New Year, New Optimism for IT Leaders
Feb 10, 2011 | HANOVER, MD | For media inquiries, please contact us at media@TEKsystems.com.
HANOVER, MD – February 10, 2011 – TEKsystems, the nation’s leading technology staffing and services company, today announced findings from its quarterly IT Executive Outlook survey, conducted in partnership with the Inavero Institute.
IT Budgets
Of the 1,000 IT executive respondents in the U.S. and Canada, 48% expect IT budgets to increase in 2011. Only 18% expect a decrease, compared to 26% that expected a decrease this time last year, indicating confidence is on the rise for 2011.
Respondents from companies in the Financial Services (56%), Healthcare (54%), Retail (54%) and IT (53%) industries have significantly higher expectations for IT budget increases. By region, expected increases are the highest in the Midwest (59%) and Canada (57%).
TEKsystems Director Rachel Russell said, “After two years of being asked to do more with less, progressive companies are realizing the importance of investing in strategic enterprise IT initiatives that will drive innovation and efficiencies for the business and the bottom line. Budgets are increasing, as is the focus on attracting and retaining specialized technical talent that can identify and implement faster, more efficient ways to spearhead growth for the entire business.”
IT Hiring
Along with budgets, IT hiring is on the rise with 43% of respondents expecting increases in permanent hiring at a rate of 6%, and 40% expecting to increase contract hiring by 10%. By region, contract hiring in the first quarter is expected to increase at slightly higher rates in the Midwest (14%), Southeast (11%) and Canada (13%). Industries expecting the highest increases in contract hiring include IT (15%), Finance (10%) and Manufacturing (10%).
IT Initiatives
Similarly, 57% of IT leaders cited an increase in IT project needs over the next six months. Mobile Applications tops the list of 2011 initiatives, with 54% of IT leaders citing implementation plans over the next 12 months. Business Intelligence and Desktop Virtualization projects follow closely, cited by 45% and 42% of respondents respectively.
Russell continued, “The survey results indicate that IT leaders are aggressively pursuing multiple, complex initiatives in 2011. The hottest projects are also those that require the most specialized skill sets and in-demand technical talent that can sometimes take months to find. Decisions around how to best staff these projects should be as much a part of the strategy as the initiative itself. We are aggressively teaming with our clients to help them carefully analyze which skills are available in-house and which ones they will need to acquire, either on a full time, part time or contractual basis. Regardless of the staffing model, companies that can master that kind of strategic workforce planning and decision making will come out ahead.”
About the IT Executive Outlook survey:
TEKsystems partners with the Inavero Institute to conduct a quarterly survey of more than 1,000 IT leaders in the U.S. and Canada. IT directors represented the majority of survey respondents at 39%, and IT executives made up 31% of responses. IT leaders represented all industries, regions and company sizes with 51% of responses from organizations that gross $1 billion or more annually.
About TEKsystems
People are at the heart of every successful business initiative. At TEKsystems, an Allegis Group company, we understand people. Every year we deploy more than 80,000 IT professionals at 6,000 client sites across North America, Europe and Asia. Our deep insights into IT human capital management enable us to help our clients achieve their business goals–while optimizing their IT workforce strategies. We provide IT staffing solutions and IT services to help our clients plan, build and run their critical business initiatives. Through our range of quality-focused delivery models, we meet our clients where they are, and take them where they want to go, the way they want to get there.