After years of compliance and risk mitigation-related technology initiatives, CIOs are returning to functional operational projects to generate revenue. This paradigm shift has made technology the core of operations for all companies regardless of the industry they serve. Disruptive digital technologies will become the key to enabling companies to consume and analyze data to improve customer experience and increase revenue.

It has become vital for consulting firms to have a localized team working closely with the business and those who know consumer behavior. This, combined with the digital technologies, requires clients to change their strategy from talent acquisition to talent transformation. Companies will need to change the way they hire and to achieve a true “digital transformation,” they must “juniorize” their technology workforce via a concept called emerging talent.

Emerging talent is taking the most junior human resources and making them immediately productive. While many staffing firms, tech companies and large management consulting companies claim to have emerging talent programs, three models have distinguished themselves as the most impactful.

Talent creation. First, emerging talent companies such as Revature specialize in end-to-end enterprise-level emerging talent creation. Revature’s model is simple: Partner with the best universities across the country to connect with the best talent, to find the diamonds in the rough through extensive screening and then hire and train them to be junior-level developers.

Revature’s three- to four-month training program simulates a real-world technology team and focuses on three core areas: custom technology training for the end client; business acumen — specifically, how to operate as an enterprise developer on a technology team; and soft skills, which CIOs often cite as the No. 1 skill lacking in today’s juniorlevel resources. All of this leads to the creation of a developer who is productive on day one.

Corporate/university partnerships. Another model that has gained popularity is the corporate/university partnership. From Google partnering with Howard University to train African American coders to Purdue’s partnership with Infosys to provide new-hire training, these programs show the commitment of corporations to help bridge the technology skills gap. Proactively creating programs to find and train the next generation of technologists is making a significant impact; however, these programs create a dependency on a localized candidate pool instead of a larger national pool of talent.

Bootcamps. Coding boot camps, specifically the larger ones, are shifting toward employer networks to ensure jobs for their graduates. This model is ideal for midsize companies that are willing to hire nondegree developers and career changers. The boot camp model is perfectly positioned for these groups because they are shorter in length and participants can complete them while working full time.

Over the next few years, the demand for entry-level talent will reach a frantic pace as more companies shift to emerging talent as a key part of their workforce strategy. Each of these models provides a unique value proposition to the human capital industry by bridging the gap between the skills our junior-level resources have and what the industry demands. They also fill the void of lost offshore and visa talent with local lower-cost, junior-level resources. Supply will continue to be far less than the demand and things will likely get worse.

The market demands technology solution firms to provide more than transactional project resources. These companies need to look beyond projectbased relationships and move to providing true innovation with the ability to deliver those capabilities. The companies that accelerate their own transformation and control the best local talent will ultimately be the winners.