Computer Economics -- for IT metrics, ratios, benchmarks, and research advisories for IT management
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What’s Behind the Decline in Business Analysts?
Investments in IT Security Not a Matter of Dollars and Cents
Digital Transformation Takes Flight in the Aerospace Industry
IT Leaders on Edge as Budgets Continue Only Modest Gains
Desktop Support Outsourcing Not as Popular as it Once Was
IT Spending as a Percentage of Revenue by Industry, Company Size, and Region
IT Spending Ratios by Industry and Company Size
Featured Research
Business Analyst Staffing Ratios
January, 2020
Business analysts continue to play a critical role in IT organizations, although they declined again this year as a percentage of the IT staff. The business analyst serves as a bridge between the IT organization and business users. It is a multifaceted role that is important for ensuring that IT application systems meet business objectives. In this study, we assess staffing levels for the business analyst using four metrics: business analysts as a percentage of the IT staff, business analysts as a percentage of the Application Group, applications per business analyst, and users per business analyst. We also present ratios by organization size and sector. (23 pp., 10 fig.)[Research Byte]
IT Security Technology Adoption Trends and Customer Experience
January, 2020
Organizations in all industries and of all sizes need IT security technology, and with threats on the rise, the investment rate is the highest of any category of technology that we track. However, customer satisfaction and return on investment are not as rosy, with security technology earning a relatively low ROI rating and a moderate satisfaction rating. This report examines adoption trends for IT security technology of all types, from basic capabilities, such as firewalls and spam filtering to more advanced tools, such as incident detection, and everything in between. We analyze the adoption rate, investment rate, and economic experience for security technology overall. We conclude with recommendations for ensuring the success of IT security technology investments. (20 pp., 10 fig.)[Research Byte]
Worldwide IT Spending and Staffing Outlook for 2020
January, 2020
Although IT leaders worldwide have a positive outlook for the global economy, that outlook seems a bit tinged with frustration compared to previous years. This report, based on our Q4 survey, provides data on the global and U.S./Canadian trends for IT spending and staffing in 2020. This year, our report assesses IT operational and capital spending plans, executive priorities for IT investment, and plans for hiring, outsourcing, and pay raises for IT organizations worldwide and in the U.S. and Canada. (34 pp., 24 fig.)[Research Byte]
Vendor Discount Report (Jan. 2020)
January, 2020
Market intelligence on current discounting practices for business equipment can be difficult to obtain. As a result, buyers do not know whether a better deal can be negotiated. This updated report, based on our knowledge of recent deals, provides buyers with guidance concerning current discount structures on a variety of equipment. Categories include IT equipment (desktops, laptops, network equipment, printers, servers, and storage), office equipment (copiers, mail equipment), forklifts, medical equipment, test equipment, and miscellaneous equipment. Major vendors include IBM, HP, Dell, HP, Apple, and others. Includes a downloadable PDF workbook of more than 300 deals used in the report to calculate average discounts and soft cost statistics (11 pp., 11 fig.).IT Salary Report 2020
December, 2019
The Computer Economics IT Salary Report 2020 provides total compensation for 77 IT job functions for more than 400 U.S. metro areas and 20 industry sectors. The executive summary also provides our forecast for pay raises and hiring in 2020 and includes job descriptions for each job function. The salary tables are provided as a downloadable Microsoft Excel workbook, with total salaries reported at the 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th percentiles. (37 pp., 8 figs., plus salary tables)[Research Byte]
[Full Description and Free Executive Summary]
Desktop Support Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience
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Cost savings from outsourcing the desktop support function are positive, but declining service levels are bogging down growth in these services. This report examines adoption trends and customer experience with desktop support outsourcing. We report on the percentage of organizations that outsource (frequency), the average amount of work outsourced (level), and the change in the amount of work being outsourced (trend). We also present success rates for the customer’s cost and service experience, and show how use of these services differs by organization size and sector. We conclude with factors to consider when evaluating options for outsourcing this function. (17 pp., 8 fig.)[Research Byte]
Application Developer Staffing Ratios
November, 2019
With the use of agile and advent of DevOps, the way that applications are being developed in the enterprise is changing. With these changes, the need for application developers is in flux, and IT organizations can benefit from periodic assessment of their staffing levels. This study uses three metrics to make that assessment: developers as a percentage of the IT staff, users per developer, and applications per developer. We provide benchmarks for the composite sample, by organization size and by sector. We also provide a benchmark for the larger Application Group, which includes personnel engaged in application maintenance, web development and support, quality assurance, data management, and business systems analysis. (22 pp., 9 fig.)[Research Byte]
Supply Chain Management Adoption Trends and Customer Experience
November, 2019
Competitive pressures, globalization, and increasingly complex offshore manufacturing relationships are spurring organizations to expand their supply chain management (SCM) systems, which encompass a wide variety of technologies and capabilities. This report quantifies the current adoption and investment trends for SCM systems as well as the benefits driving companies to expand their SCM implementations. We assess these trends by organization size and sector. We also look at the return on investment and total cost of ownership experience of those that have adopted SCM. We conclude with practical advice for those considering investment in SCM technology. (18 pp., 9 fig)[Research Byte]
IT Spending Benchmarks for Very Small Organizations 2019/2020
November, 2019
For the first time, Computer Economics has conducted a study on the IT spending habits of “very small” organizations in the U.S. and Canada, a population that is beneath the size threshold for our annual IT spending and staffing benchmark study. This report examines high-level IT spending, staffing metrics and trends for such very small IT organizations. We further break down the high-level metrics by three sectors: manufacturing, retail and wholesale distribution; professional and technical services; and financial services. To qualify as very small for the purposes of this study, a company has to be either under $50 million in revenue or under $1 million in IT operational spending. (36 pp., 17 fig.)[Research Byte]
Pay for Performance: Popularity and Impact of Incentive Pay in the IT Workforce
November, 2019
Incentive pay programs have been popular for decades, because many business managers believe that paying for performance can motivate workers and increase productivity. Nevertheless, the largest incentive-pay packages are becoming less common, and there is a flattening of incentive pay as a component of overall compensation. This report we provide data on the percentage of employees receiving incentive pay by job level, the percentage of compensation comprising incentive pay, and the percentage of incentive pay based on individual, group, and company performance. We conclude with recommendations for implementing effective incentive pay programs and mitigating the unintended consequences. (17 pp., 4 fig.)[Research Byte]
CRM Adoption Trends and Customer Experience
November, 2019
Customer relationship management systems have become one of the most widely-adopted categories of enterprise applications, and investment continues to grow. This report provides an overview of key concepts in the CRM space. We also examine CRM adoption and investment trends, showing how many organizations have the technology in place, how many are in the process of implementing it, and how many are expanding implementations. We then look at the return on investment experience, total cost of ownership experience, and which type of applications are the most popular. We conclude with recommendations to ensure CRM implementation success and to encourage adoption. (17 pp., 9 fig.)[Research Byte]
Mobile and Wearable Devices Adoption Trends and Customer Experience
October, 2019
Since Apple launched the iPhone, mobile devices have gone from the must-have technology to table stakes. However, new classes of specialized devices promise new capabilities. This report provides an overview of key concepts and vendors in the mobile device space. We examine adoption and investment trends, providing data on how many organizations have mobile devices in place, how many are in the process of implementing them, and how many are expanding their investments. We also look at the ROI and TCO experience and how organizations are using mobile devices. We conclude with recommendations on getting the most business value from mobile/wearable devices, whether for traditional applications or for doing business in new ways. (24 pp., 13 fig.)[Research Byte]
IT Security Staffing Ratios
October, 2019
IT security budgets are rising again this year in the wake of a continuing onslaught of high-profile ransomware attacks. For many IT organizations, this means it may be time to reassess the adequacy of their IT security staffing levels. In this report, we present the five-year trend in IT security staffing and provide benchmarks for understanding IT security staff head count: as a percentage of the IT staff and as a percentage of the Network and Communications Group. We also analyze IT security staffing in terms of the number of applications, the number of users, and the number of network devices. In addition, our analysis includes the influence of organization size and sector on staffing requirements. We conclude with recommendations for optimizing IT security staffing. (22pp., 9 fig.)[Research Byte]
Disaster Recovery Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience
October, 2019
Information technology plays a vital role in the function of nearly all business operations, so it is essential that IT organizations be able to quickly restore services after a disaster or disruption. Many IT organizations (though not as many as in the past) find value in disaster recovery outsourcing, where a service provider is responsible for off-site data storage, recovery data centers, or redundant systems. This report analyzes the percentage of organizations outsourcing disaster recovery capabilities (frequency), the scope of work outsourced (level), and the change in the amount of work being outsourced (trend). We also present success rates for the cost and service experience and show how these trends differ by organization size and sector. We discuss the elements that every disaster recovery plan should contain as well. (19 pp., 9 fig.)[Research Byte]
IT Management Best Practices 2019/2020
September, 2019
The best-run IT organizations not only focus their process improvement efforts on those of other departments, they also seek to optimize their own IT management processes internally. In this study, we examine the growth and maturity of 34 IT management practices which we have grouped into five major categories: IT governance practices, IT financial management practices, IT operational management practices, IT security and risk management practices, and application development practices. (197 pp., 178 figs.)[Full Report Description and Sample Pages]
[Research Byte]
IT Outsourcing Statistics 2019/2020
August, 2019
This major study profiles outsourcing activity for 11 IT functions: application development, application management, data center operations, database administration, desktop support, disaster recovery services, help desk services, IT security, network operations, system implementation/integration and web/e-commerce systems. For each IT function, we measure the frequency and level of outsourcing. We also look at the current plans of IT organizations to increase or decrease the amount of work they outsource. We examine the customer experience to assess whether organizations are successfully lowering costs or improving service through outsourcing. Finally, we show the outsourcing frequency by sector for each function. (115 pp., 97 fig.)Full Report Description
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IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks 2019/2020: Full Study
July, 2019
Our 2019/2020 IT Spending and Staffing Benchmarks study provides a comprehensive view of the current state of IT budgeting and staffing levels for business and governmental organizations in the U.S. and Canada, based on our 30th annual survey. Detailed metrics are provided by organization size and by industry sector. From within this article, you can purchase all 31 chapters at a significant discount off the individual chapter price. Individual chapters are also available for purchase – click the Full Study Description below for details. (1,811 pp., 1,057 figs.)[Full Study Description and Individual Chapter Pricing]