Boomer Retirement Threatens Legacy Systems- 7 Steps to Protect Your IT Investment Now
By Karl Kleinbach
In our January article “The 2007 Midrange Jobs Market - A Perfect Storm?” we discussed the pending exodus of the Baby Boomer generation from the workforce and it’s impact on the job market and careers. Forrester Group has recently released a report focusing on a much more serious facet of this demographic shift; who’s going to mind the store when their gone?
Will College Grads Pick Up the Slack?
Not likely, students watched as companies outsourced anything they could overseas and have been abandoning IT degree programs in droves. Many 4 year degree programs have seen a drop of 40-70% in enrollment. What’s more, of those students who did pursue an IT degree most have not elected to study COBOL development, significantly adding to their learning curve should they be hired to replace experienced personnel.
So What Can Be Done Now?
Forrester Group suggests seven steps that IT Management can take to protect their legacy system investments.
- Make sure that the corporate executives, board members and key decision makers are aware of this problem and actively working on a solution. IT should be the catalyst to a solution.
- Determine the positions within the IT department that are at greatest risk when retirement comes. Make this the first topic addressed in go forward plans.
- Average the ages of employees in key roles. Companies with an average greater than 50, particularly in companies with pension or retirement plans, this problem should be viewed as critical and should begin to worry now.
- Identify the employees most likely to retire first, and then review their areas of responsibility and begin extracting what information you can from them now. Consider utilizing an application mining tool or application portfolio management to help regain lost knowledge.
- Look to vendor initiative programs designed to revive COBOL training in universities and support CIO’s and IT Managers in trouble.
- Implement a formal plan to mine intellectual property from retiring workers.
- Increase focus on contingency planning considering the effects on the entire enterprise. Contingency plans can save an IT environment if indirect impacts of boomer retirement affect normal business functions.
As is often the case, the most important step you can do is the first. By getting started now you’ll minimize the fallout down the road; as the saying goes “a stitch in time saves nine”.
The full 15 page report “The Pending Legacy IT Skills Shortage” is available on Forrester’s website.
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