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App Maintenance Outsourcing Returns to Pre-Recession Rate
Application maintenance is one of the most popular IT functions to turn over to third-party service providers. This Research Byte shows the five-year trend in frequency of application maintenance outsourcing.
January, 2012
Application Maintenance Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience 2012
Application maintenance is one of the most popular IT functions to turn over to third-party service providers. This study examines application maintenance outsourcing trends and customer experience. We report the percentage of organizations outsourcing application maintenance (frequency), the average amount of work outsourced (level), and the change in the amount of work being outsourced (trend). For customer experience, we show how many IT organizations successfully lower costs or improve service by outsourcing application maintenance. Finally, we look at the popularity of offshore-outsourcing this function. (19 pp., 14 figs.) [Research Byte]
January, 2012
IT Workers To Get 2.8% Average Pay Bump in 2012
IT workers hoping to improve their standard of living in 2012 will not likely fine relief through annual salary raises. This Research Byte provides the details and an overview of the Computer Economics 2012 IT Salary Report.
January, 2012
2012 IT Salary Report
The Computer Economics 2012 IT Salary Report provides total compensation (base pay plus incentive pay) for 65 specific IT job functions for 20 industry sectors and more than 400 U.S. metro areas. The introductory chapter provides our forecast for pay raises, turnover, and hiring in 2012 based on historical trends and economic conditions. It also provides the pay-relatives by industry sector, guidelines for calculating benefits and employer costs for private sector and government organizations, and incentive pay as percentages of total compensation for manager and staff positions. It concludes with job descriptions for each job function in this study. The salary tables are provided as a downloadable Microsoft Excel workbook, with total salaries reported at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th percentiles. (30 pp., 7 figs., plus a 30,000+ row multi-tab Excel workbook) [Full Description and Free Executive Summary]
January, 2012
Network Support Staffing Ratios 2011
As a percentage of the IT staff, network support headcount has been declining over the past four years. This study will help IT managers determine whether their organizations are keeping pace with improvements in network management by comparing their network support staffing against industry benchmarks. We provide three basic metrics: network support staff as a percentage of the IT staff, the number of users per network support staff member, and the number of network devices per network support staff member. We provide benchmarks for the composite sample, by sector, and by organization size. (17 pp., 11 figs.) [Research Bytes]
December, 2011
IT Makes Big Gains in Network Support Efficiency
As a percentage of the IT staff, network support staff headcount has been declining over the past four years. This Research Byte examines the five-year trend in changes to the size of network support staff.
December, 2011
Use of Contract Workers Down But Not Out
Managing the contract workforce is a balancing act. In this Research Byte, we examine how contract workers have figured at the median as a percentage of the IT staff, and how this ratio has changed over the last five years.
December, 2011
Current Use of IT Contract Workers
The decision to use contract workers is an important one. There are pros and cons either way: flexibility versus stability, lower costs versus no fixed rates. Managing the contract workforce is a balancing act. In this study, we examine the use of contract workers as a percentage of the IT staff by organization size and sector. We also examine the five-year trend between 2007 and 2011 to discover how the use of contract labor has changed over time, particularly in light of the recent recession. The report concludes with our view on current and future trends in contract labor use. (9 pp.,4 figs.) [Research Byte]
December, 2011
Small Business a Bright Spot in IT Spending Forecast
This Research Byte presents the forecast for the median IT operational budget change next year for small, medium and large organizations in the U.S. and Canada. It also outlines our outlook for IT spending and staffing in 2012, based on our November survey of IT executives.
November, 2011
Outlook for IT Spending and Staffing in 2012
This annual report provides guidance for IT executives as they firm up spending plans for the coming year. It is also useful for IT product and service providers in forecasting economic trends for IT spending for 2012. It is based on our fourth-quarter poll of 157 organizations worldwide, including 97 IT organizations in the U.S. and Canada, with more than $40 million in annual revenue. The study assesses the spending and staffing actions IT managers are currently taking, the budget actions they took over the past year, and what they are including in their budget plans for the year ahead. Our outlook report provides 2012 forecasts for IT operational spending, IT capital spending, and IT hiring by organization size. We also forecast pay raises for IT workers. (28 pp., 27 figs.) [Research Byte]
November, 2011
ERP Shows Strong Adoption and Investment Trends
ERP systems are the most widely deployed business applications. But how aggressively are end-user organizations currently investing in ERP and what are the risks and rewards? This Research Byte presents the three-year trend in ERP adoption and investment rates.
November, 2011
ERP Adoption and Customer Experience
ERP systems are the most widely deployed business applications. But how aggressively are end-user organizations currently investing in ERP and what are the risks and rewards? In this study, we show the three-year trend in the percentage of organizations that have adopted ERP systems and are currently investing in them. We report worldwide adoption and investment rates by sector, organization size, and geography. We also measure customer experience in terms of the success rates for return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO). Finally, we assess ERP investment levels for new implementations and improvements to existing systems. We wrap up with our recommendations for improving the ROI of ERP. (18 pp., 10 figs.) [Research Byte]
November, 2011
IT Security Outsourcing Recovers
As security threats grow and change, outsourcing to IT security service providers can be an attractive option for augmenting in-house security capabilities. This Research Byte shows the four-year trend in frequency of IT security outsourcing, showing how many organizations have been choosing to outsource as a part of their security strategy, and how the level of this statistic has recently changed.
November, 2011
IT Security Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience 2011
As security threats grow and change, outsourcing to IT security service providers can be an attractive option for augmenting in-house security capabilities. In this study, we present data about the four-year trend in IT security outsourcing. We examine the amount of IT security work being outsourced, the impact on costs and service levels, and the amount of IT security outsourcing broken down by organization size. We also examine the three-year trend in offshoring IT security work. Finally, we examine the sectors most likely to engage in IT security outsourcing. We conclude with recommendations on outsourcing security. (19 pp., 4 figs.) [Research Byte]
November, 2011
ERP Support Staffing Influenced by More Than User Count
ERP systems can be major investments requiring substantial effort for implementation. Yet many organizations do not realize that the total cost of ownership of an ERP system is composed largely of ongoing support. While initial license fees and consulting services required to implement the system are one-time investments, the cost of support personnel recurs year after year. This Research Byte shows data on the number of ERP users per ERP support staff member that organizations are currently staffing, and analyzes what this metric shows about current levels of staffing.
November, 2011