IT companies are ready for 2017. Their budgets are set and it’s time to execute. It’s also a great way to check your clock with the rest of the industry.
ComputerWorld has published yet another part of its Tech Forecast 2017 survey which asks about 196 IT managers, directors and executives about their plans for the year. We’ve already covered the top skills for 2017 and also the hardest to find skills in 2017.
The latest installment goes into more detail about the plans of the companies that took part. It also gives a decent picture of where the IT money will go in 2017.
The IT budgets for 2017 will go to…
For starters, most companies plan to either keep the same IT budget (48%) or increase it (41%). Only 11% will decrease their IT budget for 2017.
47% of respondents say they plan to increase spending for Security technologies. 38% will also increase the money for Data analytics. 35% will spend more on Mobile applications and 33% on Software as a service (SaaS). Also 33% will increase the money for application development and upgrades.
The increase in some areas means only one thing – money will decrease in other segments. The biggest loser is Hardware. 20% of companies will reduce spending. Also, 17% will decrease the budget for legacy systems modernization/replacement. And 13% will lower the budget for Storage. Spending for On-premises software will also go down for 13% of the respondents. 12% will reduce the cash for Data center consolidation/optimization.
The fight for top talent rages on
Still, 56% of companies say they will keep their current levels of hiring new IT talent. 29% plan on increasing it and 15% – to decrease it. Given the lack of IT talent, these numbers seem about normal. 61% of the companies will increase talent because of new systems and projects. Apart from the obvious need for qualified workers, 30% of respondents specifically point to Security initiatives for their main hiring needs. Security is also top on the most difficult to hire list and the top project for most of the companies.
Chances are your company is in the same water. This means you should be ready for quite the battle in order to net the top talent you want. Most likely you will have to pay more and offer more options for career and skill development in order to attract the best people. This means you should have your training budget and plan in place. CourseDot can help you with both. Contact us for more info.