In today’s employment market, it’s tough to find the people you need when you need them. People are disinterested in working, they’re jaded by economic conditions, and they’ve gotten used to staying at home with minimal (if any) responsibilities. In the IT field, this problem is even more pronounced thanks to shortages of skilled laborers.
How do you navigate these staffing shortages? What tools, technologies, and techniques can help close the gap left by a seemingly insufficient human team?
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Network Observability
Network observability gives you insight into your network, helping you determine its internal state, locate bottlenecks, understand demand, and assess how your resources are being used. In combination with monitoring, you’ll be able to continuously watch network activity and evaluate asset conditions. With a combination of network observability and monitoring tools, you’ll have a much keener sense of how your network is running – and you’ll be able to do it even with a small team.
Automation
One of the best technological tools in your arsenal is going to be automation. There’s a wide range of tools on the market designed to automate activities that were once tackled by human beings. Instead of having someone sit down and execute a given function, you can have an algorithm that automatically conducts their work.
The greatest advantage here is that you’ll reduce the number of man hours you need to spend on various activities. Not only will this counteract the detriments of having fewer staff members, but it should also save you money in the long term. But there’s another advantage that’s almost as powerful; you’ll improve consistency. Even the best IT staff members are occasionally forgetful or inconsistent, but a correctly coded program will never fail you.
Workflows and Efficiency
Tools can also help you optimize workflows and boost efficiency within your organization. With the right platform, you’ll be able to fully document the processes and procedures you want your team to follow across your entire IT department. With more consistent, better documented, accessible workflows, the employees you do have will be more likely to follow them consistently.
Additionally, you’ll have a template you can gradually modify to improve efficiency within your organization, ultimately improving performance without having to make any sacrifices.
KPI Reporting
In the IT field, it’s easy to lose track of what really matters. What are the most important, bottom-line metrics for your organization? And how should you measure success? When you have better definitions for what you’re trying to achieve and how you’re trying to achieve it, your entire department is going to be more streamlined. That’s why it’s important to incorporate tools that allow you to measure and evaluate your key performance indicators (KPIs).
Enterprise Chatbots and Internal Knowledge Bases
What happens when one member of your organization is experiencing a problem with network connectivity or device functionality? Typically, this person would immediately contact the IT helpdesk, reaching out to another human for support. But what if you don’t have the staff to address all these incoming questions?
Amidst an IT staffing shortage, your best bet may be providing everyone in your organization with more tools and resources they can use to solve their own problems. Internal knowledge bases are a good place to start, providing as much information as possible to the people who need it. You could also make this information more accessible with the help of enterprise chatbots, which function as independent, automated versions of IT support staff.
Other Solutions to IT Staffing Issues
Technological tools are your best option for resolving IT staffing issues, but there are some other strategies that can help you as well:
- Total outsourcing: One of your options is completely outsourcing your IT needs. Rather than trying to build a team from the ground up, you can work with an external organization that already has a team of talented individuals and enough experience to help you tackle almost any challenge.
- Recruiting and onboarding: Alternatively, you can step up your recruiting and onboarding. Finding good candidates is hard and incentivizing them to work for your organization may be even harder. Still, with better offers and better initial onboarding, you’ll see better results.
- Employee retention: Finally, focus on improving employee retention. During a staffing shortage, every member of your team instantly becomes more valuable; don’t lose any team members if you can help it.
IT staffing shortages certainly aren’t good for your organization, and all other variables being equal, it would be better if the market was overflowing with talented job candidates. But your staffing shortages don’t have to compromise the integrity or productivity of your organization.
With these tech tools and more, you should be able to close the gap between your existing IT staff and the work that you need to do.
