Managed Architecture Services – addressing the skills shortage

VedArc

May 15, 2024

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5 min

Why

Architecture is a critical component of your transformation plan. Architecture for the cloud is where your business vision and operating model will be translated to cloud-oriented design patterns that guide the transformation of systems to your target state. With good design, governance of delivery can sequence your change projects along deliberate roadmaps that underpin your transformation.

Unfortunately, the importance of this function is matched by the scarcity of experienced cloud enterprise architects. Further, the chronic supply shortage for a broad range of digital skills is set to remain for the medium term because:

While borders are now open, it is faster for local talent to take advantage of opportunities offshore than for migrants to enter the country productively – the result is effectively a brain drain of departing IT skills
The megatrends toward cloud-based services and solution outsourcing that are affecting enterprises and society for everything-as-a-service is fueling digital transformation and broad demand for digital skills
The number of agencies and enterprises embarking on digital transformation journeys through the cloud is set to accelerate further with the growth in onshore hyperscale infrastructure
Onshore hyperscale infrastructure will complete the suite of cloud deployment options available for agencies and enterprises but also make for a complex landscape of hybrid-multi-cloud solutions from the edge to public cloud – complexity that needs careful navigation, again growing demand for skills.

The impact of these factors on the market is to drive costs up, increase quality related risk, as well as slow timelines and attenuate the path to benefits and ROI.

What

To mitigate the risk to your transformation programme, you will need to be strategic and approach the issue creatively. Classical responses include:

more attractive remuneration and packages for staff
increased flexibility in working arrangements
and increased training and active career path development to retain loyal talent.

An additional tactic is to source critical skills in new ways – as a service. Subscribing to cloud architectural services, or Managed Architectural Services (MAS), can give you access to senior, experienced talent at a more affordable cost without competing for the staff or carrying the overhead associated with direct employment. Sourcing through MAS can give you more flexibility in matching cost to benefit and skills to specific design challenges. Providers with a practice-based approach to MAS can also increase your confidence where they take responsibility for quality assurance and continuity. Unlike project based consultancy, your architectural influence can be maintained with design skills embedded from a flexible pool of resources; integrated into your operating model.

Outcome

MAS extends the everything-as-a-service notion to offer enterprises an additional option to address the issue of scarcity of critical architectural skills at this important time for transformation. Combined with a strategy for recruitment and training, this approach could help avoid resource based delays to achieving the outcomes sought from new cloud based models.