2014: Most Detroit CIOs Express Confidence in Growth and IT Investment

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The majority of Detroit-area technology executives, or 92 percent, report being somewhat or very confident in their companies’ prospects for growth in the first six months of 2014, says a new survey. This compares to 87 percent who forecasted growth in the last six months of 2013.

“The new year often brings new projects, and as a result, companies may be looking to grow their core IT teams at this time of year,” says Stacey Singleton, Detroit regional vice president of Robert Half Technology, which conducted the survey. “We anticipate that web developers, system administrators, and help desk professionals will continue to be in high demand in the next few months, especially in the manufacturing and health care sectors.”

In terms of hiring, 12 percent of CIOs plan to expand their IT teams in the first half of 2014, 68 percent plan to hire only for open IT positions, 17 percent plan to put hiring on hold, and 3 percent expect to reduce staff. Among the skills in greatest demand are network administration (66 percent), Windows administration (54 percent), and desktop support (51 percent).

The survey also found that 67 percent of metro Detroit CIOs find it somewhat or very challenging to find enough skilled IT professionals. They say the biggest challenge is securing skilled talent in the functional areas of networking (21 percent), help desk/technical support (21 percent), and security (13 percent).

The 2014 hiring projections — based on interviews with 100 CIOs — also found that 67 percent of tech executives plan to invest in IT projects in the first half of 2014. This compares to 64 percent in the last six months of 2013.