IT Channel Businesses Remain Confident in Q2 Despite Some Concerns
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Building Confidence
The IT industry business confidence index edged up 1.1 points, reaching 61.3 (out of 100) in the second quarter of 2014. -
Sleepless Nights
Price-sensitive customers who are holding back on spending are keeping 49% of respondents up at night. Other big concerns include government regulation and/or gridlock in Washington, D.C., (40%), and unexpected factors such as financial and international crises (35%). -
Small Company Troubles
Access to credit/capital is still cited as a big concern among the smallest channel companies, according to 33% of respondents, versus 15% of respondents overall. -
Disruptive Signals
A significant challenge among IT channel companies is disruptive technologies and business models; 23% of respondents cite this as a concern, up from 15% in the fourth quarter of 2013. -
Understaffed
33% of respondents said their companies are understaffed: 6% said they are understaffed by 20%; 5% said they are short-staffed by 15%; 12% said they are down 10%; and 10% said they understaffed by 5%. -
Overworked
Half the respondents said they deal with understaffing by requiring workers to put in more hours on the job. Other strategies include redeploying staff from lower-priority projects to higher-priority ones (32%), and hiring more contract or temp workers (27%). -
Who is Hiring?
52% of respondents said they have job openings. However, large and midsize companies have the greatest needs, with 76% and 75% of respondents reporting job openings, respectively. -
Only Techies Need Apply
Most IT job roles/skill sets needed are for technical positions. Indeed, 48% of respondents said they are looking to hire technicians or IT support/service, followed by application developers (39%), cloud expertise (33%), network engineers (29%) and security expertise (28%). -
Hiring Challenges
57% of respondents indicate challenges in hiring technical workers, versus 26% for nontechnical workers. -
Recruiting Strategies
An equal percentage (68%) of respondents use soft recruiting (such as employee referrals) and post job openings at company Websites. And 61% said they post job openings to job boards, while 50% recruit via social networks. Other tactics include using a recruiter (47%) and visiting job fairs or university career events (30%).
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Why Metrics Matter to the Channel IT channel companies remain optimistic about business prospects in the second quarter of 2014, according to a recent survey from CompTIA. The Q2 IT Industry Business Confidence Index marks the third consecutive quarter that IT industry executives in the channel have reported increased optimism about future business. The index rose 1.1 percent, reaching 61.3 (on a 100-point scale), up slightly from 60.2 in the first quarter of 2014. The index is based on IT executives' opinions of the U.S. economy, the IT industry and their companies. Despite the optimism, IT channel executives still face several major challenges. Among their biggest concerns are disruptive technologies and business models, with cloud computing and mobility as the key driving factors. "With such far-reaching impacts of these technologies, firms across the IT channel are still working through how to best meet the needs of their customers and their business," Tim Herbert, vice president, research, CompTIA, said in a statement. Channel Insider looks at key takeaways from the report.
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