Cost control the number one priority for IT

Firms worried about cost control and strength of the pound

Cost cutting is the number one priority for IT leaders this year, according to research by sector skills council e-Skills UK.

The survey of 2,000 IT managers showed that 61 per cent of companies say reducing costs would have more emphasis over the coming year, compared with just eight per cent who thought there would be less priority. The remaining 31 per cent said there would be no change.

When asked about their levels of concern for a range of business issues during the first quarter of the year, the top three for most medium-to-large firms were the strength of the pound, the cost of supplies and the availability of credit for themselves and consumers. Respondents were relatively unconcerned about availability of skilled IT staff and other labour-related issues.

Nine out of ten employers polled said they were much more likely to look at generic cost assessment or cost-cutting measures than decreasing headcount internally or cutting back on contractors.

And the survey also showed that most firms are shunning new technologies such as cloud computing, open source, software as a service and virtualisation.

The e-skills UK ICT inquiry was carried out during February-March 2009, involving over 2,000 telephone interviews with individuals identified as holding responsibility for IT recruitment/development within their workplace.