2022 is for migrating careers to the cloud
It’s no secret the Covid-19 crisis has vastly accelerated the rate of tech adoption. If we look at cloud computing alone, we see an increase of around 15% in only two years’ time: from 80% in 2019 to 95% in 2021. Put simply: the next normal has arrived, and there’s no way back. Which raises the question: how does that impact our daily business? Will we soon have to replace entire IT departments with robots? The short answer is no. But let me give you a slightly longer one.
Stefan Bovy
Director Cloud Service Center
When jobs become redundant, there’s roughly two strategies you can adopt. Either you will be saying goodbye to a whole group of people, or you invest in your people through reskilling. The first option seems often the easiest way out, but I guarantee it puts pressure on confidence in the management's ability to anticipate and is not the smartest choice in today’s tight labour market either. The second one is the route we’ve chosen to take at Proximus. Because it's a more sustainable HR practice to put people over profit. Because we want to foster an agile and collaborative culture within our organisation. And because if we want to be a pioneering company, we need to be able to evolve.
Get your head in the clouds
So, how do you migrate careers to the cloud? The first step is a mentality switch. You need to come to terms with the fact that you need to let go of old technologies and old habits and start adopting new ones. After all, just like Thomas Edison said, genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. It’s time to put in the work. Be open to this new world, the new possibilities that come with it and look forward!
Start living on the edge
The second step is to start mapping out new business opportunities. And it is not just about changes in the area of technology. The accompanying evolution of the customer experience is at least as profound. Which skills do you need to maximise your potential? What expertise do you already have in-house and what areas are currently left blank? How are you going to define new roles and responsibilities within your organisation? At Proximus, we decided to seize new opportunities by mastering ten technology areas – from hybrid cloud management to edge computing and customer experience.
Become the architect of your own success
Third, it’s time to start looking for the people who are ready for a change … and those who aren’t. Which positions do you keep, which ones need to go, and which ones still need to be filled in? Some of your employees might be best left where they are. Some might be more open to learning new skills than others. The challenge is to match the organisational needs to the individual needs of the employees as much as possible. Up to you to sharpen your match-making skills, invest in training and work out a transition plan.
Next step? Repeat steps two and three. Because we’re only at the tip of the iceberg. The market share of cloud computing in Belgium doubled between 2016 and 2020 and is expected to double again by 2024.
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