While many companies are implementing cost-cutting measures and laying off talent, they are still focused on critical initiatives like the Cloud Transformation. Despite the growth in demand, there is a significant shortage of skilled Cloud talent in the market.  

It is anticipated that the global demand for Cloud talent will grow by 50% by 2026. Demand for critical job roles such as a ‘Cloud Security Engineer’ has grown by 3.5% in January 2023 alone. 

Furthermore, the technology stack of the Cloud has significantly evolved in the past few years, with New Age skillsets becoming a priority for global companies seeking Cloud Talent. 

Additionally, companies are finding it challenging to recruit and retain top Cloud talent due to the high demand for skilled professionals. 

However, there are certain cost-effective talent strategies that can help organizations build a New-Age Cloud Workforce in 2023.  

Reasons for Rise in Cloud Talent Demand  

Optimizing Budgets

Optimizing budgets allocated to Cloud services, such as SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, is essential for organizations to avoid overspending on Cloud resources. Companies know that proper budget allocation can result in the efficient utilization of cloud resources. It can also help minimize costs without compromising performance, security, or compliance. 

Focus on Judicious Utilization

By judiciously utilizing Cloud resources, businesses can streamline their workflows, eliminate manual tasks, and optimize resource allocation. This results in improved productivity, faster time-to-market, and enhanced customer experience while reducing operational costs. 

Increased Management Activities

The increasing complexity of Hybrid Cloud and Multi-Cloud environments has resulted in increased management activities for organizations. Managing multiple Cloud environments requires advanced management to monitor, manage and optimize resources effectively.  

The complexity can lead to increased operational costs and security risks, making it critical for organizations to adopt efficient management practices. 

Fixing Security Issues

The growing use of IoT and Edge computing has resulted in an increased need for organizations to address vulnerabilities and security issues. These technologies enable data collection and processing, making them vulnerable to cyber-attacks.  

Organizations need to implement robust security measures and regularly update their systems to prevent data breaches and protect their networks from cyber-attacks. 

Cost-Effective Strategies to Build a New-Age Cloud Workforce 

Leveraging Global Hotspots

The demand for cloud talent is growing rapidly due to the increasing adoption of cloud technology. However, finding and hiring the right cloud talent is still challenging. 

One way to overcome this challenge is by leveraging global hotspots for cloud talent. These hotspots hold a high concentration of cloud talent and include San Francisco, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and New York, with 1.06 Million Cloud professionals. 

By tapping into these hotspots, organizations can access a pool of highly skilled cloud professionals and benefit from their expertise as well as explore remote hiring options. 

Globalization

To build a high-performing cloud team, organizations can consider setting up global capability centers (GCCs). Expanding or setting up global capability centers can help save up to USD 6 Million for a scalable cloud team. 

By setting up a GCC for the cloud, organizations can build a team of cloud professionals that work collaboratively across different geographies, leveraging each other’s strengths and expertise.  

This approach will allow organizations to access a global talent pool, optimize their resources, and improve collaboration and knowledge sharing. It will also help develop a standardized and streamlined approach to cloud adoption on a global scale. 

Hiring from IT Services Companies

IT services companies are known for their expertise in cloud technologies and have a large pool of skilled professionals with experience in various cloud platforms. 

Thus, organizations can access a pool of cloud talent that has already been trained and certified in cloud technologies, reducing the time and cost of recruitment and training. 

Additionally, IT services companies can provide organizations with resources and expertise for cloud migration, deployment, and management, helping organizations accelerate their cloud adoption journey. 

Leverage Gig Economy

Organizations looking to build a cloud talent team can consider leveraging the gig economy or part-time workers with cloud expertise. This a talent pool that is available on demand and offers a range of specialized skills necessary to achieve Cloud goals. 

By leveraging the gig economy, organizations can access a global pool of cloud professionals with diverse skill sets and experience levels without spending on owned Infrastructure. 

This approach allows organizations to access cloud talent on a project-by-project basis, reducing fixed costs, increasing agility, and scaling their cloud talent team as needed. 

Reskilling Internal IT talent

Many skills that IT professionals possess, such as programming, networking, and cybersecurity, are transferable to cloud computing. Thus, disrupted IT jobs can be reskilled to in-demand cloud roles. 

By investing in reskilling programs, organizations can train their existing IT workforce in cloud technologies, reducing the need for external recruitment and improving employee retention.  

Additionally, reskilling can help organizations build a strong cloud workforce with a deep understanding of their business processes, culture, and operations. 

Upskilling Existing Cloud Talent

By investing in upskilling programs, organizations can equip their cloud talent with the latest skills and knowledge to optimize cloud infrastructure, improve security, and innovate.  

Upskilling can include training in emerging cloud technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics, as well as cloud-specific certifications.  

Furthermore, upskilling can be customized to fit the unique needs of an organization, ensuring that cloud talent has the skills required to support business objectives.

The Bottomline 

In conclusion, building a new-age cloud workforce can be challenging and expensive, but it is critical to remain competitive in the rapidly evolving technology landscape.  

By implementing cost-effective talent strategies, organizations can find or build the cloud talent they need to drive cloud transformation across industries. Each strategy discussed above can help organizations reduce recruitment costs, improve employee retention, and scale their cloud talent team as needed.  

Draup is an AI-powered talent intelligence platform that delivers HR leaders with data-backed insights into the global talent pool, cost modeling, and reskilling pathways suitable to manage talent faster and drive company-wide reskilling initiatives or hire quality talent.