recruitment Surveys suggest that IT spending and the jobs market
are picking up. Computer Weekly asked IT leaders across the UK
about their recruitment plans
Computer Weekly reporters
computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk
Continued economic growth is finally beginning to show through in
IT spending and recruitment plans. Both this week's Computer
Weekly/Kew Associates Quarterly Survey of IT Expenditure Trends and
last week's SSL/Computer Weekly Quarterly Survey of Appointments
Data and Trends, show signs of an upturn. Computer Weekly asked a
range of IT directors from across the UK about their recruitment
and project plans for the year ahead.
Financial services
The replacement of old systems and a return to expenditure on large
IT projects is driving demand for IT staff in the financial
services industry. Advertised jobs were up 10.9% on the third
quarter of 2003.
The sector, traditionally one of the biggest spenders on IT, has
been hit particularly hard by the economic downturn. This year,
however, spending will focus on more than just cost-cutting
exercises, fuelled by a raft of industry regulations with
implications for IT.
Alex Robinson, IT director of general insurance at Norwich Union,
said he was looking for IT staff with experience in systems
architecture and project management and business.
"Systems architecture is a key area for recruitment and it is a
skill area where we think a lot of companies are looking to
recruit," he said. "It is about planning what the eventual system
will be like and making the necessary technology choices, such as
whether to go for .net or J2EE. But these sorts of people are in
relatively short supply as few have the technology understanding
and the depth of business knowledge required."
IT projects in the general insurance business of Norwich Union will
be split almost evenly between maintaining existing IT systems and
new projects.
The insurer will this year begin to replace its ageing back-office
systems, some of which are up to 30 years old. This will involve
replacing 750 mainframe systems. "It is simply uneconomical to try
to connect new systems to a range of old systems," said
Robinson.
New IT projects include using software to automate some of the
claims processing procedures in parts of the general insurance
business, a move that Robinson believes could save the company tens
of millions of pounds.
Mark Hemsley, chief information officer and managing director of
market solutions at exchange Euronext Liffe, said he was looking to
recruit about 50 IT staff over the next year. Skills in demand
include programming languages C++ and Java, and staff with
experience in software testing, project management and systems
development.
New projects will be based around developing Euronext Liffe's
trading platform, Connect, which it has sold to other exchanges,
including the Chicago Board of Trade and the Tokyo International
Futures Exchange.
"We have been extremely busy," said Hemsley. "We are launching a
euro dollar contract on Liffe by the end of March and we have to
make sure that there is straight through processing all the way
from the traders to the clearing house."
Manufacturing
UK manufacturers could well be holding back on IT recruitment plans
in 2004, with many firms focused on improving their skills base
rather than adding numbers. Advertised jobs were down 18% on the
third quarter.
Brian Jones, global chief information officer at drinks giant
Allied Domecq, welcomed the increased demand for IT staff but said
his priority was getting the right balance of skills rather than
increasing the number of staff.
"We are focusing on strengthening our gene pool rather than adding
heads - in some cases we are collapsing roles together and getting
a better result, providing we have the right person doing the new,
expanded job," he said.
"It also enforces more ruthless prioritisation since work is less
likely to be invented unnecessarily. Ultimately, things happen if
you have the right people doing the right things, not just a bigger
resource pool."
Another priority for Allied Domecq is to reduce dependence on IT
contractors by improving the skills of internal IT staff, Jones
said.
"When we need external resources we tend to contract for them from
a major provider on a risk/reward or deliverables basis so that our
service providers focus on getting us to where we want to be rather
than filling their order book," he said.
Tony Whitby, group data manager at manufacturing firm Johnson
Matthey, said although the IT department is not growing, the
turnover of IT staff has increased. "We are not recruiting more
staff but people are leaving more regularly because there are more
jobs out there and more companies are willing to recruit," he
said.
There has also been a change in the IT skills required at the
company. "We require fewer people with AS/400-type skills and more
with web-based and Java skills," said Whitby.
Retail
Andy Billington, IT director at clothing retailer Burberry, said
his department was probably untypical in its IT recruitment plans.
"Our focus is to ensure all systems are delivering a solid,
reliable service - maybe not the best functionality, but
consistent," he said. "To this end we are not starting new
developments and will be scaling back staff."
The increasing interest in RFID and other supply chain technologies
across the retail and manufacturing sectors is also likely to drive
demand for IT recruitment during 2004, according to industry
experts.
"There is certainly going to be increased demand for people with
RFID skills and there will also be integration requirements, which
will drive demand," said David Weatherby, senior executive at UK
supply chain standards body e.centre. "There will also be a
requirement to network all the RFID readers, which will require
certain skills."
Local government
Councils are recruiting IT staff to help meet the 2005 deadline for
getting public services online.
Kate Mountain, chief executive of the Society of IT Management,
said local government IT managers were looking to boost their
skills in non-technical areas.
"Key skills in demand at the moment are to do with influencing and
understanding the business - these include the likes of change
management and project management," she said.
The 2005 deadline will also place a premium on IT staff with
general business skills in addition to technical knowledge, added
Mountain.
"IT managers in local government now need a range of skills,
including managing risk, negotiations and influencing a range of
stakeholders, such as elected members," she said.
But Roy Cosway, corporate IT services manager at Cornwall County
Council, has noticed rising demand for web-based skills, partly due
to the 2005 target. He said, "We are seeing significant demand for
development skills, particularly web-based software
development.
"All forward-thinking local authorities will be making sure that
their developments are web-based." This could be in any number of
areas, such as redeveloping existing systems or handling new
legislation, such as the Freedom of Information Act, he added.