Is there any way out to the Oracle talent shortage?

 
 

 

Let’s admit it. The shortage of tech talent is not new. CEOs around the world have been expressing this concern for the last ten years.
According to a recent Gartner survey, IT executives see the talent shortage as the most significant barrier to adopting new technologies.
On the other hand, the need to surf the digital transformation wave is a fact, it is happening, and technology investments records in different industries and regions, even during and after the pandemic, confirm the general view that adopting new technologies is now a basic need in order to survive.
So here’s the thing: these transformations require qualified staff, and the demand is higher than the talent available. The reality is also that the pandemic has induced people, in turn to reassess what they want out of work (a better-quality life), or to continuously evaluate the options available in the market more frequently than they did before.
So, what could companies do to get appropriate talent for their Oracle projects? Are they forced to take a huge risk and carry out a project with under-skilled resources?
There’s still hope, and making use of some creativity, when reaching out to talent could save the day.
Here are some alternatives we recommend:

1) Invest in your own team. Upskill your staff.
The lack of talent is not only happening to you but also to consulting services firms. So, one of the ways to bridge the risk gap is reinforcing your own team instead of demanding the vendor’s team to be a 100% perfect, which will never be possible.
You could hire some experts during the project time and gain a lot more control of what is being done, adjust deviations on time, and also take ownership carrying out certain key tasks in the project, instead of delegating them to your service provider.
Investing in your own team will decrease the project risk, and, at the same time, ensure that “knowledge” remains in the company. In addition, these experts could make a plan to fully train the rest of your employees, consequently being in much better shape in terms of internal knowledge when it is time for the new system to go-live.

2) Apply the “bubble method” in your project.
There’s no consulting firm good at everything and if you see the project as connected “bubbles” the possibilities of having good experts in all the project areas increase.
Try re-thinking the big and typical project team with a different approach. Ask yourself
these questions, and find out the benefits of dividing the project into small pieces:
Do I need a consulting firm in all areas? Or is my internal team capable of taking the ownership of certain tasks?
We don’t have Oracle skills, true, but we do have a capable and strong IT team…then what if we hire an Oracle dev/integrations expert for complementing our own team, and this way, we carry out all integration tasks instead of the consulting firm? Cheaper and less risky, isn´t it?
Is the consulting firm telling me everything I need to know in advance? What if I had an advisor, for reviewing contracts with me, and for helping me with good and strong planning?
Reporting: the service provider’s quoted amount for all reporting needs is surprisingly high. What if I hire a development expert in Oracle reporting tools, and this way we can internally do all reporting?
Our Finance team has few availability…they are never ready for an implementation project and that fact delays the company digital transformation…could I hire an Oracle Finance expert, for helping them covering that gap? The expert could push the decisions, do testing as a key user, and help validating finance processes, so the risk of doing those important tasks lightly disasters.

3) Hire globally
The pandemic has demonstrated already hiring globally is possible: two whole years of remote projects that are live and have been successful. You can now apply this mode more confidently.
Consider Oracle Services companies that have offices in other countries farther from home when searching for tech talent, and you will surely see there are more alternatives for you.
When choosing this way, you will need to be a bit careful, though. Bear the following in mind:
o Language barrier and time zones do matter!: Projects are already too complicated to add communication issues or different working hours to the equation. Consulting companies that offer bilingual consultants with proven experience and are in your same time-zone are always a better choice.
o Watch out! You might feel tempted to hire freelancers: this is a limited solution at a higher risk and recruiting effort, as many times it is hard to get real references, check credentials, or control that people are actually working as they as supposed to.
o Don’t get fooled by consulting companies hiring freelancers: this is a reality, and if this happens, you will be facing the same risk as when hiring independent consultants directly, and even paying higher rates! Simply ask for employment records and you will realize if they were hired a minute ago or not.
Having spent more than two decades working with Oracle applications and customers, and hiring talent in this rapidly changing tech world, I can tell it has never been actually easy to find “a good consultant”.
Our incomparable expertise in understanding Oracle implementations, software, localization, business needs makes a huge difference when advising our clients. That is our value added, and this is why we can gather a project team for you and plan your digital transformation project.

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