Third Annual Reader Survey
November 05, 2004
The People Problem
|
Although 44 percent of the survey respondents say their organizations plan to spend more on IT in the coming year than they did the year before, only 12 percent say they intend to increase their IT head count. About 61 percent say they expect head count to stay the same, and almost 27 percent say their IT head count will decrease in the coming year (see charts left).
The upshot: Top management remains cautious about the economy. Most organizations, even if they're getting additional dollars for capital outlays and other new projects, remain reluctant to hire IT staffers who might have to be laid off if the economy turns sour again.
"We are seeing the 'perfect storm' in our IT organizations," says Christopher Clancy, director of technology for the Cleveland Clinic Health System, which is increasing the number of capital projects, but not head count. "We're continually restricting the human resources we need to weather the storm. Like most other IT organizations, we're forced to stretch limited resources across more requests."
