It was my first IT job at a tech company when the industry hit a “bump” that led to massive layoffs. As a recently hired junior staff member, I was nervous — and I became even more nervous when the IT director brought in an outside consultant to evaluate the organization.
I remember the all-IT staff meeting we had, and those oft-cited words that IT staff members still hear today whenever a reorganization is underway: “It just makes sense.”
I did lose my job — and the feeling in that moment stayed with me throughout my career. For indeed, as a CIO, I was also faced with tough choices when the company wasn’t meeting sales targets and I had to lay off staff members.
This brings us to AI, which will affect human workers in ways that are yet unknown. To get a handle on how this might play out, let’s examine how AI is being used in key areas of IT and what it could mean for staff.
Lights-out Operations
Automation with AI can run nightly computer processing and can even effect automatic failovers when systems fail. Automation and AI can likewise automate storage management, seamlessly moving data to very fast solid-state drives or to super-slow disk drive storage based on the data storage rules that IT sets. Tiered storage automation reduces the need for human computer operations and storage staff.
Network Management
AI and automation now monitor and administer routine network operations, automatically provisioning and deprovisioning network resources based on rule sets defined by IT. User access credentials are also automatically verified. This eliminates many routine IT network tasks. However, there is still network architecture strategy and design, policy development, technology upgrades, satellite 5G networks, the management of hybrid cloud and on-premises networks, and the need for network personnel to physically go out to edge computing sites to assist users and resolve glitches that cannot be solved remotely. For the foreseeable future, it’s likely that network staff will be able to redeploy their expertise.
Help Desk
Help desk ticketing, status reports, and workflows are now largely automated. They keep users better informed than human help desk agents do. Because the help desk is historically understaffed, it’s not likely that help desk personnel will be displaced by automation and AI. Instead, help desk personnel will be able to focus on the really difficult issues to resolve, and they’ll be able to spend more quality time with their end-user customers, and with the areas of IT (e.g., systems, database, applications, networks) that they work with on a daily basis. It’s unlikely that help desk personnel will be displaced.
Security
AI monitoring and the issuing of security alerts are already in place at most companies, and a growing number of organizations are also implementing automated software management that can rapidly apply a security fix to an OS flaw to a plethora of different desktop and mobile devices.
These automation tools are major “wins” for the IT security staff because they enable staff to commit more time to security policy development and enactment, devise security approaches for hybrid networks, strategize security enforcement for AI, focus on insider security threats, and develop skills in security forensics. The security staff will also be called on to train and support edge computing para-IT workers in remote manufacturing plants, offices, and warehouses. Security professionals remain in high demand. It’s unlikely that security staff will be reduced by AI and automation anytime soon.
Application Development
The growth of no-code and low-code application development, with AI assisting users, could reduce the need for application developers and potentially business analysts in IT. Additionally, companies are also opting for more generic software, placing less emphasis on custom applications. This is a group that could see reductions.
Infrastructure, Database, QA and Testing
Containerization automation is reducing the amount of infrastructure creation work handled by system programmers, but there is still a need to customize these containers for optimal performance on networks. Add to this the need to customize infrastructure in general for optimal enterprise performance, and the systems programming group will remain in high demand and is unlikely to be replaced by automation or AI.
Similarly, DBAs and senior data analysts are unlikely to be replaced, as there is significant custom work and tuning that need to be done in areas such as data enablement and safekeeping — tasks that tools like extract, transform, and load can’t automate on their own.
Areas where staff reductions could occur are in QA test script automation and the automated provisioning and setup of test databases and partitions for programmers when they are unit-testing their apps.
What CIOs Can Do to Ease Staff Transitions
Here are four best practices for easing IT staff anxiety if you have to reorganize:
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Tell it straight. Don’t let the rumor mill start spinning and risk distorting your messages. As soon as possible, get your staff members together and tell them what’s going on. It’s advisable to avoid the age-old adage that it just makes sense” when you are talking to staff members who could lose their jobs. To these people, and to their colleagues who are worried about them, it won’t make sense.
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Do your best to redeploy (not excise) your staff. If staff reductions are in the cards for computer operations or applications, there’s plenty that these people already know about the business and IT. Do everything possible to place them in other IT positions and provide training if possible. They won’t be the only ones who notice the effort. The rest of your staff will, too.
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If you have to lay people off, support them. I’ve worked with several companies that have gone out of their way to assist employees they laid off by providing help in developing resumes and, in some cases, even finding employment placements for them elsewhere.
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Communicate, communicate, communicate. It’s not enough to hold one IT staff meeting and inform everyone about what’s happening and how it will unfold. Understandably, staff will be anxious, so during an IT reorganization, it’s important to “manage by walking around” and keep open communication channels with everyone at all times. Whether the news is good or bad, your staff will appreciate the candor.
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