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2004-11 UPDATE - Market Snapshots
of the WEB
October 2004. Productivity growth as measured
in the US is based on labor (output per man-hour), rather than the measure known
as total factor productivity, which includes the cost of new capital as an offset
against the perceived gains in output. Much of the productivity improvement in
IT in America is a reflection of the "capital deepening" that has taken
place, and which has now slowed. So, American growth in labor productivity should
slow, although it still remains greater than a decade ago.
-source: The Economist
2004-05 UPDATE - Market Snapshots
of the WEB
March 2004. Three in five of corporate
respondents plan a re-launch of their web site this year, and major site developments
generally are already planned and underway. Standardizing the existing applications
and underlying technologies is the primary goal, closely followed by improving
the user's experience through better architecture and design (rather than technological
innovation, this year). Around 20 percent of the web site budget funds internal
staff, and another 10 percent goes to online marketing such as search engine and
email ventures.
-source: Jupiter Research
2004-03 UPDATE - Market Snapshots
of the WEB
March 2004. Businesses that align information
technology (IT) strategies with business strategies are significantly more likely
to achieve a high return on IT investment. In fact, only by linking IT and business
strategy can companies really assess the ultimate ROI of information technology
investments. Yet only 7 percent of respondents have an IT plan fully aligned with
their corporate strategy.
-source: Computer Sciences Corporation, Financial Executives International
February 2004. IT salaries have stopped
declining, and are beginning to rise again, by 2-7 percentage points. Network
and MIS management received the best raises. Unix and C / C++ remain the most
in-demand skills.
-source: Dice, Inc.
[COMMENT 2004-03. Hiring in IT is resurging, but
the effect of offshore outsourcing on this trend is not yet clear.]
2003-11 UPDATE - Market Snapshots
of the WEB
November 2003. Senior executives expect
spending on information technology to increase sharply over the next year, with
a spending recovery underway by Q2-Q3 2004. More than a quarter of the investment
will be in hardware, reflecting the skip of the last two years in equipment upgrades.
-source: Software & Information Industry Association
November 2003. As the US economy surges
in recovery, traditional indicators suggest that much overcapacity persists, i.e.
much equipment is still lying around unused. But IT purchases growing at annual
rates of 18 percent for the last two quarters argues that rapid obsolescence of
IT equipment overstates overcapacity - because older equipment quickly becomes
useless, and when its need next arises it is simply replaced. Any excess equipment
dating back to the past century is likely to be unusable.
-source: The Economist
November 2003. Small business in the US
increased its workforce by 5 percent and increased its IT spending by 11 percent
during the last 12 months.
-source: AMI-Partners
2003-09 UPDATE - Market Snapshots
of the WEB
September 2003. Executives expect a 6.4
percent increase in IT spending over the next 12 months. Although fifty percent
say their application backlog is "significant", budgets will not go
to repair currently failing or under-performing infrastructure, but rather to
replace legacy systems with new hardware and software. IT allocations "must"
begin to support needed renewal very soon, but even so there is a sense that spending
depends on the economy continuing to recover.
-source: CIO Magazine, AMR Research
September 2003. Twenty-one percent of
companies globally that outsource IT functions contract them to India, the world
leader. The U.S. gets 5.6 percent, Europe gets 13 percent, and the rest of Asia
gets 8.5 percent. Seventy-two percent of IT professionals outsource some or all
of their IT functions, while twenty-eight percent outsource none.
-source: ITtoolbox
2003-03 UPDATE - Market Snapshots
of the WEB
March 2003. IT employee morale is low,
and managers' budgets remain gutted, but companies recognize this and are implementing
skill development programs internally, investing in the existing workforce rather
than hiring. Budgets will remain flat this year, yet IT workers will experience
salary gains, even at the expense of other sectors of the workforce.
-source: META Group
2003-01 UPDATE - Market Snapshots
of the WEB
December 2002. Even as enterprise-scale
IT investment has declined, small business (less than 100 employees) continues
to upgrade. Globally, one fifth of the 76 million small businesses will generate
three fifths of the $200 billion total IT spending.
- source: Access Markets International
December 2002. US managers will need
to fill over 1 million IT jobs in 2003, having laid off half a million in 2002.
Tech support people have the most secure tenure. Companies employ more programmers
than any other type of IT worker.
- source: Information Technology Association of America
2002-11 UPDATE - Market Snapshots
of the WEB
November 2002. The worldwide IT industry
contracted by 2.3 percent in 2002, from a 20-year history of 12 percent annual
growth. Growth will resume, at lesser rates, in 2003 and improve for several years,
slowing again later in the decade.
- source: IDC Research
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