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At the recent IDC CIO Summit in Dubai  – themed Enabling the Digital Economy’s Leaders – the topic of talent attraction and retention was a key talking point for those at the event.

Finding and keeping tech talent has never been easy but as the world of work continues to evolve and organisations shift to hybrid work models, new challenges and opportunities present themselves. How can technology leaders leverage these shifts to enhance online and virtual experiences and strengthen competitiveness by developing people, talent, and skills?

At the summit, ITDMs discussed how the technology talent market has changed, pushing organisations to leverage innovative work models. Companies are examining how they can change themselves and their team structures to leverage the current situation and enhance productivity.

Marc Dowd, VP Research, CIO Advisory, IDC UK, says there have been a lot of concerns about skills shortages globally, particularly since the pandemic.

“One of the big influences was the fact everybody was working from home, they liked it, and they did not want to be back in the office. People now live in a world market, they can sell their skills to every place around the world… One of my clients lost 50 per cent of its IT team. At the moment, a lot of companies have projects that are running three and a half months behind because they can’t find the right staff. Some of them were hired by big tech companies, out of our region.”

Jason Roos, CIO at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), says it’s important to focus on attitude rather than skills when hiring.

“When KAUST was set up the whole idea was to be focused on high-tech applicable research. The whole culture is about entrepreneurship and innovation, and we have a group focused on innovation. When I recruit talent I look for attitude, and people that can work with others. Skills come second.  If they become toxic in your organisation, that’s the worst that can happen. I look for  people who want to be in the team and I give them the chance to fail. If they don’t fail they don’t try and technology is evolving. Skills only last for a short time, you need to learn all the time.”

Before coming to the Middle East, Roos was working in California.  He found at the time that if he wanted, for example, to test some drones, he had to deal with multiple municipalities and a lot of bureaucracy.  He says things in the tech sector in KSA are easier. “The red tape is much less and you can make this happen. When you bring new talent to this country they are excited, it’s all about motivation.”

According to the panellists at the summit, when they talk about the skills gap, organisations need to know where they stand now and what are the skills sets that are needed. If you know where you are heading, and you know the gap, you can close it, so the question is: Do IT departments need to hire people or change the way they work?

Mai Alowaish, Chief Data and Innovation Officer at Gulf Bank, says it’s beneficial to examine what resources you have internally and look to upskill where possible. 

“In the bank, we need a business analyst, for example. I do have my data scientist, but I need someone to understand. I can’t get them from outside because I need someone who understands the banking sector, so upskilling your internal talent makes a huge difference. One of the keys to being successful is having a good HR department, they know the people. So build the talent instead of looking for it, and make them stay.”

As discussed at IDC CIO Summit in Dubai, hiring and retaining talented profiles in technology has never been easy, but as the world of work continues to evolve and organizations shift to hybrid work models, new challenges and opportunities present themselves. How can technology leaders leverage these shifts to enhance online and virtual experiences and strengthen competitiveness by developing people, talent, and skills?

During the event, different ITDMs discussed how the technology talent market has changed and compelled organizations to leverage innovative work models. How organizations can change themselves and their team structures to leverage the current situation and enhance productivity? 

“There are a lot of concerns about the shortage of resources, cloud architects, it’s a global concern, how has this pandemic and post-pandemic changed the IT market? Marc Dowd, VP Research, CIO Advisory, IDC UK asked. “One of the big influences was the fact that people were working from home, they liked it, and they did not want to be back in the offices, in some regions people now are on a world market, they can sell their skills to every place around the world, for example, one of my clients lost 50 per cent of its IT team. At the moment, a lot of companies have projects that are running three and a half months behind because they can’t find the right staff because they are working for big tech companies, out of our region.”

This was one of the topics discussed for the 16th edition of the IDC CIO Middle East Summit, organized by IDC, this time with “Enabling the Digital Economy’s Leaders” as the main theme. How to deal with this shortage of talent, knowing the characteristics that make an organization attractive to candidates and the key factors to retain employees, was one of the topics of the event.

“When King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) was set up the whole idea was to be focused on high-tech applicable research, the whole culture is about entrepreneurship and innovation, and we have a group that was focused on innovation. When I recruit talent I look for attitude, and persons that can work with others, skills come second if they become toxic in your organisation, that’s the worst that can happen,” says Jason Roos, CIO at KAUST. “I look at people who want to be in the team and I give them the chance to fail, if they don’t fail they don’t try and technology is evolving, skills only last for a short time, you need to learn all the time.”

According to Roos, you need to guide your employees and Saudi Arabia is definitely a good country to be in contact with the tech sector. Before coming to the Middle East, the CIO of Kaust was working in California, there if for example, you want to test some drones, you have to deal with multiple municipalities, and everything needs to be approved, but in KSA is easier, “the red tape is much less and you can make this happen, when you bring new talents to this country they are excited, it’s all about motivation.” adds.

In the opinion of the panellist, when they talk about the skill gap, organizations need to know where they stand now and what are the skills set that are needed. If you know where you are heading, and you know the gap, you can close it, so the question is: Do IT departments need to hire people or change the way they work?

“On behalf of a Government entity, we assume the right skills are available on the market, but we need the ability to attract as a Government, even if we assume that maybe working from home is a skill that won’t help us if we operate the same way, we are going to need a dramatic change and it’s a very slow democratic process that can’t happen fast, so let’s start having a hybrid way,” explains Dr. Ammar H. Alhusaini, Acting Director General, Central Agency for Information Technology (Kuwait).

But on the other side, in the private sector, some companies face the problem that the skills that are needed don’t exist in the market, they are too new and people have the skills but they are not experts. “In the bank, we need a business analyst for example, I do have my data scientist, but I need someone to understand, I can’t get them from outside because I need someone who understands the bank sector, so upskilling your internal talent makes a huge difference. One of the keys to be successful is having a good HR department, they know the people, so build the talent instead of looking for it, and make them stay,” clarifies Mai Alowaish, Chief Data and Innovation Officer at Gulf Bank.