But what about offshoring’s promise of around-the-clock production and the potential to facilitate the development of feature-rich, low-cost products? Isn’t it supposed to eventually lead to increased hiring stateside? Those questions remain unanswered.

INFOWORLD IT EXEC-CONNECT
	Talk with other IT professionals about how to stay competitive in the IT job marketplace. (Log-in required) >> IT Careers discussion groups

Return to 2006 Survey

Calculate my salary

DOWNLOAD PDF Click here to download InfoWorld's 2006 Compensation Survey

Here’s how the offshoring situation appears to be unfolding of late. Competition among providers has many offshore operations looking to diversify their offerings. Offshore contractors’ skill sets are heading up the IT ladder -- toward middle management. So too is the fear of offshoring, as middle managers are three times as likely to feel themselves exposed to the offshoring ax. Now, one in 10 midlevel IT professionals fear their job may move overseas -- the same rate of anxiety expressed among the IT staff.

What is certain is that “offshoring has really put a premium on project management,” consultant Foote says. “Companies are just dealing with complexity. Oodles and oodles of complexity. People are feeling that you can’t ever have enough good project managers, so maybe it’s time to start paying for them again.”

The shift toward SOA is also having an impact on what stays onshore. The most desirable job candidates are tech pros with Web services expertise and experience with middleware apps, according to the survey.

“We’re going to have applications skills certifications in demand for professionals until we’re dead,” Foote says.

Business acumen also figures to bring home more in the future employment landscape. In the latest CIO IT Staffing Research Report, tech execs list business analysts, project managers, and strategic planners as the most sought-after employees five years out. Not surprising, given the continual convergence of business and technology.

Call for collaboration
When it comes to aligning business with IT, theory and practice can often collide.

More than a mere season of discontent, last year’s staggering rise in contentiousness along the business/technology divide is demonstrating lingering effects. Nine out of 10 senior IT managers report essential involvement in planning their company’s tech strategy and implementing it. Yet only seven in 10 influence goals and allotments. More startling, senior managers are 20 percent less likely to have final say on tech strategy as well as purchasing decisions than a year before. With two out of three tech execs ultimately responsible for aligning technology with business objectives but only one in three given the power to decide how best to do so, it’s no surprise that more senior IT professionals feel executive management is missing the mark on the value of IT.

And the decline has been precipitous. A mere 49 percent of senior IT managers believe executive management’s estimation of IT is on target, down from 53 percent last year and 62 percent in 2004. Many find it tough to get executive management to understand and buy into their mission, as 69 percent said a lack of technical acumen was key to management’s inability to recognize the value of IT. Remarkable, however, is that this percentage is actually in decline. Business is listening but still can’t seem to see beyond the expense column to true ROI.

And perhaps that is why, despite improving market conditions, the necessity of making do with less endures at some organizations. Just more than half of senior IT managers consider current levels of investment in IT adequate to support business goals. And there is the rub. Tech execs are more likely to feel IT is undervalued than to believe IT can’t deliver on what it has to accomplish to meet corporate goals.

Perhaps this discrepancy suggests some senior technologists believe the business side isn’t yet cooperative or collaborative enough. Opportunities are out there. With greater investment in IT, many tech execs believe their companies can attain the agility necessary to seize them. And with nearly four times as many senior IT pros actively pursuing a new position at their current employer, taking matters into their own hands may just be their answer.