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“Open source talent” has long referred to individuals who work with open source software. Today, the term is increasingly used to describe online communities that are open globally to anyone who wants to participate in them, and to organizations seeking their talent, skills, and capabilities.

Ray Anderson, CTO of BatchBlue Software, is considering using Kaggle, an online community of data scientists, to help his company develop a pricing model for its cloud-based CRM product. Anderson is turning to Kaggle because his small company lacks the in-house analytics expertise to make sense of its pricing data.

“Kaggle is relatively low cost compared to a high-end pricing consultant,” says Anderson. “By paying a reasonable fee to Kaggle, I get access to people who understand data and how to develop analytical models.”

Kaggle represents one of a growing number of online communities whose members Deloitte refers to as “open source talent,” not because they specialize in open source software development, but because they’re open to providing their skills and capabilities to organizations that may need them. Deloitte defines “open source talent” as individuals who provide services for free or for a fee, either independently or as part of a community.

Other examples of open source talent include networks like TopCoder, an online community of software developers; InnoCentive, which posts companies’ research and development problems to its community; and the CloudSpokes marketplace for cloud development. Big name companies including GE and Facebook use sites like Kaggle and TopCoder. Open source talent can also include “white hat” hackers that companies hire to test their security, as well as individuals who participate in online user groups, support forums, and freelance sites like Elance and oDesk.

“IT organizations large and small are increasingly looking to open source talent to solve problems, answer questions, and augment the capabilities of in-house staff,” says Deloitte Consulting LLP's U.S. Talent Strategies Leader Andrew Liakopoulos.

Use of open source talent has taken off in IT for a variety of reasons. For one, IT organizations have had to develop more creative talent strategies over the years due to skill shortages and the need to reduce costs, according to Judith Pennington, a director with Deloitte Consulting LLP’s Human Capital practice. Open source talent addresses cost and staffing demands, and signals the latest evolution in IT staffing strategies as IT organizations continue to diversify their sources of talent in what Deloitte calls the “open talent economy,” a collaborative, transparent, technology-enabled, rapid-cycle way of doing business.

Moreover, because of IT organizations’ experiences with outsourcing and offshoring, they’re accustomed to working with distributed, virtual teams. The project-based nature of IT work also lends itself to being “chunked out” to external contributors, according to Liakopoulos. And Pennington observes that IT’s maturity (as evidenced by certifications, widely accepted processes, and established project management methodologies) makes it easier for companies to source work through open source talent networks and evaluate the credentials of individuals bidding on projects.

Jeremy Jones, director of IT at Comfort Systems USA, a $1.3 billion provider of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, is willing to use open source talent, though he’s not yet needed to tap it. “IT leaders are obligated to explore all available avenues for sourcing knowledge and talent, including leveraging the wider community when it makes sense,” he says. “It’s a crucial way to maximize shareholder value, and we would be remiss if we did not consider it.”

Opportunities and Challenges

To determine how to incorporate open source talent into an IT organization, Pennington and Liakopoulos suggest IT leaders go through a workforce planning exercise to better understand their organizations’ current and future staffing requirements. Workforce planning can help IT leaders identify the critical skills they should keep in-house, along with the work that could be allocated to third-party service providers, traditional freelancers, and open source talent networks.

One way IT organizations may put open source talent networks to use is in sourcing scarce skills, such as knowledge of cutting edge development tools or older programming languages required to maintain legacy systems, according to Pennington. BatchBlue’s Anderson agrees: “These external groups provide IT organizations with a way to experiment with new technologies, without distracting core in-house staff.”

Pennington also believes open source talent can help technology departments prototype and create new technology-based products and services. The City of Chicago, for example, made some city data available to external application developers, who are using the data sets to create a variety of helpful apps for locals and visitors, according to The Wall Street Journal. As Brenna Berman from Chicago’s Department of Innovation and Technology explained: “As a city IT department, we’re never going to be able to build all the apps the people of Chicago could want.”

Anderson expresses some reluctance to using open source talent for high-end software development. “For me to try it, the cost and time savings would have to be very compelling, and I know I’d have to budget for cleaning up the code,” he says.

Indeed, to get quality work from individuals participating in open source talent networks, Pennington says IT managers should clearly articulate deliverables and timelines.

Besides potential quality issues, other challenges with open source talent may include knowledge transfer and security. Pennington recommends building knowledge transfer into individual projects and contracts, just as IT organizations should do with any external services provider. As for security, Liakopoulos says organizations may opt against releasing sensitive data externally, and should consider conducting background and reference checks on external people handling it.

“What the open source model did for software—make it more global, participatory, and innovative—it is also doing for talent acquisition,” says Liakopoulos. “As companies recognize the wealth of talent that exists outside their four walls, and as more individuals wish to make their experience available on the open market, these open source talent networks will likely become an ever more critical component of IT organizations' staffing strategies.”