How would you describe your current IT staffing situation?
According to Cutter Consortium Senior Consultant Mike Sisco, "Companies have been running 'lean and mean' for a few years now, and productivity of the workforce is very high because of it. CEOs may be eager to invest in IT to get to some of the efficiencies available to them through technology innovation, while they continue to try and hold the general workforce levels down until more certain times are 'more certain.'" When asked to describe IT staffing plans for next year, 45% of respondents to a Cutter Benchmark Review survey claim their staff is stable and no changes are expected, compared to 40% in 2010 and 44% in 2009. In addition, the same percentage that say they are stable (45%) say they will be hiring next year. This is up from 43% in 2010 and 35% in 2009. As you would expect, the balance of the responses in this question that report companies will be downsizing has dropped from a 2009 high of 21% to last year's 17% to only 10% for 2011.
* Excerpted from "IT Is Positioned for New Growth: Expect More Turbulence Before We Have Smooth Sailing" (
) Cutter Benchmark Review, Vol. 11, No. 1; 25 February 2011