Businesses reliant on innovation to remain competitive are
focusing onskills retention, says business advisory firmGrant Thornton.
As companies continue to feel the effects of the recession, the
trend is to looking for new ways of keeping key staff, says Niki
Dixon, partner at Grant Thornton.
"With many
stocks under water, we are seeing companies thinking laterally,
offering things like iPhones as a welcome, but low-cost
alternatives to bonuses," says Dixon.
Tech companies, in particular, are attempting to create
stimulating environments by outsourcing as many of the mundane
tasks as possible.
Collaboration among industry peers is another positive
consequence of businesses faced with the challenge of doing more
with limited resources, says Dixon.
A spirit of "open innovation" is particularly apparent in the
computer game industry where competitors are collaborating on
common challenges such as compliance, she said.
According to Dixon, the recession has come as a "profound shock"
to most companies.
Few are likely to go back to the old way of doing business,
including large IT budgets, when the economy improves, she
said.