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In this day and age, IT staffing trends are dictated by two major influences: an increasing talent shortage and embracing remote work. For the most part, the changing agent of recent years has been the pandemic, which has upended everything, from work mode to the way businesses hire and retain employees. 

As a company that has been in software development staffing for more than a decade, we want to focus on the most significant trends that will affect how companies source and retain tech talent in the near future. 

Virtual teams

The pandemic has been “the perfect storm” for many companies looking to transition to a remote mode of work. Going hand-in-hand with this IT staffing trend, businesses continue to develop remote-first mindsets and establish effective remote-based practices. 

While building virtual teams can be a thorny path, especially when you do it on your own, advantages of this approach abound, from uncovering new sources of in-demand talent to optimizing budget by cutting back on costly overhead amenities. Here are some of the benefits: 

Discovering new pools of tech talent. By expanding the geographic radius of your talent search you can access a variety of skills, from generic ones (such as common programming languages) to more specific, in-demand skill sets (such as Cyber Security, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, IoT, etc). It’s worth mentioning that the pools of software engineers in Eastern Europe and Latin America we at nCube rely on, exceed 2 million specialists combined, which lets you source the right kind of talent quickly. 

READ ALSO: Offshore Product Development: Eastern Europe, Latin America or Asia?

Cutting development costs. Building a virtual team may take a lot of effort, especially without a vendor, but it’s worth it thanks to the benefit of budget optimization that comes with this approach. Without a doubt, virtual employees are less high-maintenance than your internal staff. With a vendor like nCube, you’ll get even more coverage, as we take care of building a stable and secure IT infrastructure and cover all IT staff retention services, from employee bonuses, insurance, HR support, team building, and more. 

READ ALSO: How to Reduce IT Development Costs 

Simplifying the hiring process. With a virtual team, you don’t have to worry about competing for cream-of-the-crop specialists with tech giants in your home market. If you choose us as your vendor, you will get a pool of pre-screened candidates, handpicked according to your vision of an ideal candidate. Moreover,  the decision to hire a candidate is always yours. 

IT staff retention

Alongside bringing in new clients, businesses today are faced with another significant challenge – IT staff retention. Company leaders need to deeply understand the needs of their tech staff to prevent attrition. 

As a company that builds teams of developers worldwide, we can say that many software engineers prioritize working with businesses that offer professional growth. So, if you want to attract the best people, it’s best to give them clear career development opportunities. 

Many developers want to learn new skills within their roles and work with the latest technologies. Working with a provider of IT staff like nCube, we will help you adapt to this demanding trend, as we strive to help each developer on your virtual team reach their professional goals while staying laser-focused working on your project.

Strong management is one more thing that’s of great importance in IT staff retention. If your company has the internal capacity to lead, motivate, and inspire a team of engineers, you’re unlikely to suffer from severe talent attrition as much as companies offering weaker management. 

If you care about IT staff retention, you should also know that engineers value effective collaboration processes. For their work to be fruitful, they need to communicate and collaborate in real time, using minimum tools. Convoluted processes impede the development process and put a damper on the motivation of engineers. So, be sure to establish effective collaboration processes,  so your employees don’t lose their job satisfaction. 

Above all, developers value flexibility. Many developers demand flexibility when it comes to managing their own schedules. Being part of virtual teams will let employees have the kind of autonomy where everyone can work with their own schedule and deliver timely results. If you want your team to work like a well-oiled machine, a vendor like nCube can help you set up all the right communications and processes. The teams we’ve built are testament to the fact that the virtual model helps deliver amazing results while contributing to the flexibility for all participants. 

READ ALSO: How to Manage Distributed Engineering Teams

Software development staffing: Cybersecurity talent

Sourcing cyber security talent is one of the key IT staffing trends, given that protecting company data is of paramount importance nowadays. In light of cybersecurity staff shortages and the need for niche backgrounds, accessing such talent can be extremely challenging in this competitive job market.

Lack of talent is the prime reason for organizations not meeting their cybersecurity needs. If you can’t find the needed skills within the company you may consider the first IT staffing trend we highlighted in this post – building a virtual team to scale security support faster. One of the common practices suggested by McKinsey is to build a core internal team with expertise in company-specific activities while delegating other cybersecurity functions to a vendor of IT staff. 

Your cybersecurity team needs to be flexible and adapt to new challenges, as new risks appear almost every day. With that in mind, it’s recommended to create a dedicated strategy to source and retain cybersecurity talent that takes into account critical risks and priorities. 

READ ALSO: Taking your Big Data Offshore: Why You Need an External Big Data Team

A bonus IT staffing trend: Adaptability

Nowadays organizations are looking for solutions to help them thrive in a rapidly changing world. In many cases, it means becoming more flexible when it comes to recruitment and IT staff retention. IT staffing through a vendor like nCube lets you adapt effectively to an increasingly remote world. Our approach to building virtual development teams allows businesses to communicate and work closely with their remote staff on a daily basis, retaining team control by overseeing the workflows and processes first-hand. Contact us and let’s see if the approach to software development staffing we offer is the right path for you.