Innovation is a key focus this year for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) working across various industry sectors, which is creating a positive IT employment market across Australia, according to the Michael Page Technology 2014/15 CIO Viewpoint report. 

As companies develop new business functions and make advances in software and hardware, they are restructuring their teams to increase efficiencies.

CIOs currently have a positive view of the IT employment market, with more than a third (36%) of survey respondents reporting that the number of technology professionals employed by their organisation will increase during the next 12 months.

The survey found that as companies look to strengthen their technology teams, 22% of CIOs are spending more time on talent planning, which currently comprises between 20% and 39% of their role.

Corin Cheeseman, Director of Michael Page Technology commented: “More than half of CIOs are looking to hire permanent staff, with a high demand for Business Analysts as well as IT professionals with service management skills and experience with agile software development. Advances in big data, mobility and cloud will continue to drive a strong requirement for Program Managers and Architects over the coming year. The preference towards hiring technology professionals on a temporary basis continues to grow due to fixed project budgets.”

In terms of the customer experience, CIOs are primarily concentrating on improving processes and experiences for mobile and wireless devices. In 2014/15, mobility is the most important priority for the majority of respondents (35%), followed by Cloud Services (25%) and Digital (21%).

Cloud services, digital marketing, and e-commerce have been identified as the main skills shortages in the current market, and some CIOs report difficulty finding IT professionals with advanced soft business skills; such as leadership and business acumen. More than half (58%) of CIOs revealed that they would consider recruiting international talent if they were unable to source the required skills locally.

“We are seeing CIOs shifting from their traditional technical focus to delivering optimal services to their customers. CIOs are also focused on operational efficiency and business resiliency, with no time for downtime. In light of this many are developing a flexible technology portfolio that has size without scale, creating a services portfolio that can quickly adapt to changing business and technology conditions,” Mr Cheeseman concluded.