Local governments across the country are facing challenges in hiring and maintaining their IT workforces. A recent NASCIO survey shows that workforce is the number three issue on this year’s top ten priorities for state CIOs. Competition from the private sector, aging workers, and new technologies all create difficulties for government IT departments. Leaders are challenged to not only deliver increasing digital services to their constituents, but are forced to do so with less talent.
Fortunately, cloud-based solutions can help mitigate these challenges by combining innovations such as hybrid work and simplified network management with on-the-job training.
By applying cloud-first strategies to workforce challenges, technology and agency tech partners can be at the forefront of helping IT leaders achieve a modern and efficient workforce.
Meeting workers where they are
The pandemic may have eased, but its lasting impact means agencies must ensure that workers can provide services wherever they are located. The relationship between government agencies and tech professionals has permanently changed, and the ability for technology to provide a hybrid working experience is shifting government approaches to hiring and maintaining talent.
Governments were forced to adopt new technology quickly during the pandemic to support their constituents’ needs, and while there were challenges, this modernization proved to be effective, if not overdue. This same technology is now changing the needs of agency workforces, but can also prove invaluable for assisting in hiring, employee retention, and career advancement.
By providing a flexible working environment, agencies can expand their hiring outside of central locations while allowing employees to choose where they work—and still ensure they have the tools and technology to provide services securely.
Simplifying IT management
As with hiring, the incorporation of new technology can also help simplify and automate tasks that remove the burden on the workforce. Hiring new talent isn’t always going to be possible, but in certain cases, leveraging technology can supplement the current employee output. By utilizing AI/ML to centralize network management, IT teams can ensure security, simplify IT operations, maximize efficiency, and troubleshoot issues remotely. This can free current employees to focus on other important responsibilities and drive agency IT innovation in service of constituents.
Empower and upskill IT teams
Giving employees flexibility in how they work and utilizing technology to help automate and simplify tasks can help reduce the workforce burden for governments. Empowering these same employees to learn new skills and roll out new technologies is the flip side of the coin in helping to ensure agencies are ready for the future. By working with tech partners to provide on-the-job-training, governments can maximize the talent of the current workforce without the need to create and hire for new roles.
Conclusion
Today’s technology is ever changing and keeping up with constant innovation can feel challenging. To remain agile, resilient, and innovative, state and local governments can benefit from a network-backed, cloud-first workforce strategy. Since each organization has unique needs, it’s important to identify your most urgent workforce challenges and opportunities first, then work backwards to choose the appropriate solution and vendor partner that best fits your organization’s needs. With the Cisco Meraki platform, you can grow and empower your IT teams to deliver positive constituent experiences with ease.
Read this whitepaper to learn how a cloud platform enables IT and business teams to work from anywhere, simplifies work for IT staff, and provides a path for IT skill development.