Why is a Technology Transformation Business Conducting Executive Search?
A Unique Approach
If you ChatGPT ‘What is executive search’, you get this response:
Executive search, also known as headhunting, is a specialised recruitment service focused on identifying, assessing, and attracting highly qualified candidates for senior-level and executive positions within organisations.
A pretty generic description and, as most people know, there are thousands of firms out there that offer services relating to this description, specialised in different ways. For those that have no idea who we are, we aren’t an executive search firm, but as technology transformation specialists, we know what good leadership looks like when it comes to tech or tech enabled businesses. We understand how technology can be used to shape, grow, and increase profitability. We are technology transformation experts, with 3 divisions; Transform, Tech and Talent. Talent forms a core part of our offering because it cannot be separated from the effective delivery and implementation of technology. We launched executive search as a service line because we know, through delivering a variety of projects, that having the right leadership in place is key to ensuring technology supports the delivery of business goals.
Effective leadership is crucial to facilitating transformation, staying competitive in an increasingly technological landscape, and delivering new technology. Given our experience in building software and facilitating technology transformation, we are exceptionally well placed to deliver tech leadership. Whether it’s as part of a tech project or as a standalone service, we take the time to understand the role of technology in our clients’ businesses to attract and acquire the leaders needed to facilitate tech enabled growth plans.
Our Areas of Specialism
Clearly, as a software development and transformation partner, we aren’t a generalist provider of executive search. We have three key areas of focus, areas where we feel our background offers us the most advantage in terms of offering a service that you’d be hard pressed to get anywhere else. We will explore in more detail why the tech sector, technology orientated roles and the private equity space are our areas of focus when it comes to executive search and why there is market demand for a provider like us.
Tech Roles
As a tech first business, it’s logical that we specialise in the provision of technical leaders to organisations across sectors. Whether it’s a Transformation Director or a CTO, we have the in-house expertise to assess the people our clients need. Abstract Talent initially began as an internal function, supplying talent to fulfil tech project requirements. However, as time went on, we recognised the importance of effective technology leadership client side in facilitating effective transformation. We saw that we could bring immense value to clients by identifying and engaging those leaders.
A study by McKinsey found businesses embarking on technology transformation were, for the most part, achieving cost reductions or increased revenue as a result, which is why we continue to see both the quantity and diversity of tech leadership within organisations increasing. The study also found that sourcing right talent to facilitate effective technology transformation continues to prove challenging. Competition for tech talent remains high across the board including among leadership positions such as CTO, CIO, CDO, CISO etc, and the level below. Increasingly, business and tech strategies are created in tandem with top performing companies already operating in this way, demonstrating the reliance on technology for many organisations in achieving revenue and profitability goals. This approach to strategy development only serves to increase pressure on organisations to hire exceptional technology leaders with both the necessary technological skillsets and commercial acumen.
Growing reliance of technology means CEOs and other business leaders are working more and more closely with CIOs, CTOs and other technical leaders on a strategic level, this was stressed in a recent insights piece by Deloitte on technology leadership. Whilst innovation has always been a key part of these roles, there has been a notable shift for technical leaders from supporting innovation to driving it, and being relied upon to do this, ensuring organisations use technology to its best advantage to maximise growth.
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It is clear that the roles of senior technology leaders have evolved significantly, with responsibilities that once were reduced to keeping the lights on, now heavily strategic in nature, playing a fundamental role in driving organisations forward. The increased complexity of these roles does unfortunately mean that they are more difficult to fill. Organisations are playing catch up with the fast pace of technology evolution, developing technical employees into the future talent for senior positions. This fuels market need for an approach to technology focused executive search which is backed by research and industry expertise. Abstract Group uses research to map markets, giving our clients strong understanding of the talent pool available to them and the ability to pinpoint the best person for the role. This coupled with our assessment process using our own, in-house technical talent allows us to engage and deliver the technology leaders required by our clients. Technology leaders are only going to increase in importance for facilitating growth, making the identification of these leaders more challenging. Whilst there are specialised providers of technology leadership out there, few are able to boast the deep knowledge we have at our fingertips.
The Tech Sector
Classified a category of business relating to the development or provision of technologically based goods and services, the tech sector is huge, encompassing everything from manufacturing of electronics to technology related consulting. The tech sector has seen significant growth since its inception, consistently outperforming other sectors for the last 5 years, despite external pressures on the market. Technology is now intrinsic to the way we live in most parts of the world, so market demand continues to promote innovation and sector growth.
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A growing sector understandably means demand for leaders is high. Finding executives for an industry with innovation at its core isn’t always straight forward; leaders within this sector must be highly adaptable. Product and service development in the tech sector happens swiftly, leaders must be able to promote and facilitate this within their organisations to keep pace with competitors. Competition for talent at all levels is also very high; businesses are increasing in number and the speed of innovation is also placing demand on talent pools. With niche skillsets becoming a requirement merely to keep pace, businesses are continuously playing catch up with employee development and there’s no sign of this stopping anytime soon. Leaders must be capable of and see opportunities to implement change to attract and retain the right people. In this sector it has never been more important for talent strategy to be at the forefront of leaders’ minds, and this is true across roles. Whether it’s the CEO or CTO, talent is a key challenge.
Obviously, these are just a couple of challenges pertinent to the tech sector but as a business in the tech sector ourselves, we are at an advantage when it comes to identifying leaders that will allow a tech or tech enabled business to flourish. We understand the challenges our clients in the tech sector are facing so we can better understand what they need from their next leader, and how to attract them. We use our market knowledge to the advantage of our clients, through briefing, research, candidate engagement, and assessment phases of our search.
Private Equity
Our operations within private equity sector give us a strong understanding of the unique requirements of senior roles in this sphere. We have worked with private equity backed organisations to support value creation through product build, technology transformation, and the facilitation of complex integrations. We remain focused on technology related roles and positions within the tech sector, but our work in this space has given us a comprehensive understanding of the leadership requirements generated throughout the investment lifecycle, and what is needed to effectively drive a business through to a successful exit.
As a provider of technical due diligence, we understand what is required of senior technical leaders and the impact they can have on an organisation. Where we have undertaken technical due diligence, we will know what gaps exist in the technical team and exactly what experience is required to deliver against the investment thesis. In the last year, private equity invested in just under 3000 technology businesses, which despite a dip in activity post COVID is almost double the number of investments taking place in a year 10 years ago. As the tech sector grows, so too will the numbers of investments within the space.
Technical skillsets are making their way into board rooms through the roles of CIO and CTO, and gradually non-executive positions, reflecting the importance of technology in remaining competitive and achieving growth goals. It is therefore key that those who conduct executive search for technology centric roles and businesses understand what good looks like. Rising numbers of investments ultimately increases the need for executive and non-executive leaders who can deliver growth within a highly competitive space. It’s paramount for private equity firms that their executive search partners have the expertise to assess leaders who are technically sound with the capability to deliver within a private equity backed environment.
Executive Search, The Abstract Way
It’s not typical for a software development and technology transformation business to engage in executive search but it is what sets us apart from other providers. Other providers build a strong reputation through building networks and using effective research practises to tailor each search to their clients’ needs. We do the same, but we are also in the unique position of having the technical expertise in house to assess technical leaders and can operate with true empathy when it comes to engaging the right leaders for organisations in the tech sector. Our work with private equity also gives us unique understanding of the leadership requirements in that world and where we already have an existing relationship with a private equity backed business, we will have a comprehensive understanding of the organisation and its leadership needs.
We can conduct executive search as a standalone service or seamlessly deliver alongside an ongoing tech project, ensuring leadership excellence is maintained throughout periods of change. So no, we aren’t an executive search firm, but we are experts in delivering leaders across the technology landscape.
Emily Wells
A researcher by background, I've held roles in executive search and talent intelligence, undertaking a variety of projects spanning headhunting, benchmarking, insight generation and market analysis, working with a range of organisations across numerous industries, from SMEs to large corporates, and private equity firms.
As a divisional head within Abstract Group, I am responsible for leading on Abstract Talent's service offering, go to market proposition, and project delivery. I'm hands on in both client engagement and undertaking research, ensuring our services are tailored to the needs of our clients. Abstract Talent specialises in identifying and assessing technical leaders and helping organisations develop effective talent strategies to ensure they can attract, acquire, and retain the right people.