Emerging technologies demand new skills sets. Analytics and Customer Experience are at the forefront, while the Blockchain and Crypto-currencies are being used increasingly in day to day business operations.

The number of technological capabilities and specialisms a CTO has to work with now is vast – and growing every day. It’s an exhilarating, fast-moving sector.  New frontiers and business opportunities in areas such as AI, data, RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and blockchain, mean that technology increasingly presents both enormous opportunities and challenges for business.

Technology is integral to businesses driving cost efficiencies and different channels to interact with customers, while creating new ways for customers to communicate and purchase goods and services.  Technology is driving business decisions through machine learning, which is transforming how organisations make decisions.

There is increased pressure on Technology departments as they move from a support function to the facilitator of business differentiation.  This brings challenges from different directions such as harnessing innovation, transforming the workforce, protecting the organisation and delivering against the business strategy.

As new frontiers open up in areas such as AI, data and blockchain, technology increasingly presents both enormous opportunities and challenges for business.

Emerging technologies demand new skills sets, which have the potential to have the biggest impact on technology departments and the businesses they enhance.

The market for new technology talent consists mostly of millennial’s and Generation Z who are looking for companies that are inclusive, with a positive culture that supports change and does not fear failure, while contributing broadly to society. For many businesses this requires a cultural change.  New skills must be learnt or acquired from recruiting new talent, as the technology team becomes increasingly business facing, rather than the traditional view as portrayed in internal facing ‘The IT Crowd’.

There is pressure for businesses to break their traditional mould of salary bands and hierarchy to appoint people or teams that are able to mix deep technical understanding with the ability to understand their customer (both internal and external), and marry the two to maximise the potential of emerging technology.

Cloud Adoption is nothing new.  It has reduced the ‘fire gap’ between business and technology departments, enabling easier access to enterprise technology that drives innovation and the opportunity to try fast, fail fast.  Cloud computing will still be in high demand as Deloitte’s 2018 Global CIO Survey showed, and there is an expectation that cloud investments will double as a percentage of technology spend over the next three years – to almost half of total technology expenditure.  This will have significant implications for an organisation’s risk profile and ways of working, demanding a clear road-map for scaling adoption and cost control as consumption increases (to ensure business case returns are achieved) and also an increased focus on Cyber Security policies and control.

There is a huge demand for Cyber and Information Security professionals at present – 65 % up in 2018 compared with 2017.

Cyber Security has always been a high priority, however we are seeing more and more high profile data breaches, and fines associated with these, combined with the perceived vulnerability of cloud computing and its increased adoption.  Cyber and Information Security professionals are in high demand (65 % up in 2018 compared with 2017), with the best bringing a pragmatic approach to security.  There is rarely the budget available to secure everything, so it is important to identify critical information and ensure its security needs are part of the business (not just technology) strategy.

The transformation in understanding the true value of data is where competitive advantage often sits.  A business’s actions with customers are driven by the analysis of data and predicting customer behaviours.

Technology will continue to grow and diversify, becoming faster and more complex.  This creates huge opportunity, but also the need to be thinking of the future, leaning towards more agile ways of working and adopting and harnessing new technology more effectively and expediently.

psd technology, change & transformation recruitment

psd has particular expertise in the increasingly important area of payments & transactions, as well as electronics, IoT, industrial and manufacturing technologies. We serve clients around the world across a broad range of sectors and categories, spanning commerce and industry, financial services, and banking.

psd‘s Software & Technology recruitment practices work with the leading global technology service providers, consultants and cloud operators. Our expertise spans everything from HCM, logistics, finance & business intelligence to data, analytics, CRM, hosting, and security.