SupportIndustry.com - Research Documents

Despite Economy, Organizations Face Significant Information Technology (IT) Talent Gap

According to new research from Deloitte, IT functional leaders have an increasingly clear understanding of what they must do to effectively support their organizations' business strategies. However, existing IT talent strategies and programs appear to be falling short - leaving IT without the talent necessary to do the job.

Based on a global survey of 306 IT decision-makers and executive business managers, and 15 subsequent one-on-one interviews with select respondents, current IT talent issues are having an impact on IT and business performance. Based on the research, Deloitte identifies two major IT talent gaps: growing talent gap for IT leaders and project managers; and the critical need for improved IT talent strategies and program execution. Additional key findings included:

The majority of survey respondents (51percent) strongly believe talent issues have limited their organization's productivity and efficiency.

Half of the respondents say the talent shortage is limiting their ability to innovate, which is the strategic core of the benefits that technology can bring to a business.

Significant numbers of respondents indicate that IT talent issues are having a material impact on other key dimensions of business success - growth (58 percent), speed to market (54 percent), quality (53 percent) and customer relationships (53 percent).

The vast majority of IT organizations surveyed expect to expand their workforces over the next three-to-five years. In fact, nearly half of the respondents (47 percent) expect to see at least 5 percent annual growth in the IT workforce over that period - even as the pool of experienced and qualified IT workers in many countries gets smaller.

Deloitte offers additional recommendations for organizations to consider as they address current and future IT talent challenges:

Establish clear roles and responsibilities. CIOs and their management teams need to own and lead the IT talent challenge. However, HR/talent functional leaders and teams have significant opportunities to improve their strategic partnership with IT by improving their capabilities and focusing on services that address the unique talent needs of the IT function.

Improve workforce analysis and planning capabilities. Leverage internal and external data to provide clearer views of long-term talent trends, both in terms of supply (e.g., demographics, baby boomer retirements - and longer time to retirement, education, and global labor markets) and demand (e.g., new business requirements and technology advances).

Refine global sourcing strategies. Explore innovative ways to manage a diverse, global workforce that is increasingly comprised of non-traditional resources, including contractors, outsourcing vendors, retirees and offshore staff.

Strengthen alignment between IT and business priorities. Rotate people from IT into the business and from the business into IT. In an environment with significant outsourcing and global dispersion of IT workforces, these rotation programs are even more important because building and managing relationships with business units is one of the retained IT team’s primary responsibilities.

Learn how to manage a multi-sourced, global workforce. Without an improved approach to sourcing and managing a global workforce, global sourcing can be more of a hindrance than a help and organizations can end up in challenging situations where sourced employees are performing roles that could be staffed internally and the sourced labor costs are higher than they should be.

Pay more attention to on-boarding. In particular, companies should focus more effort on on-boarding for contractors and other non-traditional resources. Current processes are generally designed to meet the needs of traditional in-house staff. That, however, is not what the IT workforce looks like any more.

[Full Article] Oct-03-2009

Recession Spurs Growth in Hosted Contact Center Infrastructure Market

DMG Consulting LLC, a provider of contact center and real-time analytics market research and consulting services, has published the 2009 Hosted Contact Center Infrastructure Market Report. The Report illustrates that even though 2008 was a down year for most technology products, the hosted contact center infrastructure market posted impressive growth and the first half of 2009 is proving to be even better. DMG's research showed that the worldwide economic recession actually drove many types of organizations in all verticals to consider hosted contact center infrastructure solutions. It is interesting to note that many of these companies are not risk takers in the classic sense, but rather companies that see hosting as an opportunity to do business differently, without a significant initial investment.

Growth of this market can be attributed to several factors including better, more stable and feature-rich solutions, increased contact center domain expertise and implementation best practices, and flexible pricing. The future is very promising for hosted contact center solutions, even after the recession abates. DMG forecasts that growth for the hosted contact center infrastructure market will be 30 percent, 35 percent and 20 percent each year from 2009 to 2011, respectively.

[Full Article] Oct-03-2009

Economic Downturn Leading to Decline in Employee Commitment, Morale

The cost-cutting actions that employers have been making to deal with the economic crisis have contributed to a sharp decline in the morale and commitment of their workers, especially top performers, according to an annual survey by Watson Wyatt, a global consulting firm, and WorldatWork, an international association of human resource professionals.

The 2009/2010 U.S. Strategic Rewards Survey found that employee engagement levels for all workers at the companies surveyed have dropped 9 percent since last year, and close to 25 percent for top performers. Additionally, 36 percent of top performers say their employer's situation has worsened in the past 12 months and the number who would recommend others take jobs at their company has declined by nearly 20 percent. Compared with last year, top-performing employees are 26 percent less likely to be satisfied with advancement opportunities at their company. They are also 14 percent less likely to want to remain with their company versus take a job elsewhere.

The survey also found that top-performing employees are 29 percent less confident in management's ability to grow the business. And 41 percent believe that pay and benefit changes made by their employer in the past year have had a negative effect on work quality and customer service. The survey was conducted in May 2009 and is based on responses from 1,300 full-time workers at large U.S. employers.

The survey also found that most top-performing employees say they aren't expecting to receive the same bonus or pay increase as they have in the past, even though historically companies have rewarded them with pay commensurate with their performance. More than six in 10 (61 percent) say their companies have reduced or suspended bonuses, while only 35 percent agree their employers reward top employees for performance. Additionally, 43 percent of top performers said individual performance expectations have increased since last year, while one-third (32 percent) say their company's financial performance goals have increased.

Other findings from the survey include:

Regardless of whether companies downsized, 89 percent of employers report taking at least one or two actions to minimize the extent of workforce downsizing. On average, survey participants report taking 3.5 different actions.

Nearly three out of four (72 percent) employers have gone through a restructuring or made layoffs since the economic downturn began last year.

[Full Article] Sep-27-2009

Worldwide Security Software Market on Pace to Grow 8% in 2009

The worldwide security software market will total $14.5 billion in 2009, an 8% increase from 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. In 2008, it grew at 19%, and Gartner anticipates the market to grow 13% in 2010 as revenue will total $16.3 billion. In Europe, the security software market will total 3.2 billion Euros in 2009, representing 7% growth from 2008.

In 2009, consumer security will remain the largest segment (in terms of total software revenue) in the security software market, representing 25 per cent of the total market. Gartner estimates it will account for $3.6 billion, growing 4% in 2009. The enterprise security software market formed by a number of segments such as endpoint protection platform, email security boundary and user provisioning is predicted to account for $10.9 billion, reaching 9% growth in 2009.

[Full Article] Sep-27-2009

US Leadership in IT Industry is Growing, Even in Tough Economic Environment

The Economist Intelligence Unit's annual study, sponsored by the Business Software Alliance (BSA), reveals that countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe are taking deliberate steps to improve their technology environments, although the US remains the leader in providing the most competitive conditions for the information technology (IT) industry.

The United States still ranks first in the world in the annual IT Industry Competitiveness Index, which was conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the business information arm of The Economist Group. The United States scored a 78.9 out a possible 100 in the index. However, the US lost ground to competitors in a number of areas, while Finland jumped from 13 in the 2008 rankings to number two in 2009 and surpassed the United States in the quality of its business environment.

The study, now in its third year, assesses and compares the IT industry environments of 66 economies to determine the extent to which they enable IT sector competitiveness. The ten highest ranked countries in the 2009 study are the US, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Singapore, and Norway.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, six factors combine to create a sound environment for the IT sector, including an ample supply of high-skilled workers; an innovation-friendly culture that supports R&D; world-class technology infrastructure; a robust legal environment that protects intellectual property (IP) such as patents and copyrights; an open, competitive business environment; and government leadership that strikes the right balance between promoting technology and allowing market forces to work.

According to the study, the United States combines breadth and depth in the six competitiveness categories, with special strengths in the quality of its IP protection laws, business environment, and its highly-educated workforce. However, the report also highlights areas where US global leadership is challenged, including:

Infrastructure: The US was ranked 7th in the world this year, down from 2nd last year. Despite having strong PC penetration -- the US has an estimated 86 desktop and laptop computers for every 100 people - broadband connectivity is moderate. Some parts of the country need better access to high-speed networks -- an issue that is being addressed by the economic stimulus bill approved earlier this year.

Workforce: Technology firms in the United States have a strong demand for highly skilled talent. Immigration policies in the US have tightened due to security concerns, which constrain the flow of talent. Immigration restrictions on skilled workers should be eased or the US could lose its attractiveness as a destination for talent from abroad.

Openness: The US economy is in the midst of a recession and must avoid embracing “America first” policies that limit global access to the market and invite reciprocal limitations by our trading partners. US policymakers should strive to open markets and protect intellectual property at home and abroad.

Other key findings of the research include:

Despite economic turmoil, the IT industry in the US remains strong, even in the midst of an economic recession. Many governments around the world view the IT sectors as an important engine of economic growth, and many are taking measures to stimulate sector output as a means of accelerating economic recovery.

Robust intellectual property protection remains essential to IT sector competitiveness. The top ten countries in this year's index all have strong intellectual property protection that enable their IT industries to flourish.

A strong approach to cyber security is essential for economic and technological advancement. Cyber criminals are international threats that are becoming more advanced. A public -- private partnership is essential to thwart cyber crime. Governments should ensure that steps to secure cyberspace are taken without placing mandates on technology.

Protectionism will hinder economic recovery efforts worldwide. The IT industry is a global industry and "buy local" provisions are slowing the global marketplace. Governments must avoid the siren call of protectionist market practices that will only hinder recovery and harm long-term sector competitiveness.

[Full Article] Sep-27-2009

<< Prev	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81	Next >>
Page: 21/81 Articles: 405