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Tapping into global talent

The NY Times has an interview [free registration required] with Henning Kagermann, CEO of German software-maker SAP. They ask him why SAP had to globalize its workforce:

There really is no alternative, for two reasons. It’s foolish to believe today that the smartest people are in one nation. The second is sourcing, at least if you are a big company. If you are smaller, and have a team of 100 or 200 engineers you can stay in one country and try to attract the best guys. But if you are a big company, you need to tap into the global talent pool. In Germany, we now have this big public debate about there being a shortage of engineers in the country. Well, I don’t care, or at least not as the chief executive of SAP.

This second problem is one that many companies run into, especially those (like my own) that are based in smaller communities. How do you grow when you’ve hired the most qualified people you can in your community?

One solution is to train folks; work with the universities to establish solid programs, offer seminars and outreach courses, etc. This benefits the community as a whole, and the industry in particular. The obvious downside is that training requires that the company spend considerable amounts of time and energy in activities that are only indirectly contributing to its bottom line.

Another alternative is to look for resources elsewhere. In theory the internet makes this easy, particularly when developing web projects. However, the practice is more complicated: for small teams, hiring outside of their own country implies communication and project management challenges that are much harder than those posed by local resources. Paying remote folks can also be difficult: many global freelancers don’t accept payment via credit cards; they usually require bank transfers or visits to the local Western Union office.

Having a small local talent pool ought not to be an impediment to developing and growing a world-class company. But it is more difficult than doing so in a locale with more available resources. I suspect that having to deal with these issues upfront will force small-community based companies to become more adept at the managing the challenges of operating with a global workforce than their large-community based competitors. In a globalized world, this is a distinct advantage.

Posted on June 9, 2007
Filed Under Teams |

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