IT can help to minimize turnover and improve hiring of data center employees

The data center industry is booming, but the surging demand for the right personnel has left the actual number of qualified applicants lagging far behind. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that his will be solved by the industry anytime soon. A recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute predicted the gap between the number of necessary and available data center professionals will rise to nearly 200,000 before the end of 2018, according to Datanami. That's why it's important for companies that depend on an expertly run data facility to consider how to keep the qualified professionals they have on payroll and become more attractive to new talent that could be trained up into the next generation of IT management.

Prioritize big data expertise in training and hiring
The expanding need for dig bata experts is one of the primary drivers of the data center skills gap. According to Data Center Knowledge, key specialties include Apache Hadoop and Python, predictive analytics and information architecture. Thankfully, knowledge of which talent pools are likely to dry up the fastest is vital information for IT management. The information provides them with a leg up when it comes to deciding which applicants to focus on during hiring as well as which employees should be up for a raise in the coming months.

The inability to fulfill these positions if they become unexpectedly empty can also put companies in a tight spot if they've failed to plan ahead. That's why it's so important to invest in employees with big data experience now and encourage them to pass their expertise onto fellow employees. Investing in educating employees in these skills is another means of mitigating the skills shortage. It may take some time and energy to get employees up to speed but their skills development will certainly help out the company in the long run.

Keeping your data center live means making sure your staff stays happy and well-trained.

Make access easy for long-distance employees to widen the talent pool
Location is an especially pertinent consideration when it comes to limiting turnover of your data center specialists and attracting new talent, according to FacilitesNet. Areas with a high concentration of data center development, such as a city with a recent fiber-optic cable rollout or areas with high density populations are two of the most common spots to find the professionals your data center will need in the near future. Unfortunately, these spots also contain the highest number of competitors looking to attract the same candidates.

You and your team might be better off making your office available abroad over expecting top candidates to come to your location. Putting files and business-critical applications in the hands of employees working from home or from a branch office can be a cinch thanks to gear like remote console servers. Cloud storage services can also be used as a means of moving large amounts of information from one data center to another.

Know your limits and outsource when necessary
Not all data storage and reliability problems need to be taken care of in-house. In fact, part of your company's turnover woes may stem from an overburdened IT-staff. No one wants to spend time in a work environment that is so challenging that they feel overwhelmed on a daily basis. You can keep the stress of your IT team under control, and limit your chances of receiving disgruntled two weeks notice letters, by identifying workloads that could be cheaply outsourced to a reliable third-party storage provider.

Perle's wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.