While workers and consumers alike have responded quickly to the post-pandemic virtual boom, the technology we’re using has been evolving faster than we can teach and upskill. Ergo, a tech talent shortage is here and only set to get worse.
In the heart of organisations that are adapting new technologies, worker shortages are the starkest. The dearth of appropriate skills is being felt across the entire industry: SAP needs roughly 120,000 additional resources in its ecosystem to deliver all the S/4 projects it hopes to complete by the 2027 deadline, while Salesforce estimates that it requires about 100,000 people to fulfil its current obligations – and that’s just two vendors.
The Great Resignation, running for three years now, coupled with the talent shortage, is driving companies to poach talent from an increasingly smaller ecosystem or knuckle down on the latest automated talent pipeline. But none of these things are really making a mark and the shortage is set to grow.
With universities and colleges struggling to respond to the upskilling requirements of such a new field, the issue continues. While some vendors are working with higher education to create pathways into enterprise tech – it will take around four to six years to get those skills into the ether.
That’s where ServiceNow’s RiseUp, a global program to upskill one million different people on their platform by 2024, feels like a differentiator and much-needed answer. Aimed at reskilling and upskilling workers for the digital economy, the program is designed to infuse the ServiceNow ecosystem with a new pipeline of talent within 18 months.
Ambitious in reach and far-thinking in scope, it is the kind of big solution that the industry needs right now. RiseUp is a new initiative rolled out by ServiceNow to confront the chronic skills shortage in their ecosystem head-on. With talent shortages due to hit 90 percent of all organisations by 2025, its arrival is timely.
Bold not only in the number of people it gets through the door but the nature of transferrable skills training, it is looking to contribute to the talent solution of the world, not just the ServiceNow recruitment team.
On top of RiseUp is the ServiceNow Partner Placement Program which will help customers and partners source, train, and access talent from diverse backgrounds with the expectation to scale up to 25 total partners by the end of 2023.
RiseUp will focus on three pillars in their epic mission for the one million upskill: lowering barriers to learning by offering free courses and job-related certification paths. Already, 2.3 million courses have been completed this week.
The program also focuses on expanding opportunities for tech talent with peer-to-peer networking opportunities, forums, virtual events and more. Finally, the commitment from the program is that customers and partners will be helped with fresh talent for a diverse pool, helping an industry that, through its digital transformations, is now operating in more geographical locations than ever.
As the tech shortage is a global problem, leaders need to start thinking more outwardly and less ‘in-house’. With more programs like RiseUp, businesses can start to face the challenges of the future together.
