A Divided Vote

Nearly half (48 percent) of IT leaders surveyed said they anticipate growth in their organizations’ 2013 IT budgets. The other 52 percent expect it either to remain the same (27 percent), decline (16 percent) or responded that they didn’t know (9 percent).

More than half (54 percent) of the IT leaders are confident that their budgets will be adequate to support their business needs. Yet when asked about the greatest challenges they face, they ranked “acquiring the necessary budgets” No. 1. “Attracting, retaining and developing top talent” and “improving IT performance/efficiency” were also considered major challenges.

Forty-nine percent of IT leaders said they expect IT applications services spending to increase from 2012 to 2013, while 47 percent anticipate outlays for IT infrastructure will rise.

Overall, 55 percent of IT leaders expect their staffs’ salaries to rise this year. Forty-three percent expect those increases to be up to 5 percent. Meanwhile, 34 percent say staffs’ salaries will stay the same, and only 6 percent of the respondents expect their IT staffs’ pay to be lower.

IT leaders said that developer positions are the most difficult to fill. Not surprisingly, they do well on the pay scale. Of the 47 percent of the respondents who reported that they expect developers to see an increase in salaries, 33 percent expect salaries to rise by up to 5 percent, 10 percent by 5 to 10 percent, and 4 percent by more than 10 percent. Additionally, 37 percent of the respondents said they expect developers’ salaries to remain the same, and only 5 percent anticipate a decline.

Roughly 40 percent of IT leaders said that engineers, project managers and security specialists would see increases in 2013. Yet only 27 percent of those skilled in social media—a field in which it is the least difficult to find exceptional talent—are expected to receive pay increases.

About 40 percent of IT leaders expect to increase their permanent IT head count, 41 say it will stay the same and 14 percent see a decrease.

More than a third (36 percent) of the respondents see a rise in temporary IT head count, 41 percent expect it to stay the same and 14 percent see a decline. A large number of IT pros—61 percent—expect head counts for part-time workers to remain the same, while only 16 percent see an increase and 10 percent anticipate a drop in part-time workers.

While close to a third of the respondents expect an increase in 2013 IT outsourcing spending, 39 percent believe it will stay the same and 20 percent see a decline from 2012.

Respondents said business intelligence will have the biggest impact on their organizations, with cloud computing and security following. But IT leaders said social networking would have the smallest effect.

More than half (58 percent) of the respondents expect the trend toward cloud-based and as-a-service IT offerings to increase demand for IT skills. Only 15 percent said it would decrease demand for IT skills, and 27 responded that they didn’t know.