This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

Data analytics, digital transformation, conversational platforms and cybersecurity will be the most dynamic sectors of 2019.

Randstad Technologies, a comprehensive HR provider in the IT environment, has forecast the main trends in the sector for the year 2019. In its study, it has detected the five profiles most demanded during 2019: data scientist; scrum master & DevOps; developers of conversational platforms; business analyst; and cybersecurity and ethical hacking consultants. In addition, the continuous development and the capacity for permanent adaptation are the main challenges that these professionals face in order to continue to be the most attractive profiles for companies.

1. The Importance of Data Analytics

During 2019 data analytics will continue to be of great importance in a massive and real time, given the investments that are taking place and their importance in the business processes. According to the consultancy Gartner, the first investment priority of IT managers in the public sector will be data analytics (43%), followed by cybersecurity (43%). %) and cloud solutions and services (39%). Therefore, the market will continue to request professionals such as data scientist and business analyst, able to understand the value of data, manage them and build processes and technology models based on them.

2. Digital transformation as a driving force for the sector

The companies will continue this year with their digital transformation processes as a way to differentiate themselves in their sector and offer a better service to the customers. In this sense, companies will require profiles that are capable of designing and implementing these digital transformation processes. The need for digitization of companies, both in internal processes and in the offer of products and services, will increase the incorporation of profiles with digital experience and specialized training.

3. Focus on conversational platforms

Digitization will continue to have a fundamental importance in customer service in 2019, so companies that want to compete in a privileged position will have to explore and innovate in communication channels. In this sense, chatbots and virtual voice assistants will be vital tools to be able to offer a good service to the users. For this reason, developers of conversational platforms will again be a trend for recruiters. The companies request professionals capable of designing and executing strategies for the implementation of different robots and projects related to machine learning, capable of talking to customers, users and stakeholders. Tools that contribute to the improvement of the customer or user experience, such as chatbot, will receive a significant boost in 2019.

4. An essential: cybersecurity and ethical hacking

The debate between the need to protect our privacy and the functionality of technology in an intensely interconnected world is still very present and companies are not going to be unaware of it. The scarce investment made so far will motivate a notable increase in the demand for cybersecurity-related profiles and the generation of technological hubs capable of supporting global companies. Profiles, moreover, that will be required for all those projects related to blockchain technology.

In addition to these profiles, the IT sector will continue to request application developers and testers of the same. A demand that corresponds not so much to the activation of new projects as to the rotation and the war of talent of the sector.

5. Adaptability, flexibility and agility, highly valued soft skills

Randstad Technologies also highlights the most required competencies within the IT industry. In this line, in 2019 will be especially valued the ability of adaptation, flexibility, agility and efficiency in collaborative models. These are soft skills, competencies that do not come from academic training in general.

On the other hand and in terms of knowledge, fluent communication, negotiation skills and English (essential), continue to grow as the most taken into account.

Challenges for talent management, employer branding as a solution

Digitization becomes a tool of great importance in the management of a talent as specialized as the one required in this sector. According to Rubén Berrocal, national director of Randstad Technologies, "The continuous development of people has become the key to digitization, and the ability of teams to adapt permanently to new models and working environments is one of the priorities."

Another fundamental milestone is to make organizations as complex as those in the current ones in motors agile enough to coexist labor models and antagonistic profiles. In this way they will be, at the same time, efficient in a moment of constant change but without abandoning the values ​​and the essence that defines them.

In short, the efficient management of human resources involves attracting and retaining the talent of the younger generations, whose demands and needs will be very different from the more advanced age profiles. The scarcity of these profiles motivates that their loyalty is an essential factor, a point where the employer branding is positioned as a determinant.

"Implementing new working models requires a preliminary diagnosis of the starting point and aspiration, in order to trace the course and the tools to be implemented. In some organizations will be work/life balance policies, in others, the implementation of process automation, in others, efficient training to develop talent, and in others, by building an efficient process on which technology will then settle," highlights Rubén Berrocal.

This article was written and published in Spanish and has been translated into English via Google Translate. Click here to read the original article.

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