Skills Road Map

IT Labor Market Predictions for 2010

Managed services adoption

Momentum will also build next year for managed IT services, which will in turn dramatically affect a variety of hiring and skills acquisitions decisions. Impressive growth projections for the next three years—compound annual revenue growth estimates in the 10 percent to 39 percent range are common for several service segments—
portend the beginning in 2010 of widespread IT workforce reconstitution, allowing employers to (finally!) start to properly synchronize on-board skills sets with rapid-change business requirements. Goal: lean, nimble, reactive and predictable human capital deployment with less
waste.

Jobs and skills most affected by growth in managed services in 2010:

• Networking and Telecommunications (Metro Ethernet; VoIP and various IP services; VPNs; (
mobile wireless)

• PC/desktop services
• Applications (selected)
• Security
• SMB companies: Remote services; Security

Managed Services market adoption and sizing:
– 47% of large enterprises and 37% of SMBs have purchased some sort of managed service
in 2009 [Source: Forrester]
– 60% of companies planning to increase managed services in 2009 and beyond [Source:
Nemertes Research]
– 46% of $31.1 total global managed services spend in 2009 is by SMBs.
– Global market for IP-based managed services (incl. security): $66 billion by 2012 [Source:
OVUM}
– Global market for managed services will grow from $30 billion in 2008 to nearly $43 billion in
2013 (7.8% CAGR) [Source: Insight Research]
– 2010 global MS market for SMBs: $15.7 billion (+9.6% annual growth) [Source: Techaisle]
– Hosted application revenues will grow from $8 billion in 2008 to $16 billion by 2012.
[Source: inStat]

Hot IT jobs for 2010

Bar none, for short (and also long) range IT job security the smartest place to be in 2010 is, ironically….IT security. Unlike other technology job segments, pay and demand for security skills have risen steadily since 2007 and neither budget nor headcount has diminished in economic hard times. Driving continued momentum for steady jobs investment and career safety is the ‘perfect storm’ of more regulation; constant fear of increasing threats; greater customer expectations and demands aimed at vendors; and the splitting of business/strategic risk and operational security activities, which has been accelerated by market forces. Moreover, it’s not
just deep technical infrastructure and applications skills that are in play but also business knowledge and experience necessary for corporate and business line security positions in risk management and governance. SAP professionals, in particular those with the SAP skills specializations listed on page 4 will feel safer and with options next year. With a global installed base in excess of 40,000 customers and talent shortages widely reported in 2008 (softening with 2009 layoffs), employers will continue to search for technical and functional area specialists to develop and implement SAP solutions.

Social media may have started out as a fad but it is quickly winning serious corporate converts. The search will intensify in 2010 for IT specialists who can engage audiences in their company’s messages, products and services. The skills sets in demand will be technical but also heavily business and consumer focused, with many industry- and situationally-specific flavors.

Solid demand in 2009 for web development, e-commerce applications and systems, and business intelligence skills and competencies will continue to boost related jobs
in 2010. In many ways these are ideal investments for labor-constrained, cost-sensitive employers looking for ways to maintain market share, boost customer satisfaction, and leverage information assets in the face of intense competitive market pressures. Investments in numerous innovations in online business product and service delivery, made in 2008 and 2009, will bear fruit in the new year as new innovations arrive.

Hot Skills for 2010:

1. SAP SRM (Supplier Relationship Mgmt)
2. Linux
3. SAP SCM (Supply Chain Mgmt)
4. C++
5. Microsoft Commerce Server
6. SAP PM (Plant Maintenance)
7. Security*
8. Java EE, SE, ME. J2EE
9. SAP SEM (Strategic Enter. Mgmt)
10. Netweaver PI
11. SOAP
12. ERP (various)
13. Netweaver Portals
* IDS/IPS, forensics, identity/access mgt, compliance,
firewalls, threat/vulnerability assessment and mgt,
encryption, data loss prevention, penetration testing,
incident analysis and handling, Disk, file-level encryption
solutions , Governance/compliance & audit, biometrics,
Web content filters, VoIP security, and security
architecture.
14. Solaris
15. Master Data Management
16. SAP QM (Quality Mgmt)
17. Unified comm./Messaging
18. SAP SM (Service Mgmt)
19. Virtualization (all)
20. SAN (storage area networking)
21. Python
22. Microsoft Sharepoint
23. Perl
24. Project management
25. VoIP/IP telephony
26. PL/SQL
27. C
28. Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise
29. ITIL
30. Business process mgt/modeling
31. SAP HCM (SAP HR)
32. Database management

Source: Foote Partners LLC