Author: Jose Allen

IT Spending: Up, Up, and Away

Comments Off on IT Spending: Up, Up, and Away

It looks like CIOs are increasing their IT spending in the months to come. This is according to the article CIO survey: IT spending projections rise steadily in Q1 which revealed the survey results of the CIO Magazine Tech Poll.

According to the article, the spending rate of CIOs are predicted to increase of 8.6% during the next 12 months, up from the projected rate of 7.8%. The survey results also revealed the following information:

  • 44.8% – rate of CIOs who said that they plan to increase spending over the next year (up from 40.7% last month)IT Spending
  • 13.8% – rate of CIOs who planned to decrease spending (down from 15.5% in December)

Aside from that, the poll also indicated the different functions which could be the target for increased spending in the months to come. These functions are the following:

  • storage systems
  • data networking
  • infrastructure software
  • computer hardware
  • telecommunications equipment
  • e-business applications software
  • outsourced IT services

As indicated in the survey results, the spending rate for storage systems was the strongest sector in the poll. The survey showed that 56.7% planned to increase their spending which is up from the original 49.7%. The second category indicated in the survey results …

Read More

IT Workforce: On the Brink

Comments Off on IT Workforce: On the Brink

Gone are the days wherein people consider the IT field as the “minefield” for opportunities. A recent survey done by AFCOM showed an alarming trend in the world of IT workforce.

There were 179 IT managers who participated in the survey which aims to find out the latest trend when it comes to workforce in the IT industry. The survey results were able to reveal two relevant nformation:

  • there is an increasing rate of aging workforce in the IT department
  • increase rate in automation

Declining IT WorkforceWorkforce

This is one of the results revealed in the survey conducted. More than half of the participants revealed that at they need at least three months in order to fill up the senior-level technical and management positions that are vacant in their company. Aside from that, 38% of the participants revealed that they are employing less employees that they did five years ago. The survey predicted that by the year 2015, data center workers would decline by 45%.

The Retirement Trend

The survey also revealed that the IT workforce are fast approaching retirement age and replacement for these employments are not coming anytime soon. Nate Viall, a Des Moines-based recruiter who specializes in …

Read More

Verizon Joins the Offshoring Craze

Comments Off on Verizon Joins the Offshoring Craze

Verizon, one of the leading names in communication is set to enter the world of offshoring providing through the 8.5 billion dollars worth acquisition of long distance carrier MCI.

Verizon remarked that they would enter the offshoring market through a management service in which the targeted market are business customers that are tired of leaving their IT-related functions to incapabe outsourcing firms and offshore management companies. Managed services are defined as a set of responsibilities which are transferred to a third party such as a carrier or an outsourcing firm by a corporation. Most of the services included in this industry includes network management/data management which is needed to complete its responsibility for a firm’s computing infrastructure.

Verizon said that it would make use of the skills that they have acquired through the acquisition in order to support the core IT resources of firms. The decision to outsource was brought about by the said acquisition and the growing demand for IT-specific offshoring skills. MCI, the acquired firm which is a long-distance telecommunications service provider had a strong background of network support for large corporations and government agencies. Through the experience of the acquired firm, Verizon is confident that they would …

Read More

Finding a Multicultural Leader

Comments Off on Finding a Multicultural Leader

One of the advantages in offshoring is the money that firms save in terms of operations and hiring. On the other hand, one of the disadvantages mentioned in offshoring is the culture gap that the firm and their employees experience in this kind of business strategy. The best way to turn this disadvantage into an advantage is to pick an IT leader that is able to understand the culture of both worlds.

In the article entitled, Casting Call for Global Talent, it talks about how firms could choose the best leader in this kind of situation. Most of the time, firms determine the leaders for this kind of business strategy based on the common characteristics needed for a leadership position. Firms need to understand that in this case, they should consider culture awareness of a person because it is one of the big hindrance in establishing a peaceful relationship in offshoring.

In this case, people that were born in the said offshoring destinations but are also aware of Western customs are the best likely candidate for the job. As mentioned in the article, expatriates that are willing to go back to their place of origin are the best ones for …

Read More

Innovation Starts in School

Comments Off on Innovation Starts in School

Innovation is a term that is not only applicable to technology but to almost every aspect in life. In the article entitled Reading, Writing, and Creativity, it shows the interview done with Education guru Sir Ken Robinson that points out the importance of innovation and creativity in every aspect of our lives-either in school or in the corporate world.

When asked about his definition of creativity, Sir Ken Robinson mentioned this:

Ultimately it’s the process of having original ideas, but there are several steps. The first step is imagination, the capacity that we all have to see something in the mind’s eye. Creativity is then using that imagination to solve problems — call it applied imagination. Then innovation is putting that creativity into practice as applied creativity.

Sounds encouraging isn’t it? That is precisely what the education guru is pointing at. Each and everyone of us has the capability of being creative which blurs the notion that only artists have the right to be creative. The main ingredient needed to be creative is the motivation to do so and in order for people to take the creative approach, they have to incorporate it through the shool curriculum. The education guru …

Read More

Random Thought in Project Management Part 2

Comments Off on Random Thought in Project Management Part 2

Pardon my cluttered mind but it seems like I can’t have a direct focus on what topic to zoom in today’s blog post. Due to that, I decided to have a second part of my random thoughts. All of which are related to project management.

Changes in PM

I recently discovered Stephen Seay’s blog which provides useful information regarding project management. Being a project manager himself, I am sure that he would be able to give you a different view of project management because of his knowledge and experience in the industry.

In his blog, I stumbled upon his entry entitled Eight Stage Process of Creating Major Change which shows the step-by-step process of incorporating change in a project. This was taken from the book “Leading Change” by John P. Kotter. These stages are supposed to be followed whenever there are major changes to be implemented.

    The Eight Stage Process of Creating Major Change
  • Establishing a Sense of Urgency
  • Creating the Guiding Coalition
  • Developing a Vision and Strategy
  • Communicating the Change Vision
  • Empowering Broad-Based Action
  • Generating Short-Term Wins
  • Consolidating Gains and Producing More Change
  • Anchoring New Approaches in the Culture

Thoughts and Insights

The steps that were shared through the …

Read More

Shopping cart

close