In the post-pandemic era, uncertainty reigns. With all the confusion surrounding economic indicators and talk of recession in 2023, technology executives may face tough decisions in the early months of 2023. Technology executives are struggling to find the right talent while simultaneously worried about layoffs due to a possible recession.
If recent changes are any indication, technology executives have learned that change is inevitable and that remaining agile during difficult times helps the organization ride the waves of uncertainty. Whether it is the “great resignation” or quiet quitting, layoffs or talent shortages, cost reductions, or maybe even another wave of the lingering pandemic, tech execs need to remain focused, prepare for any challenge, and continue to focus on efforts around resilience and modernization. What is clear is that being proactive means being adaptive.
Invest In Your Employees
After the great resignation, many companies lost personnel vital to the organization. New hires are just now ramping up as replacements, and with possible layoffs in 2023, organizations could be facing a continued loss of crucial resources. Leadership is critical during staffing changes. Now is the time to invest in your employees by providing opportunities to develop skills, cross-train across teams, and provide career growth opportunities within the organization.
Invest In Automation
Automation continues to help organizations reduce the toil. Virtual agents have held a lot of promise to help organizations manage employee demand, but organizations have experienced less than stellar results. Vendors are listening to clients — who are demanding more out-of-the-box functionality instead of providing a platform and trying to develop the capability on their own. E-discovery of assets and automatic updates of assets in a configuration management database is now possible, and high-performing organizations have seen significant benefits from reliable asset data.
Make Knowledge Management A Priority
An effective knowledge management practice is always a good idea, but it is even more critical now during so much change. Organizations with strong knowledge management practices before the great resignation retained more institutional knowledge than those without effective knowledge management. As more change is likely, now is the time to invest in building an agile knowledge management practice that focuses on transactional knowledge and develops the capability to share and transfer tacit knowledge across the enterprise.
Continue To Embrace Lean And Agile In ITSM Practices
During times of uncertainty, organizations will need to be adaptive. Embracing lean and agile methods in your service management organization will allow tech execs to experiment, fail fast, and have quick feedback loops. Revisit OKRs and KPIs to align with the shorter feedback loops to ensure that tech execs have the correct information to make important strategic and tactical decisions. If possible, a view of the entire value stream will help to identify work in wait and allow leaders to allocate resources more effectively.
What is certain is that uncertainty is the norm. Technology execs must be able to adapt given increasingly mixed signals from the economy. If you want more information on what is essential to the technology executive, read my report, Executive Guide 2022: Technology Operations — Leading Operations Organizations Through Cultural And Technology Transformation, and watch the accompanying video.
Best wishes to all operational leaders in 2023.
Let’s Connect
Have questions? That’s fantastic. Let’s connect and continue the conversation! Please reach out to me through social media or request a guidance session. Follow my blogs and research at Forrester.com.
