the value of IT on the business process side and then their contribution to the company which inspires them to work more,” says Ian Felicilda, systems and productivity department manager, Atlas Fertilizer Corp.

In the fortunate instance that people stay within the company, the challenge for IT executives is to keep their staff ’s skills updated. Retooling and reorienting ensures the IT department functions as a well-oiled machine, ready to be driven for organizational growth. “Since we have a fast-paced evolution of the IT industry, I managed to keep them updated in giving them materials to read and implement on actual tests,” shares Jerwin Cua, IT manager, Panalpina World Transport (Philippines) Inc.

When all possible means have been extracted yet there is still an urgent need for specialized skills for a project, outsourcing provides a quick and convenient resource of manpower. “Of course, IT guys don’t want urgent projects, but you can’t really avoid that. If you don’t have the talent available for those particular requirements, it’s either you do a crash course on the technology or outsource the project,” explains Ronilo Quiat, information system and IT manager, Ortigas&Company.

This month’s roundtable discussion was moderated by Constantino T. Yap, assistant vice president, special projects unit, ITD, Allied Banking Corporation. Sales engineers Don Don Torres and Ogie Tabor of Sophos, sponsor of the event, were also present to offer insights to the discussion.

EXCERPTS OF THE DISCUSSION FOLLOW

Computerworld: How satisfied are you today with your IT department’s skills set? Do you think you have the right mix of skills to ensure a smooth operation?

Ian Felicilda: From the past two years until present, I am satisfied because what we had implemented only requires basic IT skills. But considering the plan to implement ERP across AFC organization in a few months time, our existing IT skills set may already be insufficient to support this. Setting up ERP and its supporting infrastructure will require advanced skills which we currently don’t have.

For now, I have the right mix of skills to support/maintain our basic IT infrastructure and to ensure a smooth operation.

Tee Jay Sumawang: I divided my department into two groups. The first group is the Technical Support Group. Under that group, I have an excellent technical support supervisor and he’s a certified cisco person. He’s the one handling the overall operations of the technical support group. I also have a LAN/WAN administrator for the systems and network administration and I have two technical support engineers, and that’s the first group. The other group is the Information Systems Group. I have two .NET developers, a senior .NET developer and a systems analyst. I also have an analyst/programmer and I have a SAP BASIS administrator.

The business is growing but unfortunately members of my staff in the past few months have been resigning. But when it comes to mixture of skills set, I think RFM has all of them because we have ERP systems and we have customized software. Managing the skills set of the people under me is a big deal for me. And in terms of satisfaction, yes I’m quite satisfied. It just so happened that these people are resigning, and I’m sure other IT managers are also experiencing those types of problems. In the IT industry today, when you have a staff that stayed with you for two years, you should be happy.

Alma Villamarin: I’m happy with my department’s current skills set to ensure smooth operations. We’ve been through a lot of ups and downs with the network, the infrastructure, the hardware and the software, but I could not recall any scenario that was blown out of proportion. I owe this to my staff who are not only technically competent, but are in the same manner focused, dedicated and passionate in their own areas of responsibilities.

Additionally, I agree with what Mr. Sumawang said about the turnover of people. We keep on investing on our people, but they keep on moving out. But then that’s part of how you handle the department. You have to keep on investing and you always have to be prepared for the time that people will leave you. We have to continue developing the skills of the new ones, because time will come that the more experienced ones will eventually move out, and we cannot afford to have our department paralyzed because of that.

Jerwin Cua: Im 100% satisfied with our IT department’s skills set. Yes we have a support on different IT levels. We have a Microsoft-certified and a Ciscocertified personnel.

Quiat: Regarding the skills of my IT staff, I would say, at the rate of 1 to 10, it’s between 7 and 8; and we are alright with that because we don’t have any complicated systems right now. I believe the right mix are there: we have network and system administration, software support services, desktop support services. Probably what’s lacking now is the capability to train the users. The issue is that, IT people are really focusing on technical matters, so they are afraid to communicate. I think we have to develop that aspect.

The skills that we have right now are only good for what we have. Eventually, and soon, we will replace almost everything in place. So I want the staff trained for the new technologies. But for now, we are focusing more on SAP implementation.

Computerworld: It’s quite alarming that even if the global recession is fading, IT employees are still moving out of the companies. How does management deal with the issue of spending so much money on training and later on seeing them leave? How do they perceive that IT dilemma?

Villamarin: The management is very aware that in IT, that is normally the trend. I think it’s inevitable. And just because the people will eventually leave you in the end, it doesn’t mean you don’t have to train them anymore. You train the people because of operating concerns or requirements. And it works both ways – through trainings, you get what you want delivered thru your people’s competencies and at the same time, you are helping your people become better individuals. And sometimes, if people feel good about themselves, they would think twice about leaving. Hence, in the end, you still get your money’s worth. Besides, the management is very supportive when it comes to trainings.

They know and recognize the value of trainings. They look more on what would be the output rather than how much will be spent. So in IT, you really have to pay attention to what would make your people happy because if you don’t, they would leave you much sooner than expected. It’s not a question of how to prevent them from leaving, but how to make them stay longer.

Computerworld: In relation to that question, does it affect the productivity of the company because this surely affects productivity and company projects?

Villamarin: Of course, productivity is always the first and foremost that suffers everytime someone leaves the company. Actually from the start that you hired someone, there is really no guarantee that he/she will stay with you for as long as you want, especially if the one that you got is on top of the line. And that’s why from the very beginning, you should be prepared that they will leave you anytime. First, you develop the succession plan and second, spend time to know then things that would make them happy and satisfied.

Felicilda: The question is, “how do I sustain my staff?” Well, 60% of my staff are fresh graduates who are still establishing their IT careers. It’s not most of the time that IT professionals move out of the company because of salary, but also the work itself and the working environment. Providing them good working environment, that is, the working relationship with their peers and immediate superiors, and giving them good opportunities for growth can help sustain these IT individuals. As for my case, I usually conduct ‘‘1:1’’ discussion’ with my staff for me to know problems or issues related to work, peers and boss.

Furthermore, I give them diverse projects which enable them to see the value of IT on the business process side and then their contribution to the company which inspires them to work more.

Sumawang: It is very important that you have the support of senior management in order for you to achive your goals and you’ll do this by the good results that the department’s been giving. I also did trainings myself and also set a type of open-communication environment. Also, giving your staff some challenges is very important as well.

Computerworld: What are your strategies in maintaining your people, besides setting up the right environment for them?

Villamarin: My more than 10 years of experience handling people had taught me that there’s no common “recipe” for keeping people. The younger ones, or the neophytes, had always been the easiest to please. Because they always feel that they need to conquer the world, you need to keep them motivated and interested in their job by giving them challenging assignments and projects. You also need to keep feeding them new information that would add up to what they already know – and this is what trainings do. The more experienced ones have different levels of satisfaction. They expect career growth and so the career path must be clearly established. Some are looking for position titles which translates to added authority, and this is what promotions do. And of course, together with those are the added benefits and better compensation package.

Felicilda: I have to admit that our salary may not be ascompetitive as with the othe r IT groups but we do have competitive benefits and opportunities for growth like trainings. Furthermore, with all the AFC offices nationwide being supported by our team, our staffs get the opportunity to travel.

Sumawang: At RFM, the benefits are okay; so if people leave, it’s because of better opportunities abroad.

Computerworld: What skills would you like your staff to brush up on and how can the company help them develop these? Are there certain or upcoming projects this year which you need to prepare for?

Felicilda: This year, we have an ERP project in the pipeline. It still needs top management approval. The project includes IT infrastructure readiness to support ERP because we have not established the required infrastructure for that. Two of the many components of the project are the fiber optic and structured cablings. So part of the ERP implementation is to correct or replace the existing and come up with the standard infrastructure.

Villamarin: In the IT world, I believe the one who succeeds is the one who keeps his skills updated. For me, skills can be categorized into two: one is what you call the hard skills or the technical skills, which is needed to do the job; and the other one is the soft skills. I believe we need to maintain both. Technical skills are always the easiest to develop, because there are training centers, books, e-books, and a lot of online materials one could use to hone his skills.

In my case, my set of people are very resourceful and creative, and annually, we have a certain amount of budget set aside for training. My staff ’s capacity to absorb new things and their capability to apply what they’ve learned is high, so I think the technical aspect is not really a major issue for me. What I’d like to focus on would be developing their soft skills. They focus too much on the technical skills forgetting the other aspects that are essential to be more effective in their jobs — such as proper communication and understanding the business processes.

Sumawang: I have the same point of view as Ms. Villamarin regarding the hard and soft skills. But I would like to call them technical and administrative skills. When I came to RFM, we had several problems. And upon looking at them, they are concentrated mostly on the administrative side, like documenting the program changes, security policies, and the like. So the first thing I did was to write our department policies and procedures, as well as our SDLC process document. It’s very important that my staff know how to write those kinds of things.

On the technical side, you can never be too comfortable about your skills. The upgrade when it comes in technology is very fast in our industry. Learning these skills is a continuous process, but how can the company help? Our senior management has been very supportive. It’s very important that you have the business group supporting you, like when you need your budget increased.

Quiat: I agree with Ms. Villamarin as well: soft skills and technical skills. They have to learn how to communicate both in verbal and written form. I impose on my staff to learn the business process, because you cannot support it if you don’t know the process of the business. Likewise, they also have to understand the strategic plan of the company, otherwise they will look for short-term solutions. I guess you have to pay more attention because if you have a short-term outlook, you eventually have to change it again, making it more expensive. The entire staff has to understand the goals of the company.

Cua: Our company is in the process of server virtualization, so I would like them to gain extensive training on this. Computerworld: What challenges or stumbling blocks are present in terms of keeping the skills of your IT staff up to date?

Villamarin: For us, the biggest challenge would be time. Everyone’s always too busy doing their job, so keeping one’s skills up to date comes as a second priority. That is why every now and then, I remind them that they have to set aside some time to update their skills. I require that 20% of their time every day must be spent for enriching themselves.

Felicilda: We have the same problem: time and budget. Due to headcount constraint in my department, we do a lot of multitasking and these ate up a lot of our time thus, scheduling a training is no longer possible. Like right now, we have a list of technical trainings for my staffs in support for the coming ERP (MS Dynamics AX) implementation but due to time and ‘slight’ budget constraints, we were not able to realize those trainings.

Sumawang: We have several projects but less people, so our problem is time. With regard to contracts, it’s not considered as a stumbling block. So far, there’s no one in my staff who wanted to leave after training.

Quiat: I guess the universal answer among the four of us is time. It is really difficult to schedule trainings especially if there are existing projects and deliverables that you are asking from them. So it’s just a matter of priority. In terms of budget, I don’t think we have a problem with them because we have allotted budget in a year-to-year basis. The problem really is how to spend the money for the training. On average we spend about 50% of the IT budget for local and international trainings.

Computerworld: Is certification important? Why or why not?

Villamarin: Yes and no. Yes, because in our case, we don’t really care about certifications. What’s important for us is the person’s experience, skills, capabilities, and capacity to do his job and to deliver what is required of him. We need more of the actual experience in doing the job. Some have certifications but when it comes to the practical exams, they fail.

Felicilda: For me, it’s a yes. Certification is like a logo. It demonstrates your technical prowess. In a car, for example, it’s like having a branded Chery or BMW, the brand itself boosts the customer’s confidence in the product. This is also likely when working with certified IT professionals, it uplifts customer’s confidence in the company knowing that certified professionals are working or serving them.

Sumawang: I tend to lean more on the actual or hands-on side. I also have a hands-on examination when it comes to recruitment, so if they don’t pass that exam, whether they are certified or not, I’m not going to hire them. If you are really good and you also have certification, then it’s better. But again, I prefer the actual experience.

Quiat: I think the certified IT experts are really extraordinary. They spent time to study and take the exam to have the certification. There are jobs that require certified engineers and there are jobs that don’t require certification. In our case, we don’t really require people to be certified as long as they know what to do, they have the experience and they can deliver the output required. But of course, I encourage my people to, if possible, take certification because it’s more for them, not for the company.

Cua: Yes, it is important for a company because it adds credibility and for people to have it will serve as one of their achievements to their career.

Computerworld: What steps do you take when you don’t have the right skills for an urgent project?

Villamarin: I classify projects into two: small ones and big ones. These are grouped based on the scope and complexity of the project. I think the small ones are normally simple in scope and hence could be urgent in nature, but usually these are the ones that would require the same set of skills that your people already has, or skills that would only require fine tuning. On the other hand, I don’t think that big projects could be considered as urgent, because these are the types that require careful planning in terms of manpower and skills requirements. Worse comes to worst, you have a project coming up and you don’t have enough time to prepare for, and you don’t have enough skills to execute it. That’s where outsourcing come in —if it’s really urgent and could not wait for your people to brush up on the skills required, we make use of other people to deliver the project.

Felicilda: For me, I usually look into the awaiting “risk” of the implementation of the project — may it be “big or small.” It should be calculated despite urgency. If foreseen issues caused by implementing a project with constraint resource (especially the IT skills) will result to a more staggering cost, time and project success is not assured, then outsourcing will be a preferred option. In the past, we had experiences wherein outsourcing option has been identified as the best option but due to budget constraint, we couldn’t grab it. Instead we sought advises from our IT friends where their advise guided us through solving the problem internally. It’s really a case-to-case basis. My point is, outsourcing provides a big opportunity for those who can take it, but before jumping to that point, under varied circumstances like budget constraint, there are varied means of solving the problem in a less expensive way like seeking advises/solutions from IT connections and friends whom you can just, perhaps, treat them out then talk about it over dinner.

Quiat: Of course, IT guys don’t want urgent projects, but you can’t really avoid that. If you don’t have the talent available for those particular requirements, it’s either you do a crash course on the technology or outsource the project. But I always have to have a ready outsource personnel. In our company, they call it an annual service agreement: we pay a few thousand pesos to achieve priority status. So if we cannot do it in-house, we just call them and they will put us in priority.

Sumawang: For me, it depends on the skills that are needed to be acquired. If the skills will take months to learn, then it’s better to just outsource the project. It’s more on knowing my options, and how much time it will take to acquire the skills. But if it’s just a simple part of a certain technology, and three to five days is only needed to acquire the skills, then I’ll have my staff trained. But again if it’s a long wait, I will outsource it, and in doing so, of course every outsourced project has to be documented. So, in that manner, the project will not only move forward, but my staff will also be trained through the technical documentation of that outsourced project. It’s a win-win situation.

Cua: In my opinion, first and foremost, it will be choosing the right person who will be suitable for the project. If I feel that person is not productive on the project, there are other solutions to it like, to look for an outsourced personnel or a project-based employee.

Villamarin: I am biased about outsourcing. Not because I don’t like it, but I’m looking at how my people will look at it. Since I have an IT department with competent IT people, it appears as a negative thing for them —either it threatens their job or it makes them feel less competent. Also, my people are always excited to try new things, especially when we have new projects. So, the first thing that comes to their mind is that they are the ones who will implement the project. Normally, if there are projects that they don’t know how to do yet, they are very resourceful in learning how to do it. Of course, you just have to make them aware that outsourcing doesn’t automatically mean that they will lose their jobs; it’s just a one-time deal. After outsourcing, you would need them again to maintain the projects. It’s more of changing their mindsets.

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