DataOne Asia, one of the leading independent providers of IT services in the Philippines, says businesses can turn to technology to address the challenge of high IT staff turnover. One of these is having an off-site IT infrastructure, which can be managed remotely.
Retention of IT talent continues to challenge businesses of any size. Local recruiters agree that companies lose highly-skilled IT employees from time to time to bigger competitors both here and abroad which offer more attractive pay packages and better growth opportunities.
For a company that is dependent on technology and its highly-skilled IT staff to make the business run smoothly and effectively, it inevitably faces operational and productivity issues when an IT employee quits.
Cyril Rocke, CEO and president of DataOne Asia Philippines, says that the problem of IT worker turnover often leads to the question, “Who will take charge of the tasks left by the employee?”
Rocke notes that an IT professional accumulates a lot of knowledge throughout their work, such as identifying and proper maintenance of software and network hardware and making them work together. The IT professional also has a very crucial role in managing the security and business continuity of a company. These expertise makes an IT employee a very valuable asset for a company.
“If somebody leaves, you lose all that knowledge and the company is then exposed to catastrophic disaster. Even if only one employee leaves, the entire operation of the company is affected and it becomes costly for the management in the long-term,” Rocke says.
DataOne Asia Philippines Human Resources and Administrative Manager Michelle Montenegro says companies are becoming dependent on their IT employees now that most operational procedures require the use of computers and various technologies for efficiency and heightened productivity.
However, a single IT staff’s resignation spells disruption within the company. It may come in such forms as problems of passing on the workload to other employees and dissimilar knowledge between the new IT staff and the ones who were left behind.
In a scenario like this, Montenegro emphasizes the need for a smooth transition during employee turnover. She says that a company must ensure that the successor has the same skill sets as the previous employee. It is important that when someone leaves, there should be new hires. This is an ideal situation but usually takes some time to happen.
In a cloud computing environment, the lack of an IT staff due to turnover wouldn’t be a headache for a company. IT applications such as email, desktop office applications, and data storage can be easily outsourced to a third-party provider like DataOne. All the client company needs is an Internet connection so they can access the applications they need. The server hardware are all stored and maintained by the IT infrastructure provider.
Such cloud computing services also save the company from obsolescence. Cloud service providers which employ best practices such as DataOne will entirely be responsible for the upkeep and the upgrade of the hardware and software being used by their clients.
CloudSecure, DataOne’s cloud offering for Enterprises, has been helping numerous customers manage their high IT turnover with its cloud-based off-site IT infrastructure.
“Outsourcing helps companies save on expenditure and operational problems in the future when they lose their key people, especially those who manage their IT infrastructure,” Rocke says.
“Most companies must be aware of the high IT turnover to prevent the risk of losing their key people. Whatever you can outsource, do it. When you outsource with the right provider, you are assured that you will be supported by highly-trained and equally qualified people who understands technology and who can do the job seamlessly for your company,” he says.
