The latest quarterly survey by recruitment agency TMP Worldwide, revealed that 56.6 percent of employers thought the tech wreck had a negative impact on their IT departments, compared to 53.2 percent believing the attacks on America had a negative impact on their IT departments
"It shook a lot of organisations up in terms of security issues," Martin Nicholls, technology practice director for TMP Worldwide told ZDNet Australia concerning the effects of the terrorist attacks.
"It was a negative impact in that the companies felt a little more threatened," said Nicholls. "Rather than a negative impact I think it highlighted a few areas that needed attention in the world of IT." While it could have felt negative at the time, the overall impact may have been positive.
Outsourcing and globalisation were also seen to have affected many IT departments, but the reaction was mixed as to whether the effects were good or bad. Outsourcing was seen as having a positive impact on IT departments by 34.8 percent of employers, while 13.6 percent felt it had a negative impact. Globalisation had a positive impact on 25.4 percent of IT departments, compared to 18.4 percent of employers believing it had a negative impact.
Over the next six months IT companies will be gunning for growth, with nearly one third of survey respondents indicating increased revenue was one of the most important business challenges they face. For the technology sector in general the highest-rated problem over the next six months was reducing the cost structure of the organisation, with almost a quarter of respondents citing this as a primary concern.
For IT companies reducing the cost structure was the third most prominent, with only 16.5 percent indicating it was an important factor. The other major challenge seen by IT companies was increasing market share, with 27.8 percent indicating this was a primary goal.
