IT skills: In with the old, out with the new (FT.com)

IT skills: In with the old, out with the new
By Colin Wright, managing director at Veeam Software

Published: November 18 2008 15:45 | Last updated: November 18 2008 15:45

Skills in IT can often be a mixed bag. Some are old, some are brand new. Some are borrowed from outside while others can make their users turn the air blue. Yet the one thing they all have in common is the need to evolve.

Despite the benefits brought by new waves of technology, one of the most obvious downsides is organisations being exposed by the equally new blind spots in knowledge and training. Inevitably there will be a new industry of “experts” formed to help guide managers around the pitfalls. At the same time, or shortly after, there will be a new range of smart and simple-to-use tools developed to make managing the new technology easier and thus reduce the need for such specialised skills.

A prime example of this is the rush towards virtualisation. Virtualisation is one of the biggest technological leaps to hit IT in a long while. The move from easily visible, physical assets to more intangible virtual servers has many benefits but also presents a number of management challenges. To gain the benefits of virtualisation in the long term new skills and management approaches will be needed.

The challenges thrown up by virtualisation are varied. The most evident is the lack of an obvious, physical machine to track and report on. In a poorly managed virtualised environment, a raft of virtual machines can be created with managers none the wiser, while even properly tracked virtual machines can easily multiply swiftly if not correctly monitored and retired, creating an ungovernable sprawl. Innovative management techniques need to be developed to prevent potential flaws appearing in these virtual environments.

Skills that IT managers have developed to deal with physical environments can help with some of the issues surrounding virtualisation technology, but there will still be gaps and inconsistencies that need addressing. How can businesses address these problems before their IT department reaches an impasse?

As with any new technology, the problem lies with finding, attracting and retaining highly skilled people who can manage it. In this respect, parallels can be drawn between the advent of virtualisation and early adoption of Windows as an operating system for servers. When the technology appeared there were only a handful of IT managers who were fully qualified in its use, yet the business benefits were so obvious that a vast number of organisations had to act.

Waiting until the technology became common knowledge would mean losing out on the competitive advantages it could offer. As a result, those with high-level, in-depth skills became incredibly valuable, with businesses swiftly snapping them up at great expense to utilise their skills and, hopefully, educate other employees.

After a few years, it became obvious that these elite employees are still a big company overhead. Eventually, as more members of the IT department advanced to at least a reasonable standard with the new systems, businesses looked for another method to perform many of the tasks associated with the new technology, especially those that were more mundane and could easily be automated.

Using management tools to take over these everyday tasks greatly reduced the amount of work that required multi-skilled staff. Companies no longer needed to hire such a broad skill-set, allowing them to exist with fewer highly skilled workers or a larger pool of specialists. Either way, the cost savings were substantial.

The main mistake companies made previously was waiting to implement these management tools until the new technology had been active for some time. Unless organisations act now, these mistakes could easily be repeated as virtualisation technology becomes pervasive within the IT environment.

IT directors should be looking to bring in new skills to ensure proper governance around the implementation and use of virtualisation technology. However, at the same time they should be looking at management tools that can reduce the need for these skills.

Essentially, they need to balance new skills with management tools to ensure they are dealing with the proliferation of virtualisation technology in the most efficient way. Tools can be used to take care of the everyday mundane, but important, tasks of managing virtualisation, leaving highly skilled professionals in virtualisation to focus on the strategy and governance of this new technology.

As with technologies in the past and technology yet to come, the march to virtualisation appears to be inevitable. Skills need to be developed and modified in order to deal with this, but that shouldn’t require knee-jerk moves to acquire expensive personnel.

By seeking tools to take care of the easily-automated parts of a new skill set, businesses can adapt to new technology at their own pace rather than forging blindly ahead, progressing through small steps rather than giant leaps into the unknown.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008