The human expertise required in order to manage these new systems has given rise to what is defined as an IT specialist—someone with an expert level of competency and knowledge on a particular piece of technology.
In many cases, companies are more apt to demand hiring and retaining employees that are multi-functional, especially those that have analytical abilities such as critical reasoning and statistical analysis.
[4] Market trends tend to be moving away from the hiring of IT specialists and instead individuals who possess a more broad technical base with additional soft-skills such as enthusiasm, passion, and energy.
It has been found, however, that the hiring of specialists has led to the rise of silos of talent within a company leading to difficulty implementing new business processes and taking advantage of inter-departmental collaboration.
According to multiple studies[8] in 2010 companies who were surveyed noted their goal was to reduce the amount of specialists they hire and instead hiring “versatilists.” These versatilists are synonymous with IT Generalists because they have an overall general sense of technology as well as business knowledge while also possessing “soft skills” that are considered lacking in technology-minded individuals focused on specific technology skill-sets.