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IT Spending Benchmarks for Very Small Organizations 2019-2020
For the first time, Computer Economics has conducted a study on the IT spending habits of “very small” organizations in the U.S. and Canada, a population that is beneath the size threshold for our annual IT spending and staffing benchmark study. This report examines high-level IT spending, staffing metrics and trends for such very small IT organizations. We further break down the high-level metrics by three sectors: manufacturing, retail and wholesale distribution; professional and technical services; and financial services. To qualify as very small for the purposes of this study, a company has to be either under $50 million in revenue or under $1 million in IT operational spending. (36 pp., 17 fig.)
November, 2019
Worldwide IT Spending and Staffing Outlook for 2020
Although IT leaders worldwide have a positive outlook for the global economy, that outlook seems a bit tinged with frustration compared to previous years. This report, based on our Q4 survey, provides data on the global and U.S./Canadian trends for IT spending and staffing in 2020. This year, our report assesses IT operational and capital spending plans, executive priorities for IT investment, and plans for hiring, outsourcing, and pay raises for IT organizations worldwide and in the U.S. and Canada. (34 pp., 24 fig.)
January, 2020
IT Leaders on Edge as Budgets Continue Only Modest Gains
Here at the end of 2019, we find that IT leaders worldwide have a positive outlook for the global economy. Nevertheless, hat outlook is tinged with frustration compared to previous years. It is not exactly that leaders fear a recession (though an increasing number do) so much as they are becoming fed up with years of modest increases and not-so-modestly increasing demands for service. This research byte summarizes the full report, Worldwide IT Spending and Staffing Outlook for 2020.
January, 2020
Employee Centricity and Customer Experience Takes The Forefront
COVID-19 has brought focus back on collaboration, automation, and security, however this time it centers around employee engagement and customer experience. Owing to the pandemic, there is sudden change in people’s habits and preferences, specifically the way they operate and interact as they embrace work-from-home culture. Progressive enterprises are adopting a “cloud-first” strategy and looking for newer digital ways of working and serving their customers. Zensar, being cognizant of this trend, has already identified and laid out a digital enterprise priority, hinged around enabling experience, business agility, and automation.
October, 2020
Amid Changes, Communications Support Staff Increases
Corporate communications systems have become more sophisticated in recent years. As a result, it is becoming more difficult to determine how to staff the role of supporting them. As such, the size of the communications system support staff as a percentage of the IT staff has been prone to large fluctuations in recent years. This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on communications support staffing ratios.
January, 2019
Covid-19 Pandemic Boosting Demand for Web/E-commerce Personnel
Web/e-commerce support personnel have been increasing as a share of the typical IT staff over the past five years. And now, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this IT staff position is getting a big boost as organizations are having to increase their digital interactions with customers, partners, and suppliers.This Research Byte summarizes the five-year trend in web/e-commerce staffing ratios.
April, 2020
Application Maintenance Staffing Ratios 2019
As an organization’s application portfolio grows, the application maintenance role becomes a more critical function and IT organizations can benefit from periodic assessment of their staffing levels. This report uses three metrics to make that assessment: application maintenance staff as a percentage of the IT staff, users per application maintenance staff member, and applications per application maintenance staff member.
March, 2019
Application Maintenance Staff Getting Pulled in Two Directions
The share of the typical IT staff devoted to applications maintenance declined this year.. However, this metric is not yet showing a trend and is fluctuating as organizations grapple with expanding software portfolios at the same time they are converting some of their portfolios to SaaS, which should require less of a maintenance effort. This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on application maintenance staffing ratios.
March, 2019
How CIOs Risk Becoming Irrelevant
During the late 1990s the median IT organization in North America experienced double-digit IT operational budget growth. Even as recently as 2006 to 2008, IT budgets were growing in the 4% to 5% range. But today, IT budgets are growing only 2 % at the median and the outlook for 2012 is unchanged.
December, 2011
A Tug of War in Help Desk Staffing
Help desk staffing is in a state of flux right now, and right now increasing demands from the business are driving up headcount. In fact, the help desk staffing ratio took a big jump in 2019, bringing it to its highest level in the past five years. Some help desk roles are being expanded, but it remains to be seen if other factors will reduce demand for this important function. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on help desk staffing ratios.
January, 2020
Business Continuity under a Pandemic Scenario
Pandemics are fundamentally different from the disasters commonly envisioned in disaster recovery and business continuity plans. The most recent threat of the Wuhan coronavirus highlights the fact that most organizations are not prepared for a pandemic scenario. This updated report outlines the specific ways in which pandemics are different from other types of disasters. It suggests three planning scenarios, and it outlines specific actions that IT risk managers should consider to prepare for them. If adequately prepared, the IT group will be able to continue to support critical business functions, and it can provide solutions to help the organization get through a pandemic.
February, 2020
Why Have IT Manager Staffing Levels Suddenly Become More Volatile?
The ratio of IT managers to total IT staff has been a remarkably steady metric over the years. Nevertheless, this staffing ratio took a jump last year and fell back again this year. Although economic conditions can explain some of the volatility, there are other factors at work. This Research Byte examines possible causes.
August, 2019