Two Newcastle-based tech firms – Leighton and Opencast – have collaboratively launched the Digital Capability Exchange UK, a new not-for-profit talent-sharing scheme, alongside Bournemouth’s Spyrosoft. The initiative aims to provide businesses with easier access to industry expertise and address persistent resource challenges within the tech sector by offering a shared pool of talent for project delivery.
The exchange has already gained traction, expanding to include nine additional member organisations. All participating firms have reported early success in matching talent to specific project needs, demonstrating the efficacy of the collaborative model.
The tech industry often grapples with the accurate forecasting of future resource requirements. This can lead to either over-hiring, resulting in underutilised employees between projects, or under-resourcing, which causes project delays. The Digital Capability Exchange UK seeks to resolve these issues by fostering a trusted, UK-wide network of tech and consultancy businesses. Once approved for membership, companies can contribute to and draw from a central pool of talent, as well as share project opportunities as they arise.
James Bunting, CEO of leading AWS software development company Leighton added: “Digital Capability Exchange UK tackles a challenge every growing software development and technology consultancy company recognises – matching brilliant people to the right work at the right time. As a member of the exchange, growing software development companies can meet client demands with confidence, knowing exceptional expertise is always on hand from other member companies.
“By creating a flexible, truly scalable, pool of top-tier talent across our member ecosystem we can smooth out the peaks and troughs of project demand, optimise utilisation and lower costs.”
Tom Lawson, Chief Executive of independent tech consultancy Opencast said: “Forecasting and allocating the people we need to work on our client projects is a complex and often challenging task. At Opencast, we work for a range of clients across government, healthcare and purpose-driven businesses and we need to be flexible and able to respond to changes in client demand. It’s vital that we get our people numbers right and remain able to respond to new incoming demand from existing and new clients.
“Recognising that this is an industry-wide challenge, we are delighted to launch Digital Capability Exchange UK. We hope this new not-for-profit initiative will help not just Opencast but all the partners involved – as well as benefiting our own people, who want to be involved in delivering new and interesting work.”
Digital Capability Exchange UK is currently open to a small group of early members, with plans to expand access later this year.
Image source: Opencast
