HANOVER, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TEKsystems®, a leading provider of IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise and IT services, today released the results of its quarterly IT “Reality Check,” a survey that compares current market conditions on the state of spending, skill needs and impact areas originally reported in the company’s Annual IT Forecast released in December 2014. The most recent survey represents the views of more than 300 IT leaders (CIOs, IT VPs, IT directors, IT hiring managers) as of March 2015.
Key highlights from the survey include:
Budget Expectations and Confidence Levels Remain Steady
Budgets Stay the Course; IT Leaders Slightly Less Confident in Ability to Satisfy Business Demands
Budget shifts | ||||
(Percent of IT Leaders’ Responses) | 2015 Forecast | Q1 2015 | ||
Expect budget to increase | 45% | 43% | ||
Expect budget to stay the same | 39% | 43% | ||
Expect budget to decrease | 16% | 14% | ||
Confidence in ability to satisfy demands | ||||
(Percent of IT Leaders’ Responses) | 2015 Forecast | Q1 2015 | ||
Confident | 71% | 70% | ||
Neutral | 20% | 18% | ||
Unconfident | 9% | 12% |
The percentage of IT leaders who expected budget increases or decreases each lessened by 2 percent and shifted to “stay the same,” which increased by 4 percent. Those expressing a lack of confidence increased 3 percent, shifting from those who expressed confidence (down 1 percent) and those who were neutral (down 2 percent).
Most Impactful IT Trends Show Consistency
Security, Business Intelligence (BI) / Big Data Maintain Top Two Positions
Biggest impact trends/technologies (Ranking of IT Leaders’ Responses) | ||||
2015 Forecast | Q1 2015 | |||
1 | Security | Security | ||
2 | BI / Big Data | BI / Big Data | ||
3 | Mobility | Cloud Computing | ||
4 | Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) | Mobility | ||
5 | Cloud Computing | DevOps | ||
6 | Data Center Consolidation | Virtualization / Software-defined Networks | ||
7 | Virtualization / Software-defined Networks | Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) | ||
8 | Internet of Things | Internet of Things | ||
9 | Consumerization of IT/BYOD | Consumerization of IT/BYOD | ||
10 | DevOps | Social Technologies | ||
11 | Social Technologies | VoIP / Unified Communications | ||
12 | VoIP / Unified Communications | Data Center Consolidation | ||
13 | Open Source | Open Source |
Security and BI / Big Data held steady as the top two most impactful areas. The initiatives that fluctuated the most in terms of impact were DevOps (rose from No. 10 to No. 5), ERP (dropped from No. 4 to No. 7) and data center consolidation (dropped from No. 6 to No. 12).
Rankings of Most Difficult to Hire Positions Remain Consistent
Security Leapfrogs to Top Spot
Difficult roles to fill with exceptional talent (Ranking of IT Leaders’ Responses) | ||||
2015 Forecast | Q1 2015 | |||
1 | Programmers and Developers | Security | ||
2 | Software Engineers | Programmers and Developers | ||
3 | Architects | Software Engineers | ||
4 | Project Managers | Project Managers | ||
5 | Security | Business Intelligence | ||
6 | Business Analysts | Architects | ||
7 | Business Intelligence | Big Data Analytics | ||
8 | Big Data Analytics | Mobile | ||
9 | Help Desk / Technical Support | Business Analysts | ||
10 | Cloud | Help Desk / Technical Support | ||
11 | Mobile | Cloud | ||
12 | Social Technology Experts | Social Technology Experts |
Security jumped four places at the end of March to rank as the most difficult role to fill with exceptional talent. Other positions that fluctuated significantly include mobile (rose from No. 11 to No. 8), architects (dropped from No. 3 to No. 6) and business analysts (dropped from No. 6 to No. 9).
Full-Time IT Headcount on Rise; Major Upswing in Contingent Hiring
Major Leap in Expectations for Contingent Hiring Increases in Q2
Hiring for Full-time IT Staff | Hiring for Contingent IT Staff | |||||||
2015 Forecast | Q1 Reality Check | 2015 Forecast | Q1 Reality Check | |||||
(Q2 2015 Expectations) | (Q2 2015 Expectations) | |||||||
Increase | 40% | 45% | 36% | 51% | ||||
Stay the Same | 50% | 46% | 54% | 44% | ||||
Decrease | 10% | 9% | 10% | 5% |
Expectations for increases in hiring of full-time employees in Q2 increased 5 percent, mainly due to the 4 percent decrease in the percentage of IT leaders who expect full-time hiring to stay the same. The 15 percent gain in IT leaders who expect contingent hiring to increase in Q2 shifted from IT leaders who expected contingent hiring to stay the same (which dropped by 10 percent) and IT leaders who expected contingent hiring to decrease (which dropped from 10 to 5 percent).
“Similar to last year’s first quarter reality check, most IT leaders are not seeing significant changes in terms of budget expectations, confidence, impact areas or difficulty in securing skill sets as compared to when we entered the year,” said TEKsystems Research Manager Jason Hayman. “But, where we have seen significant change is in the area of contingent hiring—which has seen a major shift towards increased hiring plans. Employment growth was robust in 2014, at least by recent standards, and most signs point to continued growth in 2015.”
TEKsystems’ Jason Hayman is available for additional commentary. For more information about the survey or to schedule an interview, please contact Rick McLaughlin at TEKsystems@daviesmurphy.com.
About TEKsystems®
People are at the heart of every successful business initiative. At TEKsystems, we understand people. Every year we deploy over 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, IT talent management expertise 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.
TEKsystems. Our people make IT possible.