Tackling HK’s IT Talent Gap In 2024

Digital workplace solutions (DWS) have proven essential for business success. This was the case during the pandemic but is set to become more prominent in 2024. With an increasingly digital landscape to meet customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX) needs, the demand for a service-driven DWS will be more evident in 2024. This is the key takeaway at the recent Lenovo Leaders Circle Luncheon in Hong Kong, sponsored by Microsoft.

The event gathered IT and digital leaders to discuss the new value of delivering a digital workplace amid the changing way of work and a challenging economy. It kickstarted with Jonathan Cheng, head of strategy and sales for Hong Kong and Macau at Lenovo Hong Kong, offering a compelling welcome remark. He also set the stage by raising the top challenges many IT executives in Hong Kong shared—talent shortage and budget constraints.

A challenging 2023

The problem of talent shortage is real in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce survey stated that 74% of local business leaders reported they needed more talent. Cheng added the demand for IT talents has been a constant struggle, which intensified in 2023 with the rise of digitalization and user expectations.

He said this challenge, combined with the restrained finance resources, stretches the limited IT workforce to the maximum. “Today, we’d like to share some ideas to address these two issues,” he said.

Cheng’s observation was echoed by Trishan De Lanerolle, Hong Kong-based senior manager at global management consulting firm Sia Partners. He added that Hong Kong often serves as a regional hub for businesses, meaning IT teams are required to support local and regional offices with different maturity and needs.

“Managing different markets’ expectations and requirements in a sustainable way and still allocating the right technology resources is a real challenge for many IT leaders,” he said.

EX for business and IT workforce

On top of managing different market maturities, IT leaders must also support users with different tech-savviness, added Wayne Cheng, senior services solutions leader, Hong Kong & Macau, Lenovo Hong Kong.

Despite the rising popularity of digital tools, many local companies still have a large workforce that works with legacy processes and tools. “Simply look at the supermarket check-out lines. While some are comfortable using self-check-out counters, many still prefer to line up at the cashier,” he said.

Cheng said enabling users with technology is the essence of a business delivering EX. However, providing EX for business users is often compensated by the EX of the IT teams, as they are faced with more workload and fewer resources. He quoted Gartner’s study that indicated 60% of IT leaders think talent shortage is the top challenge for adopting emerging technologies.

This is particularly true in Hong Kong. De Lanerolle said the rising user demand on performance, instant responses, continuous improvement, and increasing cybersecurity threats put IT leaders and their teams under immense pressure.

Transforming the workforce in 2024

Although the experts painted a rather grim picture, they also offered insights into the solutions.

“One way of dealing with the problem is to take the existing capabilities and transform your IT team into an internal consulting house,” said De Lanerolle. By upskilling the IT team from technology execution into strategy development, he said they can manage demands in a proactive approach rather than responding to different spontaneous requests.

Nevertheless, transforming the IT workforce could only happen with technologies like DWS. Cheng said Lenovo Digital Workplace Solutions is beyond a suite of solutions consisting of endpoint devices and collaboration software supported by Microsoft Windows 11. He added that the ability to provide instant and remote technology support to users has become a crucial aspect of Lenovo’s DWS.

DWS to the rescue

The service desk provides remote troubleshooting and resolves initial technology issues, saving valuable time and resources for the internal IT team. With DWS providers, like Lenovo, with multiple presences across the region, businesses can offer prompt assistance to users regardless of their geographical locations, leading to enhanced productivity and user satisfaction.

In addition, more users have personal preferences and demands for specific device features. The service desk support coupled with Device-as-a-Service (DaaS) allows IT teams to offload the tedious jobs of device upgrade, configuration, maintenance, degauss, and disposal. Cheng said these services provide a one-stop solution for technical support and device lifecycle management, empowering IT teams with higher productivity and enabling users with better experiences.

With enhanced experience for both the users and IT workforce, De Lanerolle said businesses are also better positioned to recruit and retain talents for their continuous digital journey. “DWS is a huge part of digital transformation,” he said. “The digital journey is important not only to meet employee experience but also for achieving customer experience.”

He noted enhancing employee experience is the foundation for productivity and efficiency, which translates into delivering better customer experiences.

Proven digital success

According to Cheng, these benefits of a service-driven DWS are proven among Lenovo’s customers, including a global professional services company. 

As a financial audit and tax advisory service provider, this customer faced seasonal demand fluctuations for talent and devices. It turned to Lenovo initially for DaaS and end-user services to support its 11,700 devices across 13 regional offices. The service helped the customer reduce stock holding and device management costs during the low seasons, significantly lowering its TCO by 15%. With the support of device upgrades in DaaS, user satisfaction was also lifted to 90%.

This initial success has allowed Lenovo to expand its service scope to include unified endpoint management (UEM). Cheng said this patch management and device management service enhanced the customer’s protection, allowing peace of mind for the IT team to expand the company’s digital landscape.

Trusted advisor

He added that this successful case demonstrates the importance of finding the right advisor when developing a digital workplace.

“Select a trusted advisor to go through the journey with you from the planning, designing, building, and deploying a digital workplace,” said Cheng.

He said riding on its success as the number one PC supplier in the world, Lenovo has developed into an all-round end-to-end DWS provider. The offering includes the provision, maintenance, and security of endpoint devices and collaboration software.

On top of these qualities, De Lanerolle suggested IT leaders should also be honest with the business’ maturity level. Having the most innovative technologies is not always helpful if the business does not have the appropriate processes and user readiness. IT leaders should understand the fundamentals for the business to succeed.

“Not all businesses are ready to take advantage of the latest innovative technologies in their digital journeys. Be very honest with where you are now and where you want to be in the future in the digital workplace journey," De Lanerolle concluded.

Image credit: iStockphoto/Urbanscape