The Impact of Sourcing on the IT Workforce Pipeline

The increasingly global sourcing of information technology (IT) work is prompting fundamental changes in the availability of IT skills needed in both client and vendor organizations. In the summer of 2005 the Society for Information Management (SIM) sponsored of an international data collection effort by 20 researchers, is, who investigated how these factors affect the skills, capabilities and experience available to the IT organization within firms, that the IT workforce pipeline. This paper uses that data to conduct an analysis of the IT skills and capabilities that are valued by top management of IT organizations and understand how those skills and capabilities are acquired. The analysis focuses on: • Skills and capabilities hired in house versus those acquired through sourcing • Trends in full-time equivalent (FTE) numbers through 2008 looking at how FTEs are distributed among in-house, independent contractors and service providers