Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital economy has developed vigorously, and the digital transformation of enterprises is poised to accelerate. The success or failure of digital transformation depends not only on technology, but also on the synchronous iteration of leadership and professional capability of digital talent. To seek rebirth through transformation, an enterprise should give priority to the layout and backup of digital talent. In August, iSoftStone, together with iResearch, a leading brand in new economy and digital insight research and consulting services in China, released the 2021 China IT Talent Supply Report (the "Talent Report").

The Talent Report is divided into seven chapters: Overview, IT Talent Status, Talent Distribution, Talent Source, Talent Recruitment, Talent Destination and Talent Value. It shows the status quo of talent supply and talent distribution in the software and IT service industry, and provides guidance and reference for employers to "select and retain" digital talents.

In the post-pandemic era, China has further consolidated its determination to develop the digital economy from the aspects of policy and strategy. The pace of digital transformation in various industries has significantly accelerated, and the supply and demand of IT talents have shown a growth trend. From the demand side, the entire software and IT service industry, especially with the rebound enrollment expansion by leading enterprises, have a strong demand for IT talents, and are characterized by "difficulties in recruitment of high-end and low-end talent and a narrowing gap in demand of middle-end talent). Specifically, the supply of high-end talents (mastering a new generation of technology or rich experience) is in short supply, and the salary rises sharply; The supply of low-end talents (low professional quality or no work experience) is abundant, but the low post value and low salary make it more difficult for enterprises to recruit. Although the supply of middle-end talents (general technical talents) is in short supply, the gap of this part of talents is gradually narrowed due to the expansion of recruitment from colleges and universities and the increase of enterprise training. From the supply side, China has an increasingly rich reserve of IT talents. Relevant data in 2020 showed that IT-related majors accounted for about 10% of the total graduates, the talent supply was rising steadily, and the gap between supply and demand was further narrowing.

With the evolution and iteration of the next-generation information technology, enterprises will still face intense competition for high-end talents. Therefore, enterprises must establish a sound system for digital talent cultivation and develop appropriate learning and growth paths according to their own characteristics, employees' job responsibilities and skill gaps, so as to substantially improve the learning efficiency and empower the digital transformation of enterprises. As a leading provider of software and IT services, iSoftStone continuously strengthens the supply and training of talents, improves curriculum design, and enlarges its lecturer resource pool through university-enterprise partnerships, talent ecosystem creation, to prepare for the training of middle- and high-end talents. Moreover, it leverages cloud computing, big data, IoT, AI, and other next-generation information technologies to replace with machine those repetitive, cumbersome and low value-added posts and helps customers realize value creation and promotion by unleashing human productivity.