From...

July 1, 1999
Web posted at: 1:30 p.m. EDT (1730 GMT)

by Nancy Dillon

(IDG) -- If you thought the IT skills shortage couldn't get any tighter, just wait a few years.

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So cautions Meta Group Inc., which reports that while this year's demand for information technology professionals will exceed supply by 400,000 jobs, the number of unfilled jobs in 2005 is projected to reach 1.2 million. Yet only 30,000 college graduates per year are entering the workforce prepared for those positions.

"There's no quick fix, no simple silver bullet to solve the labor shortage," said Peter Burris, a Meta Group analyst.

But Burris outlined several ways companies can attract and retain sought-after IT talent. His presentation today during a press teleconference, titled "Labor Pain: Coping With the IT Labor Shortage," was based on a recent survey of more than 1,750 companies.

Both workers and employers want IT to become more business-focused, Meta Group concluded. Companies want IT workers to possess business as well as technical skills, while IT professionals reported a desire to broaden their communications, business modeling and project management skills.

"People say all the time that they want to keep their skills hot," said Maria Schafer, also a Meta Group analyst. But while virtually every company invests in IT training, only 19% consider it successful, she said.

Another problem is that IT training expenditures declined somewhat last year when companies moved their focus away from training to recruitment. Schafer said this "misfocus" needs correction because better business training will be a key element of IT recruitment and retention in the coming years.

Along with more business training, Meta Group said companies can use tactical outsourcing to attract more IT workers and guard against employee turnover.

"If outsourcers are doing all the new and cool projects, it circumvents IT's feeling of being at the forefront of business," Burris said. One example of work ripe for tactical outsourcing: payroll. Unlike an application such as data warehousing, payroll isn't a source of competitive advantage, Burris said.

As much as 80% of corporate IT resources are devoted to maintaining technical assets as opposed to driving new business value, according to Burris. "This number has to change. ... A larger portion of creative talent has to go to business talent and application delivery," he said.

The bottom line, according to Meta Group, is that companies need a greater emphasis on development and redirection of skills in their IT professional ranks.

Burris said with this new emphasis, IT will become a more attractive field for recent college graduates. And as companies move IT away from low-level asset management into systems design, systems management and information flow, "IT will go through something of renaissance," he said.