The Supply Chain Matters blog provides supply chain management teams a caution regarding a growing demand and supply imbalance for technical development resources associated with transformation programs.
Many supply chain management and direct procurement professionals are acutely aware of the ongoing shortages of key materials among multiple industry supply networks.  The same could be stated for certain global transport assets with COVID-19 restrictions continuing among China’s major manufacturing centers and logistics networks.
However, there is a further increasingly concerning shortage which has to do with IT development and technical resources needed for either supply chain digital transformation or other tech development needs.
Our sources across supply chain technology software providers have reinforced that it is increasingly becoming very challenging to schedule software and Cloud IT infrastructure resources among a growing listing of customer projects. For certain industry focused projects, the scheduling of resources is problematic.
Tech providers have been actively collaborating with partners and system integrator firms to schedule such projects according to a particular customer timetable need.
A further factor was outlined in a report by The Wall Street Journal’s CIO Journal this week. (Paid subscription required) Noted is that wage inflation in the tech sector is accelerating pressuring technology providers to boost compensation or benefits for key roles.
This report indicates that in certain key technology roles such as data scientists among hot tech regions, compensation levels have risen by 20 percent or more.  Further noted is cited data from CompTIA indicating that that during the first quarter, U.S. employers posted 1.1 million tech jobs, an increase of 43 percent on a year over year basis. Other data cited indicates that for roles such as Cloud architects, there have been 25 percent salary increases since 2020. Average salary increases for software engineers reportedly increased 11 percent during this same period, and in hot markets such as Austin, Texas, the number can rise to as much as 30 percent. Further noted is that such trending is occurring in other regions such as Europe.
Reader Takeaway
Our reader takeaway is that if organizations are planning or contemplating supply chain automation efforts in the coming weeks and months, best to be aware that a supply and demand imbalance does exist on technical and program management levels, as well as added program costs.
Best to plan accordingly.
Bob Ferrari
