In the October 8th issue of Information Week there is a great “I told you so” article by Marianne McGee. The Society of Information Management does an annual survey of what are the top ten concerns for CIOs and IT management. This is one of the strategic polls that I pay attention to because SIM has tended to hit pretty close to the consultants mark over the past dozen years.
So what are the ten top concerns ? they are shown in the article chart on the left. However, let me quote verbatim Mariannes take on the results:
“CIOs rank attracting, developing, and retaining talent as their NO. 1 concern. It marks the first time in 10 Society for Information Management Surveys this people issue came out on top. Maybe now more companies will start acting like people really are their most important asset. “
Having observed some colleagues, managing critical projects, lose to “outsourcing”, raider consultants, and sheer stupidity some of their key people, I have seen directly the turmoil that is keeping IT managed on an even keel. Already strapped by short staff, these colleagues know what a terrible blow it is to lose critical staff and have worked mightly to avoid such losses – only to be overturned by top management or fast changing events.
Read the full article for a sobering look at whats going on at the top in IT management. It is not pretty. See another take on this issue here.