Parity reflects on the IT spending outlook for 2006

    /24-7PressRelease/ - EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, March 24, 2006 - The outlook for IT spending is expected to be fairly conservative for 2006 (source: Forrester Research). This is because, say Forrester, IT departments are now expected to support business goals more efficiently than they have done in the past. A greater prioritisation on the business and less on new investments in IT will see just a 1.6% increase in IT spending this year for European enterprises.

The skills landscape is changing, say Parity, with fewer technicians required and greater demand for business roles such as those that have PRINCE2 and ISEB qualifications. Clearly this shift has a major impact on education, internal training departments and recruitment.

"The new skills landscape has been apparent to the Parity Group for some time", says David Plummer, Managing Director at Parity Resources. The shift in demand for project management and program management training (http://www.parity.net/training/courses/_/project-managment-training ) and for the ISEB training in IT Service Management (http://www.parity.net/training/courses/_/IT-service-management ) plus year on year increases in demand on recruitment right across the UK of these job roles supports the rationale behind a cautious IT spending outlook.

The theory that the education system will take too long to meet demands for IT/business analysts, IT architecture specialists, project managers and vendor managers - skills that firms expect to need in greater numbers in the future - is looking to be a reality unless firms themselves invest in developing the skills necessary to meet the needs of the business. Standard 'best practice' approaches and 'frameworks', and a good set of underlying business skills are vital in today's business environment.

For more information in skills and recruitment services for these job profiles: http://www.parity.net/training

Editorial notes:

About Parity:
Parity, uniquely for its size, offers a full range of IT services including;

Business process consultancy
Change management training
Management training
Technology training
Programming training
Development and management of complex IT systems
Oracle and Microsoft technology and application skills
Permanent and temporary IT staff
Resource process outsourcing

Major companies include:
Alcatel, Allianz, ATandT, British American Tobacco, CISCO, Department for Education and Skills, Department for Work and Pensions, Glaxo Smith Kline, HBOS, Hewlett Packard, HM Revenue and Customs, HSBC, IBM, ICI, Ministry of Defence, NASA, Connecting for Health at the NHS, O2, Perot Systems, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Mail, Siemens, Sony Ericsson, The Cabinet Office, The Meterological Office, and T-Systems.

Contact details:
For more information on Parity, visit http://www.parity.net or by contacting Gina Cannon ([email protected] )

Author:
Michael Hanna

About Michael
Michael is a keen writer, and internet marketer living in Scotland:

Contact details:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 0131 561 2251
Michael's Website: http://www.gransha-taxi.co.uk

# # #