IT Budget Outlook for 2014 Looks Bright

IT Budget Outlook for 2014 Looks Bright

Organizational IT Budget for 2014

Optimism for the coming year is probably the highest in recent memory. Increase: 63%, Stay the same: 26%, Decrease: 12%

IT Confidence

There is no shortage of confidence when it comes to meeting business demands. Confident: 66%, Neutral: 21%, Unconfident: 6%, Don’t know: 7%

Areas of Spending Increases

A lot of organizations are putting their reliance on external IT resources. Consulting: 50%, Application project services: 49%, Staff augmentation services: 47%, Infrastructure project services: 46%, Training: 41%

Most Critical IT Skills

The ability to execute comes down to the quality of the IT staff. Programmers and developers, Project managers, Help desk and technical support, Software engineers, Architects

Most Difficult Roles to Fill

The skills shortage raises its ugly head. Programmers and developers, Architects, Software engineers, Business analysts, Project managers

Most Important Business Objectives for 2014

Despite the era of the cloud, IT applications and infrastructure still rule. Implementing new IT applications and infrastructure, Improving business processes, Improving existing IT applications and infrastructure, Delivering operational results

Trends That Will Have the Biggest Impact in 2014

Big data amplifies the importance of business intelligence. Business intelligence and big data, Security, Mobile, Cloud computing, Virtualization

Percentage of Spending Change in 2014

Mobile and cloud are often two sides of the same coin. Mobile: 62%, Cloud: 59%, Security: 59%, Storage: 51%, Business intelligence and big data: 51%

Biggest Challenge for 2014

The best-laid plans fall apart when revenue projections fall short. Revenue: 82%, Operations: 68%, Customers: 61%, Employees: 60%

IT Staff Salaries

Most organizations are planning to keep a lid on salaries. Increase by 10 percent: 4%, Increase by 6 to 9 percent: 6%, Increase by up to 5 percent: 71%, Stay the same: 18%, Decrease by up to 5 percent: 1%

Areas Where IT Salaries Will Increase the Most

Competition for talent will be keen almost everywhere., Programming and development: 69%, Software engineers: 67%, Project managers: 67%, Architects: 65%, Security: 65%

Changes to IT Head Count

Almost half of organizations expect to be hiring more in 2014. Permanent IT Worker Increase: 47%, Temporary IT Worker Increase: 46%