Almost one in five recruiters expected a shortage of IT leaders in 2006, according to the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) and reported by CIO Connect. IT professionals will be the second most in-demand executives in 2006 after finance and banking professionals. Almost 35% of the 221 senior recruitment professionals surveyed named IT as the sector with the biggest expected growth.

This spike in demand was echoed in the IT contractor space where 72% of the 2,500 contractors questioned by contract service provider Giant Group expected wages to rise this year. Two years ago, only 54% shared this optimism and 20% actually predicted a fall, compared to just 3% this year. Similarly, only 3% of contractors are struggling to find work compared to 13% in 2004, who spent an average of 90 days unemployed between contracts.

But cost-cutting and taking care of the IT “plumbing” remained the top issues stressing out IT managers, according to the sixth annual Pressure Point Index (PPI) survey of 200 UK IT managers by HP. This found that system stability and up-time were the most critical infrastructure issues for a quarter of respondents, while a fifth cited cutting costs as their top priority.

Gerry Sheridan, VP of HP services in the UK and Ireland, admitted things are still “tight” for many IT managers and CIOs – who face pressure to prove their department is more than just a cost centre and back-office function. So how are you planning to respond?

Contact Brinley Platts on 07973 745 640 at CIODEVELOPMENT.COM to find out how you can engage your colleagues and team on the issues raised by this article.