Information Technology Workforce Skills: Does Size Matter?

ABSTRACT

Changes in information technology (IT) services and their delivery have shifted the need for non-IT firms' (i.e., firms whose primary business is something other than providing IT goods and services) IT skills and capabilities to emphasize a business focus while integrating more outsourcing options from both domestic and global third-party providers. This paper explores how organizations of different sizes value critical IT skills and investigates firms' needs for entry-level and mid-level capabilities. The results show that smaller organizations consider more in-house hiring than their counterparts. Although desired entry-level skills differed among organizations of varying sizes, they all valued project management skills highly for mid-level IT staff.

KEYWORDS:

• workforce
• sourcing
• offshoring
• project management
• business domain knowledge