What Motivates IT Professionals

Forrester did a survey of IT Professionals on what motivates them. Turns out it is not all about pay!

1. Interesting work to do is top motivator – 78%
2. Autonomy – 73%
3. Work life balance – 68%
4. Base compensation – 68%
5. Relationship with manager – 66%
6. Job security – 64%

In addition, there are some interesting age oriented statistics. 29% over 45 say base compensation is top motivator and only 14% under 45 say base compensation is top motivator. 33% over 45 say technical development is top motivator where 66% under 45 say it is top motivator!

CIO Insight Article:

http://tinyurl.com/6cw3e3u

Gartner CIO Top 3 Priorities and Predictions

The Top 3 CIO priorities according to Gartner are:

1. Cloud Computing
2. Virtualization
3. Mobile Computing

Gartner predicts that IT spending in 2011 will grow only 1% and IT spending will not return to 2008 high levels until 2014.

Today only 3% of companies have more than 50% of their IT in the cloud, but Gartner predicts that by 2014 43% of companies will have more than 50% of their IT in the cloud!

Source: CIO Insight
http://tinyurl.com/4whqdcx

Nortec’s 20th Anniversary

Nortec’s 20th Anniversary is approaching in March. According to the US Small Business Administration (SBA) in 2009 there were 552,600 new businesses, 660,900 closures and 60,837 bankruptcies. 2009 was a net loss of 169,137 businesses so not a good year for business. 2005 had a net gain of 39,176 businesses and this is a better sample of most years. SBA states that 50% of businesses survive 5 years, 33% survive 10 years and 26% survive 15 years. The longer a business survives the more likely it will continue as 67% of those that survived 5 years survive 5 more. 79% of those that survived 10 years survived 5 more years resulting in 26% reaching 15 years. This extrapolates to 85% of the 26% of business that survived 15 years will survive the next five years and this would mean 22% of businesses survive 20 Years - this is about 1 in 5. This success is certainly something worth celebrating!

I was reflecting on the key principals that have given us 20 years of success. Nortec has 5 principal values: Excellence, Integrity, Responsive, Flexibility and Follow up and these principal values are the foundation of Nortec. Here are 6 keys principals that build on the foundation:

1. The first rule of business is to stay in business
2. Business model trumps everything!
3. Hiring the very best people at all levels
4. Commitment to the business – no matter how difficult things get!
5. Thinking long term
6. Aligning management and compensation around the goal of profitability

Developing a Training Plan

Goals for 2011 are set and it is now February. It is time to plan 2011 training and personal growth. Think about the personal and professional growth goals you set. What training and when will you need to attain those goals? Investigate any training you are looking at to make sure it is the right training for you – Don’t just let your manager decide for you. Schedule the training and embrace it. Start reading the materials to prepare for the training. In addition, plan personal and professional development through personal studying and reading. Reading is probably the best way to learn and stimulate your mind.