How An IT ‘Skills Cloud’ Works

Cloud collates. If the use of cloud computing based software services and systems gives us one thing, it is the ability to centralize and collate information sources into a combined amalgam that is often bigger than the sum of the parts which make it up. When we apply this unification process through a toughened set of management controls to a particular data type and set of information sources, then we can analyze, extrapolate and elucidate to make decisions from massive sets of data beyond the scope of any human capabilities.

Many of our cloud network functions are designed to analyze business-related quantifiers from profit to performance parameters; additionally, other layers of analytics are turned introspectively back upon our technology networks themselves in order to assess IT system health and look for vulnerabilities and potential misconfigurations. A further slew of systematic software system scrutinization is focused on the market, the supply chain and the behavior of customers.

But one higher (or perhaps lower) base-level function also needs to be considered as a cloud commodity if we are to cross the chasm towards so-called digital transformation - people.

Building skills clouds

The global Human Resources (HR) and Human Capital Management (HCM) industry likes is call this process the creation of a skills cloud, a technology proposition that may also be known as a talent cloud, a competency cloud or perhaps even an ability index. In reality, there are no skills clouds, there are just cloud computing applications and data storage instances tasked with intelligently storing, integrating, classifying and interpreting information (now of course with Artificial Intelligence) related to people and their abilities - but, regardless of reality, the term has been coined.

Working to provide what it claims is an end-to-end platform (presumably meaning people-to-jobs) to match specifically technical talent with companies seeking to bolster capacity and skill sets is Andela. Pronounced ‘and-ela’ (not like Mandela) the company says that its talent cloud technology is not the same as other approaches to hiring such as in-house recruiting, consulting firms, and outsourcing.

According to Jeremy Johnson, Andela CEO and co-founder, “[This technology] allows IT organizations to scale quickly with a highly elastic resource pool and flexible hiring options, to find the right talent for the right role, at the right speed and cost. The platform streamlines the complete hiring lifecycle, helping companies source, qualify, hire, manage and pay global technical talent in one integrated platform. The entire hiring process can take as little as 48 hours and be 30% to 50% more cost efficient.”

Borderless IT staff

Johnson insists that organizations today realize that rewriting their workforce strategies to include global, remote tech talent offers a distinct competitive advantage. It’s what is being called the use of ‘borderless’ technology staff.

Analyst house Gartner estimates that the rate of hiring borderless technology staff has doubled in the last three years, as increasing retention and hiring has risen in recent times. Senior analyst Gabriela Vogel thinks that the pandemic also accelerated borderless hiring and what began as an exception, is no longer a remote instance (technology pun not intended, but entertaining nonetheless) today.

Gartner defines a 'borderless workforce' as talent working remotely from different countries based on an employment contract made across national borders.

At the core of the Andela Talent Cloud is the Talent Decision Engine (TDE), powered by AI and data-driven matching algorithms to pair the ideal tech talent to client-specific roles and skills requirements. This software learns from thousands of data points across the hiring lifecycle, assessing a broad data set including both hard and soft skills, experience, title, geography, work preferences, language proficiency, candidate interactions, client feedback, for each every job position.

“The TDE reduces bias and subjectivity from the recommendation and matching process for each candidate presented for review and acceptance, to ensure a fairer and more accurate match to the job requirements,” said Johnson and team. “Further, the TDE continually evolves for each client by analyzing their interactions across the marketplace, enabling the platform to get smarter in how it qualifies and matches the right talent for the required role and skills, and for future project work.”

AndelaPay manages global payouts, with currency exchange and compliance in over 100 countries to ensure that people get paid. Workers are paid out directly in USD into a partner wallet of their choice and clients are thus insulated from any FX risk.

As an additional technology at work here, Andela Connect provides integrations to several popular Application Tracking Systems (ATS) and Vendor Management Systems (VMS). With its latest release of the Andela Talent Cloud, integrations are available for Greenhouse (an applicant hiring and tracking software platform), Beeline (an external talent engagement and tracking software platform) and Fieldglass (an external workforce VMS used to manage contractors and freelance workers, owned by SAP since 2014). These integrations allow clients to link job postings on their website or LinkedIn to connect to Andela Talent Cloud to begin the matching process against the Andela Talent Network.

Our automated future

Will all IT staff workforce management be this way one day? We’re unlikely to see a total shift towards software and system engineering automation until we really start to live on Mars, but that said… the deeper trend to provide technology talent through technology platform tools enjoys an obvious level of proximity and many jobs can be performed by people located anywhere on the planet, which obviously also helps 24x7 follow-the-sun services provision.

Despite the river of borderless IT staff employees, we should all still be able to phone IT and get in touch with technical support in the future, but if it all gets too robotic, try turning it off and turning it back on again.