An ambitious modernisation project put to the test by the talent shortage and the pandemic
With over 50,000 employees, our client is considered one of the largest financial establishments in Canada, and a key employer in Quebec. And like all stakeholders in the banking and insurance sector, they’re facing major challenges with digitization.
Thus they rolled out a huge modernization plan for completion in 2028, including large-scale web and mobile applications projects. Hence the increased need for IT skills, and particularly niche expertise. To meet this challenge, the group has called on the services of over 4,000 external experts for a number of years, around 3,000 of whom specialise in IT and technology.
One particular point: the group is based firmly in Quebec and its teams are mainly French-speaking. Therefore the external experts sought are also French-speaking. This is why, historically, our client’s service providers come from two main geographical areas:
- Either they’re local, from Quebec’s francophone community
- or they’re sourced from France and other countries with a pool of French-speaking experts, such as Northwest Africa.
The problem is that with the COVID crisis, borders were closed, and this second geographical skills source became inaccessible to our client. Hence the difficulties in accessing the required know-how, particularly in the most specialized fields.
Mobilization of a dedicated team and a broad community of experts for targeted sourcing
The team at LittleBig Connection was structured to meet the demands of this client, with one, then two, Account Managers plus dedicated support and finance contacts.
This comprehensive team, built on a task force model, drew on our marketplace with its tens of thousands of varied profiles (freelancers, consultants, digital service and umbrella companies).
Thanks to this vast community of IT experts, we were able to considerably expand the skills pool enjoyed by our client, on two levels:
- Locally: our set-up in Montreal and our knowledge of the ecosystem of IT service providers and experts in the region were determining factors in helping our client to benefit more effectively from the talent available amongst French-speaking Canadians.
- Internationally: our extensive knowledge of the French IT skills market coupled with our collaboration with partners specialising in immigration procedures allowed us to bring in experts from France, even during COVID.
At the start of the collaboration in 2021, we had around 15 freelancers and consultants in play in only four months. By the end of 2022, following signature of a framework agreement, over 50 experts were able to join our client’s teams and be part of its comprehensive modernisation plan.
The experts onboard included business analysts, architects, Java developers, Scrum Masters and project managers… We supported our client with a multitude of different jobs and professions.
Sourcing experts: new challenges post-COVID
The pandemic might be behind us, but our collaboration with our client is far from over and we continue to support their IT requirements with regular follow-ups. A steering committee meets with the procurement department quarterly to discuss the need for new skills, and our dedicated team holds its own internal steering committee meetings once a fortnight.
Our client has also identified a new type of requirement which constitutes an underlying trend within numerous companies: the need for expertise in the area of sustainable transformation.
Increasing numbers of organisations are looking to integrate sustainable development strategies into their models and businesses and are seeking experts in CSR, decarbonisation, eco-tourism, green IT and so on. Hence we’ve devised our new offering, Connect for Good, which aims to source the foremost experts, in France and internationally, for high-impact projects.
We’re eminently capable of supporting our client with this emerging need, which represents a new chapter in our post-pandemic collaboration.
