Posts Tagged ‘tech jobs’
Tuesday, April 23rd, 2013
 Newspaper reporter, a job that traditionally has attracted many aspiring writers, been romanticized in movies and helped bring down corrupt presidents, has been named the worst job in the nation, according to the new 2013 CareerCast.com Jobs Rated Report, which has ranked the best and worst U.S. jobs for 25 years.
On the other hand, a variety of technology and health care jobs top the lists of best jobs.
Ranked at job number 126 when the first Jobs Rated Report was published in 1988, newspaper reporters have fared poorly in the report for years due to the job’s high stress and tight deadlines, low pay and requirement to work in all conditions to get the story.
Ever-shrinking newsrooms, dwindling budgets and Internet competition have created a very difficult environment, driving the position to dead last on this year’s Jobs Rated Report. But journalism is not a dying art, nor is reporting a profession without prospects. Rethinking the industry has made reporters adapt.
Personally, we left print media (for the most part) in 1999 and never looked back. If newspapers had embraced digital – and charged for digital versions- more quickly, we suspect they might be in better shape now.
“People who love to write can consider working for online publications or transition to advertising or public relations,” says Tony Lee , publisher, CareerCast.com. “Many jobs in communications offer better hours, greater stability, a work/life balance and a healthier hiring outlook than being a newspaper reporter.”
Not only that – many of those online jobs allow freelancing as an independent contractor and working from a home office – which saves money and time and increases productivity.
Tech advancements hurt other jobs
Technological advancements hurt other professions ranked among the worst jobs of 2013, including meter reader, which is often done digitally and mail carrier.
High pay, low stress, a robust hiring outlook, a healthy work environment and minimal physical exertion combine to make actuary the top job for 2013. Biomedical engineer, software engineer, audiologist and financial planner round out the top five.
“The best jobs offer the ultimate career goal — personal fulfillment,” says Lee. “They also offer a bright outlook and job opportunities for years to come.”
Best Jobs in 2013
1. Actuary
2. Biomedical Engineer
3. Software Engineer
4. Audiologist
5. Financial Planner
6. Dental Hygienist
7. Occupational Therapist
8. Optometrist
9. Physical Therapist
10. Computer Systems Analyst
Worst Jobs in 2013
200. Newspaper Reporter
199. Lumberjack
198. Enlisted Military Personnel
197. Actor
196. Oil Rig Worker
195. Dairy Farmer
194. Meter Reader
193. Mail Carrier
192. Roofer
191. Flight Attendant
To see the full rankings of all 200 jobs and the report’s methodology, go to http://www.careercast.com/jobs-rated/worst-jobs-2013
Tags: best jobs, Healthcare, newspaper reporter, tech jobs, worst jobs
Posted in Economy/Jobs, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | No Comments »
Thursday, January 24th, 2013
 Credit: http://www.linuxforu.com Big data is not without big obstacles for some CIOs. In a survey from Robert Half Technology, 76 percent of CIOs (chief information officers) said their companies don’t presently gather customer data such as demographics or buying habits. Less than one in four (23 percent) executives interviewed for the study said their firms do collect this type of information. Among those that do, more than half (53 percent) said they lack sufficient staff to access customer data, and generate reports and other business insights from it.
Not only that, the IT specialists who handle big data, business intelligence architects, data architects and data warehouse analysts don’t come inexpensively.
The survey was developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology (IT) professionals on a project and full-time basis. It was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on telephone interviews with more than 1,400 CIOs from companies across the United States with 100 or more employees.
CIOs were asked, “Does your company collect customer data, such as email addresses, demographics, buying habits and so on?” Their responses*:
|
No |
76% |
|
Yes |
23% |
|
Don’t know |
2% |
|
|
100% |
CIOs who answered “yes” to the question above were asked, “Does your technology team have sufficient personnel to access and generate strategic reports and insights from the customer data your organization collects?“ Their responses*:
|
No |
53% |
|
Yes |
46% |
|
Don’t know |
2% |
|
|
100% |
“Hiring employees to collect and fully leverage customer data can be costly, but the information can be extremely useful to organizations,” said John Reed , senior executive director of Robert Half Technology. “This type of information gives firms an opportunity to create more personalized online experiences for customers, develop highly targeted marketing campaigns and optimize business practices.”
Reed added that some firms may not collect customer data because they lack the systems and resources for high data analytics, or they may not have the budget to do so.
For companies looking to fill big-data positions, following are job descriptions and salary ranges for the most in-demand jobs in the field, according to the Robert Half Technology 2013 Salary Guide:
- Business intelligence analysts assist firms in making critical business decisions by gathering and analyzing data to better target marketing efforts. Starting salaries for these professionals will range from $94,250 to $132,500 this year.
- Data architects evaluate and translate business requirements into specific database solutions (e.g., data design models, database architecture and data repository designs). These professionals are forecast to see starting salaries ranging from $104,250 to $143,500 in 2013.
- Data warehouse analysts collect, analyze and leverage a firm’s stored data, and devised solutions that make it easier to access. Data warehouse analysts can expect starting salaries ranging from $93,500 to $126,500 this year.
Tags: big data, business intelligence analyst, data architecks, data warehouse, obstacles, Robert Half, tech jobs, Tech salaries
Posted in IT, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, December 26th, 2012
 A new report from business intelligence firm IDC, published in Forbes says that the IT industry had 1.7 million openings in cloud-related technologies this year that went unfilled. Job research website EmploymentCrossing.com has also found 13,000 openings in the field.
The reason :companies could not find qualified workers. The lack of training and certification among jobseekers were given as the main reasons by IT hiring managers. Firms currently are struggling to fulfill the cloud-related positions.
The report concludes by stating that existing staff should be retrained for these new jobs and students encouraged to pursue related IT training and certifications. The overall outlook is also bright for the industry. The report predicts that almost 7 million new cloud-related jobs will be available worldwide by 2015.
Job research website EmploymentCrossing.com has also found that among the 13,000 cloud-related job openings that it has tracked down, there are various skill sets and certifications required to get these jobs. Some of the actual job openings on the site are: Director of infrastructure and cloud operations architecture, cloud senior network engineer, cloud administrator, cloud storage engineer among others. The site also has managed to track down around 234,000 IT job openings overall.
Tags: cloud positions unfilled, IDC report, IT, tech jobs
Posted in Cloud, IT, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | No Comments »
Monday, August 27th, 2012
 GIS integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographic information. Do you enjoy working with maps and other geographic data? One tech job area likely to offer an increasing number of jobs to qualified applicants over the next five years is Geographic Information systems.
Geographic information systems (GIS) used by the utilities industry alone will essentially double from 2011 to 2017, growing from $1.8 billion in 2011 to $3.7 billion in 2017, according to Pike Research.
Adoption of smart grids is driving the use of GIS technologies by electric utilities.
Land-based and street-level data, ownership/real estate, vegetation, network topology, GPS location data, census data, and many other forms of geospatial information are critical to the successful performance of the smart grid.
Governments rely on GIS
Federal, state and local governments are also major GIS users.
“Geography is a common denominator in everything the federal government supports,” says Christopher Thomas, director, government markets – federal, state, local at GIS software seller Esri. “Government agencies rely on GIS analysis to facilitate initiatives, improve transparency and deliver strong business models.”
Overall, The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the job outlook (2010-2020) for geographers is growing by 35 percent (much faster than average).
For Cartographers and photogrammetrists, the outlook is 22 percent growth (faster than average). For surveying and mapping technicians, the outlook is 16 percent and all of these occupations are expected to grow by 14 percent.
“2012 is the year of GIS,” says Dr. Stephen McElroy, GIS program chair at American Sentinel University, “The desire to know where everything is located fuels the current trend in location-based services.”
He adds, “As GIS is more accessible and consumable on the Web through a variety of mobile devices, the average person is becoming increasingly impacted by the power of GIS. Soon it will become a pervasive technology that is consumed by a wider audience than ever before.”
According to Dr. McElroy, some K-12 schools are undertaking initiatives to incorporate geospatial competencies across the curriculum by adding geospatial exercises and experiences into the standard curriculum.
K-12 schools in North Carolina, for instance, signed a statewide license for unlimited classroom use of Esri’s ArcGIS software.
Utilities will need people who understand GIS
McElroy notes that, “Public and private utility providers will need a comprehensive GIS that they can utilize to make key decisions about system-critical issues such as customer database management, streamlined meter reading and blending of renewable (solar, wind, hydro and geothermal) and non-renewable energy resources from coal and nuclear facilities.”
“These industries are looking for people who understand GIS technology,” he says.
American Sentinel University offers accredited online BS degrees.
Tags: American Sentinel University, ArcGIS software, Christopher Thomas, Dr. Stephen McElroy, electric utilities, Esri, GIS systems, online GIS degrees, smart grids, tech jobs
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, TechJobs | No Comments »
Monday, July 16th, 2012
 For a time, new apps for Google’s Android operating system were growing faster than for Apple’s iOS – but no longer. Still, mobile phone jobs across the board grew 36 percent in the second quarter.
While mobile is hot, the Internet Marketing industry panicked at the introduction of the Google Panda and Penguin updates, and the number of new jobs fell in SEO, Link Building, and article rewriting and submission.
At the same time, Facebook’s less than stellar IPO and challenges in measuring return on investment in social media saw new jobs in that category stall at barely more than 1 percent growth.
So says Freelancer.com’s Fast 50 for the second quarter.
Not only did IDC report that developer interest in the Android platform is falling, but Freelancer.com says jobs for iPhone app developers grew 30 percent (with 5,112 new jobs) compared to only 20 percent growth in jobs for Android (3,444) new jobs.
This compares to Q1, where iPhone apps were up 27% and Android up 26%.iPad jobs accelerated even faster, increasing its quarter on quarter growth rate from 19% in Q1 to 26% in Q2 (to 2,308 jobs) on the back of the launch of the highly successful iPad 2 in the previous quarter. Generic Mobile Phone jobs across the board were up a whopping 36% to 5,709.
Two clear trends evident
“We truly are at an inflexion point of the technology landscape”, said Freelancer.com CEO, Matt Barrie. “We’re seeing the changing of the guard across the technology industry when we examine our incredibly detailed online jobs data”.
“Two clear trends are evident: firstly, user activity is moving to mobile devices and the trend won’t be reversing any time soon as the other 5 billion people on this planet join the Internet, primarily through mobile. Secondly, the Internet is becoming more interactive, and the technologies that are winning and will continue to win are open standards like HTML5 and jQuery- to the detriment of the incumbents proprietary technology providers like Adobe and Microsoft”, Barrie said.
Internet marketing, however, took a serious hit from the Google algorithm changes via its Panda and Penguin updates which disrupted traffic rankings and actually made some previous SEO practices counter-productive.
The Internet Marketing industry fell as a whole (down 5.6% to 13,848 jobs), with SEO (down 7.3%, to 9397 jobs) and Link Building projects (down 8.3%, to 6529 jobs) tumbling. Article Rewriting and Article Submission also headed for the hills as the fight against low quality content rages (down 9.3%, to 6298 jobs and down 4.0% to 2681 jobs, respectively).
Here at the TechJournal, we suspect that Internet marketers will adapt to Google’s changes, although they will have to change some long-standing practices. Google management, in talking about the changes to its ranking algorithm, has suggested it is better to go easy or SEO or use none at all than to over-optimize.
In other findings, Freelancer.com said:
Telemarketing was up strongly on lower volumes, perhaps as marketers look to other areas (up 11% to 1,104 jobs).
● Businesses look to weather the economic downturn with Business Process Outsourcing (BPO): Back-office positions, from virtual assistants to data entry clerks, were up strongly across the board. Virtual Assistants were up 18% to 3,770 jobs, demand for MS Word processing skyrocketed 119% to 1,594 jobs, Data Processing (up 16% to 21,274 jobs) and MS Excel (up 13% to 22,947 jobs) also rose quite significantly this quarter.
● Open Standards dominate the Fast 50 and Web. Web 2.0 technologies and their underlying open standards and technologies continued to rise. HTML5 continued to grow strongly this quarter, rising 20% (to 2,108 jobs). Interactive web technology jQuery (up 17% to 2,247 jobs) also zoomed up the charts. User Interface jobs had a stellar quarter, up 42% to 1,756. This activity has been at the expense of the web dinosaur and Fast 50 perennial loser Microsoft; .NET jobs fell off the edge of a cliff this quarter (down 39% to 2,919), and ASP jobs dropped 13% to 1,084.
● Facebook IPO fizzer spills over into fall in Social Media jobs. Facebook related jobs fell dramatically this quarter (down 14%, to 6,510 jobs), as advertisers and Social Media experts started to question the effectiveness and ROI of social media advertising on the back of damning reports from customers during the Facebook public offering.
 On the back of reports that Fortune 500s including General Motors were pulling their big ticket advertising budgets with the social media giant, Freelancer.com saw the wind disappear from the sails of the Social Media boat, with Twitter projects dropping 1.3% to 2184 and Social Media jobs stalling at 1.1% growth to 5308 jobs.
“Companies in industries from consumer electronics to financial services tell us they’re no longer sure Facebook is the best place to dedicate their social marketing budget—a shocking fact given the site’s dominance among users,” said Nate Elliott, an analyst at market research firm Forrester, in a recent company blog post.
This data was extracted from 189,917 jobs posted on Freelancer.com in Q2 2012, up from 172,936. The Freelancer.com Freelancer Fast 50 is the leading gauge of online hiring trends.
Tags: Android, app developers, Apple iOS, facebook, Internet marketing, Q2 2012 Freelancer.com Fast 50, SEO, social media ROI, tech jobs, telemarketing, Twitter projects
Posted in Analytics, Apple, Best Practices, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
 Unemployment is still a problem nationally, but vacancies advertised online for professionals, especially in business and finance, management and healthcare increased last month. They’re still below pre-recession highs, but at least moving in the right direction.
Tech jobs are among those with increasing vacancies, including web developers, software engineers, and computer occupations.
Online advertised vacancies rose 232,000 in June to 4,947,100, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Data Series released today.
Following little growth in the first two months of the second quarter, June closed out the quarter with a strong gain. The Supply/Demand rate stands at 2.7 unemployed for every vacancy.
“Online labor demand in the first half of 2012 increased by an average of 104,000 per month, but about one-third of both the States and the 100 largest metro areas are still below their pre-recession highs for labor demand,” said June Shelp, Vice President at The Conference Board. ”
As of June, almost half of the occupational groups have Supply/Demand rates at or below 2.0.
However, most of these are in the professional categories, such as business and finance, healthcare professionals, and management.
Although we’ve seen improvement, other categories like construction, building and grounds maintenance, and personal care are still struggling with high Supply/Demand rates.”
| The release schedule, national historic table and technical notes to this series are available on The Conference Board website, http://www.conference-board.org/data/helpwantedonline.cfm. The underlying data for The Conference Board HWOL are provided by WANTED Technologies Corporation. |
REGIONAL AND STATE HIGHLIGHTS
Changes for the Month of June
June was a positive month for online labor demand in 44 of the 50 States in the U.S. Among the nine Census regions, the largest gain (relative to the size of the region) was in the Mountain region (Nevada, Arizona, Colorado), where online advertised vacancies rose 28,300, or 8.6 percent.
The smallest gain was in the East South Central region (Mississippi, Kentucky), up 6,800, or 3.4%.
Among the 20 largest States, online labor demand in the South rose 93,000 in June. Texas was up 23,500 in June, posting its tenth consecutive monthly gain and an increase of 16.2 percent in the first half of 2012.
The June increase included increased online ads for a diverse list of jobs that included nurses, truck drivers, web developers, and elementary school teachers.
Florida was next with a gain of 15,400 that, in addition to nurses, included web developers and paralegals.
MD, VA, NC, & GA all see gains
Maryland increased by 8,400; Virginia, by 8,000; North Carolina, by 7,500; and Georgia, by 6,800, its fourth consecutive monthly gain.
Among the smaller States in the South, South Carolina gained 4,000; Louisiana gained 3,100; and Tennessee gained 1,300. Arkansas lost 200.
In the West online labor demand rose 75,500 in June. California, the largest State rose 35,300 (or 7 percent) in June and was up 74,000, or 16 percent, in the first half of 2012.
Arizona was next with a gain of 9,300 that included gains for computer software engineers and electricians.
Labor demand in Washington rose 6,300. Colorado gained 4,700. Among the smaller States in the region, Nevada increased by 4,900; Oregon, by 3,300; and Utah, by 2,700.
Online labor demand in the Midwest rose by 56,600 in June. Michigan gained 11,300 in June and was up 13.1 percent in the first half of 2012.
The monthly gain for June included more ads for diverse occupations including industrial engineers, truck drivers, and lawyers.
Illinois was next with a gain of 9,600 for a four-month gain of 23,000. Ohio rose by 7,900;Minnesota, by 6,600; Wisconsin, by 4,900; and Missouri, by 4,300. Among the smaller Midwest States, Indiana gained 6,200 and Kansas rose 3,900 while North Dakota fell by 2,100 and South Dakota lost 200.
Computer occupations included in Northeast increase
Online labor demand in the Northeast rose by 56,200 in June. New York rose 17,400 in June for its fifth consecutive monthly gain. Massachusetts rose 10,100, its seventh consecutive monthly gain, and included increases for a variety of computer occupations and accountants. \
New Jersey gained 8,100. Pennsylvania gained 5,600. Among the smaller States in the Northeast, labor demand increased by 4,000 in Connecticut; 1,300 in Maine; 1,200 in New Hampshire; and 900 in Rhode Island.
The Supply/Demand rate for the U.S. in May (the latest month for which the national unemployment number is available) stands at 2.70, indicating that there are 2.7 unemployed workers for every online advertised vacancy. Nationally, there are 8 million more unemployed workers than advertised vacancies.
Source: PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1gBQE)
Tags: Midwest, Northeast, online vacancies Q2 2012, software engineers, Southeast, tech jobs, The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine (HWOL) Data Series, web developers, West
Posted in Economy/Jobs, Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | No Comments »
Monday, December 19th, 2011
 While semiconductor industry executives note the rise of the United States as the second most important market for growth, behind China, their revenue and profitability growth expectations overall are down from a year ago and they do not plan to hire as many people, according to a global survey conducted by KPMG, the U.S. audit, tax and advisory firm.
In KPMG’s Seventh Annual Global Semiconductor Industry Survey, 41 percent of the semiconductor executives surveyed expects that revenue will grow by more than 5 percent next year, compared with 78 percent a year ago, and 87 percent in 2009.
They also see less growth in profitability, with 30 percent anticipating profits to increase by greater than 5 percent over the next 12 months, compared with 37 percent last year.
Industry pausing for breath
In addition, this year the Semiconductor Business Confidence Index, a metric based on survey data, measured 46, compared to 60 in 2010 and 61 in 2009. The confidence index has risen from 36 in 2008, indicating that forecasted industry conditions entering 2012 will not be as severe as the beginning of 2009.
“It is not unexpected to see the industry take a breath after two strong years following the economic and industry downturn,” said Gary Matuszak, KPMG Global Chair for the Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice. “Executives continue to pursue their growth agendas, and will be acquisitive, but remain very apprehensive about the direction of the economy.”
In fact, in the KPMG survey, capital spending, R&D spending, and hiring are at lower levels than prior years. Just 27 percent, compared with 46 percent a year ago, anticipate capital spending to increase by more than five percent. Thirty-three percent expect more than a five percent rise in R&D spending, compared with 47 percent a year ago. And 19 percent of the respondents predict workforce growth of greater than 5 percent, compared with 29 percent in 2010.
U.S. Market Growing In Importance
Semiconductor executives continue to note the increasing importance of the U.S. market.
Consider that in 2008, 38 percent of the executives felt that the U.S. was an important market for revenue growth, behind China (79 percent), Taiwan (44 percent) and Japan (40 percent). In each subsequent year an increasingly greater number of executives named the U.S. as an important market.
Today, 50 percent, as compared with 47 percent a year ago, view the U.S. as important, second to China, at 60 percent, with Japan ranked third, at 37 percent.
“Wireless, computing and consumer applications are providing the strongest demand for semiconductors, and with retail sales strengthening, especially during the peak holiday season, the U.S. consumer is showing an appetite for the latest and greatest,” said Ron Steger, partner in charge, KPMG Global Semiconductor Practice.
“China’s decrease in importance might be the result of the Chinese government’s tightening in lending but it is clear that the industry sees the China and U.S. markets as the two most significant global end markets for growth.”
The KPMG survey respondents were also asked to rank the importance of application markets in driving revenues.
The top driver of current revenue growth for 2012 was wireless handsets and other wireless communications devices again. However, computing has become the second most important driver, followed by consumer products, a switch in positions from last year’s survey.
Also of note is the rise in alternative/renewable energy (solar, thermal, battery technologies) and medical application markets, although both are still at relatively low levels. “Worthy of note is that the respondents appear to be signaling that conditions in the renewable energy market may be bottoming out, a positive data point,” said Steger.
In other survey findings:
- Sixty-four percent of semiconductor executives believe that global semiconductor revenue will be impacted 3 percent or more by counterfeit technology, including a third who said the impact will be 5 percent or more.
- To combat counterfeiting, the top three actions by companies are deploying more sophisticated identification technologies, providing detailed testing protocols and enhancing product return testing programs.
- More than a third of the respondents said there will be an increase over the next 12 months in the number of semiconductor intellectual property (IP) infringement cases in which their company is involved.
Tags: growth, hiring slows in semiconductor industry, KPMG, semiconductor industry report 2011, tech jobs, U.S. growing in importance to semiconductor industry, wireless
Posted in IT, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 16th, 2011
The 2011 Internet Summit drew a record crowd to the Raleigh, NC Convention Center, where the event continues today with a keynote from social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk and sessions delving into the nitty-gritty of social media marketing, digital analytics, mobile, cloud computing, startup fund-raising and more.
The more than 120 speakers include representatives from Google, ESPN, Gannet, the Discovery Channel, and StumbleUpon, and other top digital brands.
Even the roomy conference rooms at the Raleigh Convention Center were packed with attentive listeners, many tweeting and taking notes on laptops.
Photos by Renee Wright and Allan Maurer
 ABC-11 WTDV Raleigh crew filming at the Internet Summit Tuesday afternoon.  Social media guru Gary Vaynerchuk will keynotes at the Internet Summit Wednesday. Attendees received a free copy of Vayerchuk's book, "The Thank You Economy."  Many Internet Summit session were packed, although the spacious conference rooms at the Convention Center seated most.  Brad Schomber of RTP-based ChannelAdvisor noted "We're hiring. That's why we're here. Link Walls of ChannelAdvisor is also a presenter at the event.  Bronto, an email and marketing automation software firm and an exhibitor at Internet Summit, also said it is hiring.  Exhibitors at the Internet Summit mounted some colorful and tasty displays.  Raleigh Communications Agency Capstrat, both an exhibitor and presentor at the Internet Summit, was highly visible, with representatives in their red, "Fellowship of Enlightened Zealots" fez caps.  Demo companies at IS2011 include Charlotte-based startup rawporter, a mobile app that can help people capture news and get both pay and credit.  The networking reception, which ran from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Tuesday evening, is always a popular end to a packed day. It included wines, a selection of North Carolina beers, shrimp and grits, roast beef, and a great deal of networking.
Tags: Bronto Software, ChannelAdvisor, ESPN, Gary Vaynerchuk, Google, Internet Summit 2011, Raleigh Convention Center, StumbleUpon, tech jobs
Posted in Events, Internet/New Media, Marketing, North Carolina, TechJobs | No Comments »
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
 Investment in business analytics and analytical talent will rise in 2012, but organizations still have their work cut out for them when it comes to making projects effective and instilling the right analytical culture and skills, according to new research from Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and SAS.
Of the 258 North American business leaders surveyed by the Accenture SAS Analytics Group, 72 percent indicated they will increase spending on business analytics in 2012 as compared to 2011.
According to the survey, the top three priorities for investment are:
- Improving analytical skills of current employees (70 percent)
- Improving decision making processes (63 percent)
- Hiring analytical talent (52 percent)
“In the past, investment in analytics has come in the form of traditional, tangible improvements from the latest technology, process improvements and changes to an organization’s structure,” said Stacy Blanchard, Talent and Organization Lead for Analytics at Accenture.
“But without parallel investment to align leadership, develop the necessary capabilities, ready the talent and build a culture where better and faster decisions, powered by analytics, are part of the DNA, businesses will inevitably hit a roadblock and miss the real opportunity that exists. It’s encouraging to see that executives are beginning to realize this.”
As indicated by IDC’s September 2011 report Worldwide Business Analytics Software 2011-2015 Forecast and 2010 Vendor Shares #230022, “Vendors and users will have to devote more resources to business analytics services.
“These will include internal services provided by IT and analytics staff, business analytics strategy development and project management, and training of all relevant end users. As more organizations with less business analytics experience are becoming interested in this technology, vendors will need to provide more guidance to these users beyond simply selling them technology.”
This recommendation is underscored by the 60 percent of respondents saying they are missing the right analytical business skills, technical skills or both.
Furthermore, with inadequate analytical skills cited as the main reason more than a quarter of respondents described their analytical projects as underperforming, it is not surprising that organizations will look to increase investment in analytics talent and education in the near future.
“Organizations often struggle to build a culture that supports data-driven decisions and embed the right leadership and skills at all levels, despite the benefits of doing so,” said Russ Cobb, SAS vice president of Alliances and Marketing.
“This research shows that companies are beginning to recognize the importance of instilling such an analytical culture, a key mission for the Accenture SAS Analytics Group.”
Just 22 percent of respondents indicated that business analytics is integrated across their entire organization, with 46 percent noting that business analytics was used only in some business units and divisions.
Interestingly, 42 percent of the companies who said they integrate analytics across their entire organization believe their analytics are “very effective”. In contrast, of the companies who only use analytics in certain business units or divisions, only 13 percent feel their analytics are “very effective.”
The study revealed a direct correlation between perceived effectiveness of analytics and integration of analytics within the organization. To bridge this gap, Accenture SAS Analytics Group introduced at this week’s Analytics 2011 conference a repository of resources for every level of customer organizations – from business leaders embedding analytics into the organization to analysts who execute the strategy and vision.
These resources, including eLearning, facilitator-led sessions, highly-customized workshops, and knowledge capital and performance support, will help identify trouble spots and implement predictive analytics enterprise-wide.
Tags: Accenture SAS Analytics Group, business analytics, tech jobs
Posted in IT, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech Culture, TechJobs | No Comments »
Monday, September 26th, 2011
 Traditional job searching, interviewing and hiring is a backwards process that is undergoing a transformation, a certainty that will be demonstrated at the Digital East 2011 conference September 28-29 at the Sheraton Premiere Tysons Corner hotel. It is one of a dozen innovative firms to demonstrate new tech at the conference, which includes dozens of top digital media experts offering the latest tips, techniques and best practices at the event Wednesday and Thursday.
JobOn co-founder and CEO Jody Presti will show how his company’s technology is changing the way that retailers, restaurants and food service companies hire hourly employment.
One of a dozen DEMO firms
JobOn is one of only a dozen selected to present at the conference’s DEMO Showcase, which will be heard by 800-plus attendees including interactive marketers, senior Internet executives, online strategists, web entrepreneurs, bloggers, designers, usability experts and other new media professionals. (See links below for interviews with participants on SEO, Killer Facebook ads, phone apps for low income groups, web analytics tricks, deploying company video successfully, and creating excitement around a brand.)
JobOn combines employment listings with the ability for applicants to submit a recorded video interview. They answer a few common interview questions via a webcam or smart phone, and then click to send the responses to employers with jobs to fill.
For job seekers, this saves the time and cost of going to each employer to fill out a paper application and then scheduling an interview. At the same time, for less than the cost of a classified ad, employers get to pre-screen applicants before calling them for a second, face-to-face interview. JobOn hosts the videos, which are free for job seekers.
Says Presti, “Employers know within a few seconds if someone is a good fit, so we put the interview first to prevent employers from wasting time on paper applications and inappropriate interviews.”
The market for this technology is significant: there are 80 million employees and nine million workplaces that hire for retail, restaurant and other food services. Turnover ranges from 70 to 200 percent each year, which often leads managers to make “panic hires” that don’t last.
For a look at what some of the other digital media experts will be discussing at Digital East see:
Are you missing these web analytics tricks?
The right marketing mix creates search demand
Want to monetize social media? Hook users on achievement
Should app developers put more focus on low income groups?
Get the most from deploying video in a company
Four tips on search engine optimization from AOL’s SEO director
Killer Facebook ads: target more than the bullseye
Create a halo effect of excitement around your brand
Tags: AOL SEO director, app development for lower income groups, deploy company video successfully, Digital East conference, Digital East DEMO showcase, four tips on SEO optimization, Jobson, Jody Presti, Killer Facebook ads target more than the bullseye, Potomac region, tech jobs, thinkgeek.com, Tysons Corner, VA, web analytics tactics
Posted in Events, Internet/New Media, Maryland, Potomac, TechJobs, Virginia, Washington, DC | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 20th, 2011
By Allan Maurer
 Pardot CEO and co-founder David Cummings looks out the window of the company's 33rd floor offices in Atlanta. ATLANTA – Unemployment may be a major problem generally in America, but many high tech companies are nevertheless struggling to find just the right talented IT engineers.
So, while the IBM’s of the world are laying off staff, Atlanta’s Pardot, which sells a marketing automation platform that helps businesses track, score and nurture leads, is offering a $10,001 bounty to anyone providing a talent referral that works out.
Pardot, which currently has about 60 employees, offers great benefits. “We pay 100 percent of healthcare premiums, which includes dental care, match 401k contributions, cater lunches on Friday’s and breakfast Mondays,” says Pardot co-founder Adam Blitzer. Blitzer co-founded the company with David Cummings.
The company is looking for people familiar with Software-as-a-
Service (SaaS) and Web apps. But, Blitzer adds, “We’re a small company. We all wear a lot of hats and work with each other closely. The toughest part for us is finding people who fit into our unique, quirky culture.”
 Adam Blitzer Helicopter high
Pardot is located on the 33rd floor of the One Atlanta Plaza building, where you can just about look weather helicopter pilots in the eye. It shares the generous space with Hannon Hill and Shotput Ventures. For a look at the “unique quirky culture,” see “A Dizzying View from the Top.” The offices include such amenities as a telescope, a pinball machine, a ping pong table, a gong, a telescope and a “culture book.” It is reminiscent of the heady days of the Dot Com boom at the beginning of the century.
But that culture also includes an attitude. “They need to be positive, self-starting, and supportive. A positive attitude (or its lack) comes right out in an interview,” Blitzer says. “You would be surprised how many applicants bad mouth former employees, complain or come off negatively. If they’re that way in a job interview, what would they be like to work with?”
Blitzer says the company is offering the extra dollar of the $10,001 bounty to set it apart from a similar offer by a Seattle company. The idea, Blitzer says, “Is that instead of working with one or two recruiters, we want to accelerate the process by tapping into the community. We have always offered an internal bounty for finding talent, and we wanted to make that external and see what we get from making everyone a recruiter for us.”
Blitzer says a strategy like that probably would not have worked before the advent of social media such as Twitter and LinkedIn. “They make it much easier,” he says.
The bounty offer will run indefinitely until the company “Can’t hire anyone else,” Blitzer says. “We’ve been growing faster than we could hire. Ideally, just in engineering, if we could hire two a month for the next five months, I’d be happy.”
Interested? Email jobs@pardot.com.
Tags: Adam Blitzer, Allan Maurer, Atlanta, David Cummings, Hannon Hill, Pardot, Shotput Ventures, talent bounty, tech culture, tech jobs
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, Marketing, Tech Culture, TechJobs | No Comments »
Monday, July 25th, 2011
 If you’re hunting for a job, still a piece of work in this economy, LinkedIn, the popular professional networking service has launched its new “Apply With LinkedIn button” to make it easier.
On he company blog, Jonathan Seitel, LinkedIn Technical Product Manager, wrote, ““Our goal with Apply With LinkedIn is to help every professional put their best foot forward, anywhere across the web when they take that leap to apply for a new position.”
The button lets users submit their LinkedIn profile instead of a resume and makes using LinkedIn contacts for referrals easy.
The company has also added a “Saved Jobs” button to let users keep track of where they send applications.
White Square Media offers interactive video service for Facebook
White Square Media has launched its “ME” a new patent pending On Demand interactive video service on Facebook.
See a pair of shoes Kim Kardashian is wearing in a video, and the fan wants to buy them – just click on them. Watching the “Hold It Against Me” video by Britney Spears posted on Jive Records’ fan page, and want to know who made Britney’s custom jewelry? Just click on it. Any object in streamed video can now be made interactive with ME.
Consumers can now watch streamed video without annoying pre-rolls, commercial spots, or overlays. When the viewer wants to interact with an object in the video just simply click the ME button.
Facebook brands now have the opportunity to convert social media traffic to direct sales without ruining the Facebook experience. Simply register for a free trial account or commercial account on whitesquaremedia.me, upload the flash video, use ME to make it interactive, and then embed it on the brand page or post it to a Facebook wall.
“We’re the game changer that many have been waiting for and literally we stepped in the ring between Facebook vs. Google +, said Andrew Incorvia, White Square Media’s CEO.
“Consumers and advertisers are so tired of the current video advertising machine that’s being forced upon them, and social media advertisers grow weary of costly low quality traffic. Consumers aren’t buying goods or services through social media. Yet consumers spend hours searching the Internet for something they saw on video. Those days of fruitless searches are gone,” added White Square Media’s CEO.
Durham, NC-based Spoonflower wins Facebook/American Express contest
Spoonflower, a three-year-old startup that lets clients design and print custom fabrics, grew enough Facebook friends to win a spot among the top five finalists in the Facebook/American Express contest and will visit the social network’s California headquarters. The contest drew 11,000 entries. Spoonflower had the fifth highest number of Facebook friends in the contest.
Tags: American Express/Facebook contest, interactive video on Facebook, job hunting, LinkedIn Apply Within button, Spoonflower, tech jobs, White Square Media
Posted in Facebook, Internet/New Media, Marketing, social media, TechJobs, video | No Comments »
Monday, July 11th, 2011
 U.S. information security analysts and computer network architects have enviable job security in an economy marked by nearly 10 percent unemployment.
Of the 12 computer related job classifications the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks, Infosec workers reported no unemployment in the second quarter 2011. Computer netwrok architects had a minute 0.5 percent jobless rate in the 2nd quarter and none in the first.
In fact, employment for infosec specialists rose 16 percent from 37,000 to 43,000 in the second quarter.
Infosec analysts plan, implement, upgrade or monitor security measures for the protection of computer networks and information.
Considering the record number of massive government and corporate cyber security breaches in the last quarter, we could use more than a few more infosec specialists.
Tags: computer network architects, information security analysts, infosec workers have no unemployment, Q2 2011 IT employment, tech jobs, U.S. Dept. of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics
Posted in Government/Defense, IT, Security, TechJobs | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 29th, 2011
 The United States market has rebounded to first place from third just a year ago, ahead of China and India, as a driver of future revenue growth for the technology industry, according to the results of the annual Technology Industry Business Climate survey by KPMG, the audit, tax, and advisory firm.
Yet, while the senior technology executives surveyed see the U.S. market driving revenue growth – and although they anticipate continued investment in mergers and acquisitions and emerging technologies – they are less optimistic about overall technology industry employment growth and the prospects of a national economic recovery than they were a year ago.
Survey respondents expect the U.S. market to provide the highest percentage of revenue growth and employment growth over the next 12 months. China, Brazil and India follow the U.S. in revenue, while Indiaand China are second and third in employment.
U.S. ranked third in 2010
In the 2010 KPMG survey, the U.S. market was ranked third in expected revenue growth and fourth in employment growth. In addition, tech leaders this year predict the U.S. also will have the industry’s greatest percentage of research and development investment growth, followed by India and China.
“Technology executives clearly see a sustained recovery and a strong appetite for technology related purchases by U.S. companies and consumers, which helped raise the position of the U.S. market. Coupled with demand from emerging market countries, this combined opportunity bodes well for the industry,” said Gary Matuszak, partner, global chair and U.S. leader for KPMG’s Technology, Communications & Entertainment practice. “They also intend to take advantage of their strong liquidity and cash positions by investing in emerging technologies and new business models, like Cloud, and new products and services, as well as M&A to drive revenue.”
The tech industry executives also may be buoyed by information technology spending in the banking and retail industries. Executives in KPMG business climate surveys in both of those sectors identified technology as the number one area for investment.
In looking at revenue, many of the technology industry survey respondents (77 percent) expect the overall revenue at their companies to be higher one year from now. Technology executives again this year said their biggest revenue driver over the next three years will be cloud computing. In fact, KPMG’s surveyresults show 65 percent ranked cloud computing as the top driver, a sharp jump from the 54 percent in last year’s survey. The second and third ranked revenue drivers in this year’s survey were mobile applications and advanced data analytics.
M&A Still Hot
More than 8 out of 10 technology executives believe their companies will be involved in a merger or acquisition during the next two years with 68 percent likely involved as a buyer and 15 percent as a seller. Those surveyed also said that access to new technology and products (69 percent), and product synergies (50 percent) will be the most important drivers of alliances, mergers and acquisitions over the next 12 months. This is consistent with the executives’ expectation that their companies will increase spending the most over the next year in new products, R&D, and acquisitions.
“The industry has seen the rise of many innovative companies in the past few years. However, this is somewhat tempered by an overhang of the U.S. downturn, as technology leaders now project the U.S. economic recovery to take hold in 2013 or beyond, indicating full economic recovery remains at least two years away,” said Matuszak. “There clearly is a continuing delay in their view of the U.S. economic recovery. Last year, the survey respondents predicted that the overall U.S. recovery would take hold in 2012 while in our 2009 survey executives believed it would begin to take hold in 2011.”
Less Optimism about Headcount
In the 2011 survey, 49 percent of the tech leaders anticipate their companies’ headcount increasing over the next year compared to 42 percent who actually increased headcount in the last year. In the 2010 survey, 72 percent of executives anticipated increases in headcount over the next year. Also, while 27 percent of the tech executives said their headcount already has reached or exceeded pre-recession levels, 42 percent said their companies’ headcount would return to pre-recession levels over the next 18 months, and 21 percent said headcount will never return to those levels.
KPMG Technology Industry Business Climate Survey
The KPMG survey was conducted in the U.S. in May-June – 2011 and reflects the respoU.nses of 102 primarily C-level and senior executives in the hardware and software computer industry. Of the 102 respondents, 71 are in companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion and 31 are companies with revenues in the $100 million-$1 billion range.
Tags: employment, KPMG, M&A, tech jobs, U.S. business climate survey, U.S. leads tech market growth
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
 BADIN, NC – Electronic Recyclers International, which recycles computer products, plans to open a regional recycling facility at the former Alcoa smelting plant in Badin. The company will fill 200 jobs for the operation.
ERI plans a $5 million investment in the 165,000-square-foot site, and Alcoa has pledged a matching $5 million investment to improve the building.
The company recycles computers and cell phones for clients such as Best Buy, Samsung and the U.S. government.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: 200 jobs, Baden, cell phone recycling, computer, Electronic Recyclers International, NC, tech jobs
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, North Carolina, TechJobs | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
 MOORESVILLE, NC – Home improvement chain Lowe’s, based in Mooresville, NC, says it plans to hire 300 people for IT jobs, including 150 new positions. The jobs are based in Mooresville.
Lowe’s said it is beefing up its IT operation to “Develop a technology portfolio that can seamlessly support the operations of more than 1,750 stores nationwide, create user-friendly processes and applications on Lowe’s.com, ensure secure data sharing and storage, and prepare for future platforms that will help Lowe’s better serve its customers.”
Lowe’s CEO Mike Brown said the firm seeks “the most knowledgeable and talented IT professionals to help us meet our goal of supporting an industry-leading technology infrastructure that provides the best platforms and tools to exceed our customers’ expectations and create a first-class work environment for our employees.”
Openings include:
• Business analysis
• Engineering
• Communications network
• Ecommerce
• Application development
• Program management
• Project management
For more see Lowe’s career site.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: hiring 300 for IT jobs, Lowe's, Mike Brown, Mooresville, NC, tech jobs
Posted in Carolinas, Economic Development, IT, North Carolina, TechJobs | No Comments »
Friday, April 15th, 2011
 RALEIGH, NC – If you have the right information technology skills and you’re looking for a job, maybe you should try North Carolina. The average daily IT job listings in the state climbed to 4,840 in March, an 11 percent jump from February, according to the North Carolina Technology Association’s monthly IT Job Trends report.
That’s the best market for IT jobs in the state since the 2008 recession.
Although the number of jobs in the Research Triangle actually dropped by 9.7 percent, they rose 21.4 percent in Charlotte.
Systems engineering and support jobs led the openings, with 1,480.
IT management job openings totlaed 830, while IT architect/consultant jobs doubled from last year’s 390 to 780.
The report cites 240 openings for hardware engineers during the month, way up from oly 10 a year ago.
For the full report, including a breakdown of specific job openings from TEK Systems and NCTA see: March Jobs report.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: IT jobs, NCTA monthly jobs report for NC, need a job?, tech jobs
Posted in Carolinas, IT, North Carolina, TechJobs | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
 ATLANTA – The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), the state’s leading association dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of Georgia’s technology industry, today unveiled results from its 2011 State of the Industry: Technology in Georgia Report.
The report was released at TAG’s 8th annual Georgia Technology Summit that drew more than one-thousand technology executives from around the state to the Cobb Galleria.
“Georgia has a larger footprint in technology than I think most people realize and it is our technology industry that is poised to lead the state’s economic recovery,” said Tino Mantella, president & CEO of TAG. “With more than 13-thousand technology companies and close to 250-thousand technologists in our state, Georgia is truly emerging as a top state in the nation for technology. We hope our State of the Industry Report and ‘Where Georgia Leads’ maps prove to be valuable resources for decision-makers as they look to expand or relocate their businesses in Georgia.”
Most significant findings
Mantella tells us the most significant finding in the 2011 report may be that 70 percent of CIOs surveyed said they will be hiring in the next year and 82 percent expect to grow staff in the next five years. “That marks a turnaround coming out the recession,” he said, “with more optimism and people planning on hiring.”
The report also notes that some firms are actually having problems filling critical positions, such as application developers, project managers and business intelligence analysts, among others. “Even though we have a lot of talent here (in Georgia), there are over 4,000 job openings in some area,” Mantella said.
One thing Mantella emphasizes is that Georgia can create more focus and alignment in technology areas where it is already a leader. Those include financial services, security, and software development, among others. “Leading clusters stimulate the economy,” he said.
The State of the Industry: Technology in Georgia is TAG’s annual industry report to benchmark the growth of Georgia’s technology industry against previous years and other top technology states. Primary and secondary research is conducted in collaboration with CSM Research and Internet Decisions, LLC., including TAG’s annual Technology Decision-Makers Survey which polls top executives from more than 120 state technology companies about their plans to hire, expand and invest in their Georgia operations.
Included in the report are this year’s top 10 key findings:
1.Georgia’s technology sector will lead the state’s economic recovery. It shows that 70% of the responders to the TAG Technology Decision-Maker survey said their technology workforce would increase over the next 12 months; 82% percent projected increases over the next five years and 73% of the responders said their spending on technology purchases would increase in 2011.
2. Georgia needs more venture capital.
3. Corporate investment in Georgia’s technology sector is healthy.
4. Georgia’s technology company growth outpaces the nation.
5. Georgia’s research universities are key to the state’s technology status. In recent quality rankings of higher education institutions, U.S. News & World Report placed Georgia Tech among the nation’s Top Five engineering programs. The school’s undergraduate program was ranked fifth, while its graduate program was ranked fourth. Among the benchmark universities included in this report, Georgia Tech’s rankings trailed only the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford.
6. Five out of the top ten export categories in Georgia are technology-related. According to 2010 data released by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, five of the state’s top 10 export categories are technology-related: aircraft/spacecraft, electrical machinery, optical/medical instruments, plastic and miscellaneous chemical products. Together, these five categories accounted for nearly 35% of the state’s total exports.
7. Atlanta’s impressive broadband footprint is a key business attractor.
8. Availability of quality labor is crucial to technology decision makers.
9. Technology jobs lead Georgia’s labor market. The Georgia Department of Labor reported that the state’s employers are creating fewer job opportunities than before the recession, but that opportunities in certain fields are more readily available than other.
A 2010 report projected that nearly 24,000 new positions will be filled annually in the state during 2010 and 2011 and an additional 93,000 replacement openings will be filled. High-Tech is widely represented in these job opportunities.
For example, in the list of the top 10 opportunities requiring a bachelor’s degree, high-tech positions made up half of the list. In addition, the top jobs requiring an associate’s degree also featured technology opportunities prominently. Computer Support Specialists, Health Information Technicians and Laboratory Technicians were among the top 10.
10. Technology decision makers say there is room for improvement in Georgia’s business climate.
TAG also unveiled today “Where Georgia Leads,” interactive maps outlining Georgia’s business footprint in the state’s top technology industries. The maps provide the names, locations and information about companies in Health IT, Information Security, Financial Technology, IT Communication and Software.
The “Where Georgia Leads” maps and entire State of the Industry Report are available online at www.tagstateoftheindustry.com.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Georgia State of the Industry: Technology report, Georgia Technology Summit 2011, TAG, tech jobs, Tino Mantella
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
 ARMONK, NY – With all the debate over outsourced jobs, here’s a finding sure to please policy makers and job seekers alike: foreign growth market companies, led by those from China and India, are increasingly hiring in North America and Europe. That’s according to the findings of a major new IBM (NYSE: IBM) study of over 700 Chief Human Resource Officers and senior executives from 61 countries and 31 industries worldwide.
The study also found that top performing companies use social networking and collaboration tools to help teams work together effectively.
Unlike the traditional pattern of movement – in which companies in mature markets seek operational efficiency through headcount growth in emerging economies – the study shows workforce investment is moving both ways. The findings suggest that as companies expand globally, the need to identify workforces with the creativity, flexibility and speed to capitalize on growth opportunities is becoming a priority, leading to an increase in their workforce presence in North America, Western Europe and other mature markets. The IBM study indicates that:
- 45 percent of companies in India plan to increase their headcount in North America and 44 percent will expand in Western Europe
- 33 percent of companies in China plan to increase headcount in North America and 14 percent will grow in Western Europe.
Conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value, the 2010 IBM Global Chief Human Resource Officer study, titled “Working Beyond Borders,” found that while organizations continue to develop and deploy talent in diverse areas around the globe at an accelerated rate, the rationale behind workforce investment is changing.
“The silver lining of globalization is that the shift toward expansion will require companies to redirect their workforce to locations that provide the greatest opportunities, not just the lowest costs, and at the same time, re-imagine their management strategies to reflect an increasingly dynamic workforce,” said Denis Brousseau, Vice President, Organization and People, IBM Global Business Services.
“More than ever before, competitive success will depend the leadership talent to assimilate information and share insights among a diverse group of employees around the globe.”
We think this was bound to happen. For one thing, businesses need people savvy in specific markets and geographies.
Social media having bottom line consequences
Another major finding of the study is that while social networking and collaboration may be regarded by many as a “soft” skill, study data suggests it can have bottom-line consequences:
- Financial outperformers (as measured by EBIDTA) are 57 percent more likely than underperformers to use collaborative and social networking tools to enable global teams to work more effectively together.
- Respondents indicated they most frequently employ collaboration tools to enhance the effectiveness of corporate communications and learning programs and to target and recruit external candidates.
- 21 percent of companies have recently increased the amount they invest in the collaboration tools and analytics despite the economic downturn.
- 19 percent of respondents regularly use collaborative technologies to identify individuals with relevant knowledge and skills, 23 percent to preserve critical knowledge, and 27 percent to spread innovation more widely.
We won’t be surprised to see increasing evidence that companies using social media well can demonstrate bottom line ROI.
For access to the full study report, including findings and case studies, see: ibm.com/chrostudy
To join the conversation about smarter leadership, please visit: smarterleaders.tumblr.com/
Tags: China, IBM study, India, social networking, tech jobs
Posted in Internet/New Media, Studies, surveys, reports, TechJobs | No Comments »
Monday, September 20th, 2010
 DURHAM, NC – The LaunchBox Digital startup program says a number of its early stage firms need help.
Those seeking employees include Spring Metrics, which is building “next generation web analytics.” The team includes experienced entrepreneurs from Google, Motricity, and Blackboard and is looking for a part-time contract to work on the user-facing side of its application.
Work would begin ASAP. Send resumes and any relevant URLs to shannon@springmetrics.com. Cover letter not necessary.
Leaguescape, which plans to become “the one-stop destination for fantasy sports betting,” is looking for an intern or web designer with UX talent and design skills. Contact Dan@Leaguescape.com for your interest/questions.
HealtheME, a mobile health and web-based obseity mangement platform is loking ofr a developer for front end web work and content experts in nutrition, excercise physiology, and behaviorists/psychologists. Contact: srachmuth@healthemedoc.com if you are interested.
CityPockets Inc. is looking for a web developer with good back end development experience.
CityPockets is an online voucher management platform for group-buying sites such as Groupon, Living Social, BuyWithMe, etc. It helps users store and organize all their pre-paid online vouchers from over 130 group-buying sites in the US. Users can set custom reminders, share purchases with friends, see merchant locations on one map, and more.
See jobs@citypockets.com if you are interested.
Keona Health is empowering patients with personalized recommendations on whether to see a doctor and when, leading to improved safety, efficiency, and lower costs. It has partnered with top researchers at UNC and Duke to develop this system. We are looking for Java and .NET developers who have experience working with databases, XML, web services, and web applications.
Send email to to jason@keonahealth.com if interested.
Contact
Tags: CityPockets, HealtheMe, LaunchBox Digital, Leaguescape, Spring Metrics, Startups, tech jobs
Posted in Carolinas, Internet/New Media, North Carolina, TechJobs | No Comments »
|
|
|
