What IT Departments Lack: “Visibility of Talent”
The challenges facing IT departments and DX organizations in Japanese companies go beyond chronic staffing shortages. A deeper structural issue lies in the lack of visibility into “who has what skills” and “who handles which tasks.”
While executives may know how many people are in their IT department, few companies can articulate the specific strengths and weaknesses of their teams. As a result, hiring, training, and external resource allocation become reactive, preventing IT investments from reaching their full potential.
In response to these challenges, Persol Tempstaff, in collaboration with PwC, has developed a “Talent Portfolio and Skill Assessment for IT/DX Departments” that offers a practical solution. This article explores how executives can design effective talent strategies for IT departments, using this case study as a starting point.
What Is a Talent Portfolio?
A talent portfolio is a method for categorizing organizational talent by axes such as “skills,” “experience,” and “roles,” visualizing the gap between current capabilities and future needs. Similar to financial portfolio management, it identifies imbalances and shortages to optimize risk and return.
In Persol Tempstaff’s case, each member of the IT/DX department underwent an assessment covering not only technical skills (e.g., programming languages, cloud knowledge) but also soft skills like project management and business acumen. Based on the results, a team-wide skill map was created, clarifying which areas to invest in and which to outsource.
For example, if a cloud migration project reveals a shortage of in-house AWS expertise, executives can decide whether to hire, train, or outsource to a partner. This moves beyond the vague “let’s just outsource” approach.
Three Benefits of Skill Assessments
This initiative offers three main advantages:
First, it clarifies training priorities. Instead of blanket measures like “send everyone to AI training,” targeted programs can address specific team weaknesses.
Second, it improves hiring accuracy. A skill map provides concrete criteria for the ideal candidate—not vague requirements like “3+ years of cloud experience,” but specific needs like “someone who can design serverless solutions using AWS Lambda.”
Third, it makes external resource use strategic. Whether to rely on outside help for missing skills or build them in-house becomes a data-driven decision balancing cost and time.
What Executives Need to Know: The Three Layers of IT Talent
A key insight is that IT talent should not be treated as a monolithic group but categorized by role. Based on experience, IT talent can be divided into three layers:
The first layer is “Operations and Maintenance.” This layer handles system stability and help desk support, falling under managed IT. It requires reproducibility and stability.
The second layer is “Development and Implementation.” This layer builds new systems and implements SaaS solutions, closer to business IT. Speed and flexibility are key.
The third layer is “Strategy and Design.” This layer designs IT as a solution to business challenges and creates overall architecture, forming the core of strategic IT. Business understanding and abstraction skills are essential.
In many companies, these three layers are mixed, leading to unclear talent portfolios. For instance, placing someone with only operations experience in a strategic design role can derail projects. Conversely, assigning strategic thinkers to daily operations can lower morale.
Persol Tempstaff’s case provides a concrete methodology for visualizing these layers and achieving the right fit for each role.
Overcoming Hurdles in Implementing Skill Assessments
Introducing skill assessments comes with challenges. The biggest is internal resistance—fears like “I’m scared of being evaluated” or “unclear criteria will cause dissatisfaction” are common.
To overcome this, it’s crucial to frame the assessment’s purpose as “growth” rather than “evaluation.” In Persol Tempstaff’s case, assessment results were linked to individual career development plans. Feedback like “Your strength is here, and this is what you should develop” was tied to personal growth plans, easing resistance.
Implementation methods also need care. Rather than rolling out company-wide immediately, start with a pilot in a small IT team, verify results, and then expand. Using specialized SaaS tools for skill management (e.g., Skill Navi or assessment features in learning platforms) can keep costs down.
Three Actions Executives Should Take Now
Based on the discussion above, here are three actions executives can start tomorrow:
First, have all IT department members fill out a simple sheet listing “what they can do” and “what they want to do.” Even a rough overview of current skill distribution is a good first step.
Second, require IT leaders to articulate “three strengths and three weaknesses of their team” and share them in executive meetings. This helps frame IT talent issues as business challenges.
Third, use external assessment services (e.g., consulting firms like PwC or Accenture, or skill-assessment SaaS) for periodic third-party diagnostics. This eliminates internal biases.
These actions don’t require large budgets or headcount. Starting with “visualization” is the fastest path to improving IT department productivity and achieving strategic IT.
Conclusion: Talent Portfolios Transform Business Decisions
Persol Tempstaff’s case shows that IT talent strategy can evolve from “vague hiring and training” to “data-driven business decisions.” Talent portfolios and skill assessments are not just HR tools—they are a management foundation for maximizing IT investment ROI.
When executives reposition IT from “something for experts” to “a strategic resource to design,” the first step is talent visibility. Without knowing what capabilities exist and what’s missing, effective DX and digitalization are impossible.
What talent portfolio does your company’s IT department have today? The answer will determine your next move.
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