Firms struggling to fill IT roles, survey finds

The vast majority of firms are struggling to hire experienced and graduate IT staff, according to a survey.

The annual Deloitte survey of chief information officers and IT managers across all sectors of the economy found that 44% were looking to recruit IT staff but 84% of respondents were finding it difficult to source suitable graduates and experienced personnel.

The survey also found that 42% of respondents expected an increase in their IT budget in 2013. Last year’s survey found that 45% expected a decrease in their IT budget.

Moreover, 60% of all companies surveyed had developed smart-phone apps over the past 12 months, which is a 20% increase on last year.

This growth has been focused on customer-facing apps with no growth in the development of employee-only-facing apps.

There has been a dramatic increase in the use of social media by companies over the past couple of years.

In 2010, only 38% of chief information officers said that they made use of social media, whereas in this survey that figure had risen to 78%.

“The primary use of social media is for customer interaction in the sales, marketing, and support channels,” the survey found.

As well as social media, cloud computing is a growth area in the IT space.

The latest survey showed that 54% of all respondents used cloud computing, which is up from 38% a year ago.

Software as a service is the most popular form of outsourcing followed by infrastructure as a service, in a distant second.

Of those who do not currently use cloud computing, 47% have plans to research it and 31% plan on trialling it over the next 18 months.

Moreover, 78% of all organisation surveyed plan on introducing or increasing use of tablets over the next 18 months.

Harry Goddard, a partner at Deloitte, said: “Encouragingly, chief information officers appear to be at the heart of the digital transformation of their organisations, with the development of mobile applications and the use of social media on the increase.

“This again emphasises the pivotal role chief information officers play in driving organisational strategy. More and more Irish chief information officers are demonstrating the value technology innovation can bring.

“The overall sentiment that emerges from this year’s survey is a quiet optimism among chief information officers with regards to the increased contribution they can make to their organisation’s future success.”