Tech_Miami

South Florida Tech Survey: IT has a more significant role in 2009

Nearly a quarter of technology leaders in South Florida said they plan on hiring technology professionals this year, according to ProTech’s 2009 South Florida Tech Talent Survey.

Even in this dreary economy, the survey found that companies see information technology jobs are more essential than ever to the success of a business. About 89 percent said IT will play a more significant role in enhancing their company’s competitiveness in today’s economy.

“When companies need to reduce costs, one of the business tools that they apply is technology,” said Deborah Vasquez chief executive at ProTech, an IT staffing firm in Fort Lauderdale. Technology can help speed system operations and increase sales.

Vasquez said the hot jobs are in healthcare and transportation, as well as database administrators and application developers. There’s also an increase of temporary jobs for network engineers and administrators.

Overall demand has come down for local tech jobs, but companies surveyed said they gave IT a 2 percent budget increase in 2009, compared to a 5 percent increase last year.

“The people that are getting hired are people that can show to a potential employee that they can affect the bottom line somehow,” Vasquez said.

Other results of the survey include:

  • 61 percent of technology leaders said they view IT as a critical function of their company, compared to 42 percent last year
  • 88 percent of IT professionals said they are feeling the pinch as a result of the economic crisis
  • 55 percent of tech leaders said the commitment on behalf of Florida’s local and state governments to developing the state’s technology sector was weak

The survey questioned 11,000 IT professionals and 525 technology leaders in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Article posted on the MIAMI HERALD, by Bridget Carey.