‘Making people with a certain skill set available, or competence sourcing, as it’s called, is something that Realdolmen has been doing for a long time already,’ begins Graulus. ‘Companies call on us for this service because they can’t find the right profiles on the labour market or because employees with these competences need to be replaced temporarily. Because of our critical mass – around 1400 consultants, of which around 1000 are permanently employed by us – we’re usually able to help our customers in need very quickly.’
Useful extra services
Competence sourcing enables CIOs to access employees with the right skills relatively easily so that certain tasks can be completed successfully. This is especially useful for safeguarding the continuity of day-to-day operational activities, or for very specific projects. But it’s often not enough in a complex environment. ‘Some organizations ask us to supply whole teams,’ says Graulus. ‘There are various formulas for this, possibly with SLAs, such as managed seats contracts for example, where we ensure that a team of around five people with specific competences is always available. We provide competent replacements in the event that employees are absent through illness or on holiday.’ These types of contracts often include extra services, explains Graulus: ‘We provide flexibility in upstaffing and downstaffing, for example. If the client needs more or fewer people at certain times, we can also take care of that. Another such service is knowledge management, where a so-called technical account manager (often the unit manager of a team) ensures that everyone in his or her team stays up to date with new developments and knows how they can be useful for the organization or project they’re working in.’