By Ed Frauenheim, 27 May 2005 09:40
NEWS Under pressure from ever-more capable outsourcers, information technology departments are poised for serious staff reductions over the next few years, according to a new report from research firm Gartner.
By 2010, the number of IT staff in the profession will shrink by 15 per cent, Gartner predicted on Tuesday. Apart from the rise of outsourcers - who often provide their services from lower-cost countries such as India - IT departments also face the diffusion of tech skills throughout an organisation, Gartner said.
"As IT becomes a more integral part of every business function, there will be increasing numbers of people outside the [information systems organisation] whose work involves IT," Gartner said in the report. "And as IT skills become a more important component of business professionalism, in-house IS staff will be displaced."
The report adds to somewhat confusing signals about the future of the IT profession. The US Department of Labor forecasts that computer software engineering and network systems and data communications analysis will be among the top 10 fastest-growing occupations between 2002 and 2012. And last autumn, a Gartner analyst predicted a shortage of technology professionals in the US in the near future, thanks to factors such as declining student interest in the tech field.
But a study in 2004 from research organisation Rand did not find evidence that shortages of engineering, mathematics, scientific and technical, personnel in the US workforce are on the horizon. A separate Gartner analyst last year predicted that over the next 20 years, changes in computing technology will erase the need for much of the work that employs IT staff today.
In addition, the growing trend of shipping IT work offshore seems likely to harm US techies in the form of fewer US jobs created, at least in the short term. A report last year, sponsored by the Information Technology Association of America trade group, on offshore outsourcing of software and IT services indicated that sacrifices by American IT workers would result in an improved US economy overall.
In its latest report, Gartner forecasts increased involvement by IT staffers in business matters. By 2010, the firm said, 60 per cent of the people affiliated with the information systems group will assume "business-facing roles around information, process and relationships." As a result, Gartner predicted, "the size of the IS organisation will decrease, and... by 2010, IT departments in mid-sized and large companies will be at least one-third smaller than they were in 2000".
David Flint, research vice president at Gartner, said in a statement: "As we see departments within businesses taking on the traditional functions of IT, so IS professionals and leaders will have to choose between careers as technologists, technical managers and business professionals."
Ed Frauenheim writes for CNET News.com
Comments
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1. anonymous
The problem seems to be that we have conflicting trends in play. It’s easy to prove any point if you don’t mind ignoring most of the facts.
The US Department of Labor is only looking at the growing use of telecommunication networks -- and ignoring the fact that automation and ease of use are growing faster.
Indian outsourcers may be growing “more capable,” but they are doing so in areas that are subject to the greatest automation. If we couldn’t get cheap labor in India, we would have been forced to improve processes and automate faster. That would have provided a better outcome in the long run – albeit at the same loss of jobs in the US.
There’s also the trend to force US IT staff to work long hours and multitask – or lose their jobs. At some point this must stop. As we’ve seen, no-one wants to join an industry where such practices are tolerated.
2. anonymous
Will 15% of the work now considered IT also go away in 5 years?