This is my first blog.
Disclaimer:
I wish to clarify that I am not a professional writer. The content presented herein is a fusion of my thoughts, artfully crafted to provide an engaging and thought-provoking reading experience. It's important to note that no generalizations should be applied universally to an entire society; my perspective is based solely on my personal experiences and learnings. Also this doesn’t in any way represents the company I work with.
I want to emphasize that there is absolutely no intention on my part to offend or demean any segment of society, regardless of religion, race or ethnicity. If by any chance, this material inadvertently causes offense to anyone, I sincerely apologize. Striking the delicate balance between creating a captivating narrative and respecting the boundaries of sensibility is a paramount concern, and I have taken great care to maintain that equilibrium.
Should any aspect of this article be found offensive or require improvement, please feel free to provide feedback, and I will promptly make the necessary corrections.
It's important to underscore that this article primarily centres around the Nordic market in general and the Swedish market in particular. Thank you for reading and engaging with this content.
The need for a radical change in sourcing:
In Sweden, when it comes to IT workforce management, there is a huge gap between supply and demand. Whilst traditional sourcing models couldn’t cope with the demand, the disruptive models like Gig are not fully trusted either. We are in the cusp between the two and it’s a matter of time we can expect a huge shift in strategy.
Firstly, on the demand side, there is a technical dearth. The universities have done a good job so far to keep up the pace with technology advancement. Our universities are doing their best, offering courses on AI and ML, but it's like trying to fill a swimming pool with a garden hose - not quite cutting it. This demand has an impact on the existing workforce. The immediate solution of looking for global talent to address immediate local demands has broader social implications.
Putting the Squeeze on the Workforce:
The society is built on a long-term sustainable model mutually beneficial for employees and the society. The way the Swedish society is set-up is well understood only to a Swede and we take huge pride in establishing this framework. This includes Collective Bargain Agreement, Employment Rights, Tax Structure, Healthcare, Education and other social benefits. Typically, an employer-employee relationship is for two to three decades. “Volvo for Life” is a tag line not only associated to the car but to the employees as well. The employees of yester generation who built the Swedish society take pride in being loyal to the company. In fact, the three V’s Volvo, Villa and Vovve (doggie) was embedded in everyone’s dream.
In first wave of outsourcing the sustainable employment model was tinkered a bit. Some employees who thought that their company is life were suddenly seen vulnerable. The last bus of IT engineers from the subcontinent landed in Sweden. I call this the last bus because the initial buses were sent to US and UK. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the outsourcing journey, it's essential to take a detour and delve deeper into the westward migration of the sub-continent population. It’s important to know this piece of the puzzle if you wish to crack the juggernaut.
De-tour: The Migrant Population from Subcontinent
First Bus: In the history of Indian sub-continent, the first set of buses left India during the Gandhian period say 1850 to 1950 . This was a bus with passengers mainly from Gujarat and Punjab which entered Europe through Africa. All passengers of this bus are well settled and have successfully established restaurants or groceries across Europe. Their children are well integrated into the society.
East and West Crossroads: Interestingly the period between 1960 and 1990 the hippie trail with backpackers started to travel from West to East. While the Philosophers and Gurus started the journey from East to West. One was exploring life while the other was explaining life.
Second Bus: Meanwhile The second set of buses carried the best and highly intelligent brains of the country. The Doctors and Engineers. The Professors and Scientists. They entered Europe between 1960s to 1990s. The were usually gold medallists and rank holders. They were given a grand send off at airport and travelling to the west was unique and special. These people are the backbone of Western world’s development in the Millenium.
Third Bus: The third batch of the buses carried this special group of people called IT Professionals. American Visa programs calls them highly skilled labour. Thanks to Rajiv Gandhi and his policies with regards to computers in mid-80’s. Thousands of engineers got produced similar to a factory model. These engineers were the breadwinners of the modern Indian society. This enlightened every class of society across pan India and thus reducing the gap in social economic divide. This migrant bus started their operations in late 90’s and boomed during the y2k period and subsequently the dot com bubble. This bus continues to operate and entered Sweden in mid-2000. Our focus in this story is this third batch of migrants who have either landed or waiting in pipeline.
Understanding the diverse landed workforce:
While the migrant population has been travelling back and forth between east and west, two world wars done, Cold war done. USSR fragmented. Many more Geopolitical changes. Scientific advancements with missions to moon, mars and sun. Meanwhile Sweden was slowly building a society based on trust, education, value, high quality of life, Equality, No Hierarchy, Duty of every citizen, Waste recycling, Healthcare, Education, Collective Bargain, Work Life Balance and Social Benefits.
Two Types of Immigrants: Here you need to understand that there were two sets of immigrants. The one who come on Asylum. They have challenges in parent country and looking for survival. They filled all jobs that the local were not keen on taking up.
Then you have the other set of immigrants who do not have challenges in parent country. They are well educated, and they have an aspiration for a successful career. They take jobs that they are qualified to deliver and not what is left to be taken.
Together, these two immigrant categories have contributed to Sweden's social fabric, adding diverse perspectives and a wealth of experiences.
Now lets see how this social fabric’s elasticity is being stretched to its threshold with changing industry demands.
Back to Main Road (Detour ends):
Wave 1 First Outsourcing Contracts (2000 to 2010)
This scenario brought in the first disruption in early 2000 when outsourcing contracts was signed up with global companies where the maintenance of applications and infrastructure was outsourced to big IT players who were expected to bring the cost down.
This change brought in a lot of landed resources. The well-established Sweden social economic model had to cater to new scenarios. The queuing system for apartments was challenged. Also, a small portion of workforce who believed their company is life were suddenly at crossroads as the new batch that has entered is known fill positions that they have been trained for. The integration however was smooth as Sweden is always good in defining the demographics. Afterall you need someone to drive the västtrafik buses in IT as well and so the maintenance and support became the buses of IT society where the new population started to operate. The new cool flashy development work in new age technologies attracted the local youth. The balance was achieved. Lagom!!
This doesn’t end here. More Transformation.
Wave 2: 2015 to 2020 Transformation to Cloud
The run business is taken care and cost balance was achieved. This gave way to cool transformation. Time for a new challenge: IT Became Commodity while Service based models became successful. Roadmaps towards a more Modular architecture was drawn. One good thing about bay area is they constantly develop or innovate something new which ensures the IT Companies across the world has business one way or the other. Agile, Scrum, MVP, 2 Pizza teams, Product Centre are the new jargons introduced by the evangelists of west.
This presented an intriguing paradox, aiming to train the traditionally 'lagom' workforce to embrace a mindset of 'Fail fast and succeed faster.' That's quite the cultural 180 from their usual consensus-based decision-making, which, as we all know, can sometimes take a lifetime. I heard a sarcasm from a Brit “Will they start scheduling 'quick failure' coffee breaks now?".
Not sure whether the entire society will adapt. But we need to transform. The evangelists of the west have sold this story. We need more resources. While traditional workforce who see company for life were again at crossroads, this however attracted the local graduates from universities. The cool transformation jobs were quickly filled. Yet there was further demand. Run taken care while there is not enough local talent available for transform.
As every region boasts its own unique cultural quirks, passengers from the subcontinent have this innate knack for switching lanes or hopping onto different buses whenever an opportunity presents itself. It's like they're in a perpetual race to find the fastest route. Handyman skills? Well, they might as well be holding a wrench for the first time. And fitness? They're more likely to see a doctor for a minor fever than hit the gym. Environmental awareness? Not exactly their strong suit. But what's fascinating is their uncanny ability to spot opportunities that promise maximum benefits. They're not exactly the 'Volvo for Life' type. Today, it's a Fiat, tomorrow a Volvo, and the day after, they're eyeing a Lamborghini.
So, when this group hopped onto the transformation bus, they claimed any available seat and embarked on the journey together. The amusing part is, they can seamlessly coexist in any bus and adapt, as long as their metaphorical Lamborghini remains unscathed. You could almost compare their whimsical vehicle choices to decisions about loans, their siblings' marriages, or even taking care of their aging parents – always ready for the next exciting opportunity!
While a new group of university graduates together with some landed resources embark on a joint cool transformation journey, there is another shift. The social fabric is already been tested and what is this new game in town ?
Wave 3: 2020 Onwards -The New Game
Yes!! In parallel there was another paradigm shift to the technology eco system. A more disruptive one. You know the bay area guys cannot be kept quiet. To make it more complex, the use of software in manufacturing became much higher. More Software controls the vehicles or machines then the Mechanics. Traditional Manufacturing companies started to revamp the ageing workforce and hire highly skilled IT Consultants.
The time taken between a Mechanical to Electrical to Electronic transformation say T1 was quite stable and slow. But when you introduce the Software – Yes it has to be unstable - right? Its fast, Rapid and disruptive. Electronic to Software to AI / ML Transformation - T2 is very quick. While T1 was a 100 year journey the T2 is just a 10-year journey.
This created a new problem as the recently joined workforce cannot work on AI, Machine Learning. or other new technologies. So, the re-skilling and up skilling or refreshing the workforce is more complicated.
The transformation bus with passengers from all ethnicities has just started to adapt and realize that a healthy lifestyle is key to survive. The union workers have just started to experience the tough side of their job descriptions – explaining to a landed worker on what his or her rights are “In English”.
But bay area who thinks the whole world is just them came with a new trend. This creates an impact on the social set-up which is the backbone of Swedish society which every swede will be proud about. This is being under threat. For the simple reason
Run Work Force from the third bus are getting clouded due to the fact the IT being a commodity with more automations.
The cool workforce suddenly feels their technology is legacy in the scheme of things as they need to jump buses.
The new next gen work force believe they are the future. As they know the ultra cool stuff AI and ML.
The manufacturing company who started with loyal employees had to initiate workforce optimization once again.
Once in between 2000 and 2010 – as part of first outsourcing wave
Again in 2015 – as IT became a commodity
Again in 2016 to 2019 – thanks to bay area evangelists and their powerful narrative of Insourcing, Agile, Product journey
2020 to 2022 – thanks to Covid and Economic slowdown
2023 due to new transformation AI, ML and introductions of Bots.
By the way, I've recently embraced the use of this new technology. I consider myself the perfect candidate when it comes to asking questions to an intelligent, self-learning conversational BOT. My friends, who once used to escape my endless questions, are now thrilled to have a friendly BOT as my companion. It's no wonder that my article has turned into an intriguing read. However, there's a little secret to it - you've got to know how to use it, just like a pro! 😉
Small Companies at an disadvantage: Another issue is the mid size companies are caught in this turmoil and they are the ones usually under served. They are not able to connect to the supply as the top tier IT companies target the fortune 500 only. These small companies of 100 MSEK to 1 BSEK turnover understands the trends. But to move their business to cloud or initiate application modernization or any such transformation they need to hire locally or outsource to local digital companies and pay a huge price.
More Challenges Posed : This is all compounded by the fact that Sweden is one of the very few countries that is technically advanced in connectivity, human capital, digital society and a very advanced digital public sector. You need workforce to manage the existing and a workforce to work on the cool stuff. The cultural barriers of Swedish language, no hierarchy society developed on trust and end to end ownership will make the process even more difficult to find global talent with these soft skills. Then what will you do with the landed workforce of approximately hundred thousand which when compared to the Swedish population, suddenly looks significant as they are 0.11 % of the society. How will you up skill or re skill this group. Most of them do not speak Swedish.
Are you going to bring one more set of buses and integrate. Can the Swedish Social framework sustain?
As Thomas Friedman aptly observed, 'The world is flat' can no longer hold true; it is steadily tilting towards the emerging dominion of the Bots.
Unions Beware!!! There is a new workforce in town. They call them Bots. Also, a new concept called moonlighting is getting popular.
Indian IT Service providers should realize that service industry getting automated is nothing but their pie of the cake is eaten by bots. They are caught napping.
With the above scenarios and context in background lets understand GIG Economy and the disruption it could possibly cause and how the society adapts. This will be second part of my story.
In conclusion, Sweden's IT landscape has undergone remarkable transformations, from the early waves of outsourcing to the current era of AI, ML, and digital disruption. As we navigate these shifts, it's clear that the dynamics of the IT workforce are changing rapidly. The story of Sweden's IT revolution is a testament to the adaptability of societies and individuals in the face of technological advancements.
In Part 2 of this series, we will dive deeper into the GIG economy and its potential impact on the Swedish workforce. We'll explore global trends in part-time jobs, share personal experiences, and discuss the fears and challenges that both companies and employees face in this evolving landscape.
As we move forward, it's crucial to consider how these changes will shape our future. How will we bridge the gap between traditional models and the emerging digital world? Who will own the customer, and who will own the employee? These questions will shape the next phase of Sweden's IT journey.
Thank you for joining me on this exploration of Sweden's IT revolution. Your feedback and engagement are invaluable as we continue this conversation in Part 2, where we delve into the exciting and disruptive world of the GIG economy.
Thank you !!! End of Blog !!
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