By: George Spafford The news is full of failing companies and lost jobs, and the IT job market has not been spared the current economic recession. It is a worrisome time for everyone. We can view the recession's effects on the IT economy from two different perspectives: (1) that of employees, who fear losing jobs and worry about having the right skills, and (2) that of employers, which need to improve operating effectiveness and efficiency. While separate, these views are not mutually exclusive. Continuing education and the pursuit of IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL)certifications can benefit both groups in terms of building IT skills and improving IT operational efficiency. Building IT skill sets with ITIL certification Firms hire workers based on their skill sets. While many organizations understand the value of developing IT workers' skills, others discard employees when skills no longer align with a company's needs. In their responses to employee surveys, it's

Interesting. The Wall Street Journal today (FEBRUARY 17, 2009), published an interview with Allstate's CIO Catherine Brune . The topic is "What IT should -- and shouldn't -- do in a recession." In the article, entitled Shifting Priorities , Brune discusses the importance of having a Process Improvement Program (they use ITIL ) in place, especially in a down economy. She is quoted, "Don't ever take your eye off continuous improvement." To read the article... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123447763114179467.html

The most frequent question of the last few months has been "What are IT organizations doing to reduce costs in a downturned economy?" With constrained human and financial resources, the answer to this question can be daunting. The business still expects the same level of service with fewer resources. What's an IT department to do? IT Service Management best practices have always provided guidance for managing or lowering the cost of services without sacrificing quality. Frameworks, such as ITIL, advocate processes that net higher efficiencies and effectiveness, which in turn result in lower costs and higher quality. The better you are at doing something, the lower the cost of doing it. Here are some other ways ITSM can help reduce costs: Understand your costs by calculating cost per service, cost per customer and cost per activity. You can't reduce costs if you do not understand what they are in the first place. Create and analyze a Service Portfolio of services in th

Baseline magazine, which is one of my old favorites, (although I don't like the website nearly as well as their magazine) recently published a very interesting article. Entitled 10 Hot IT Jobs for 2009 , it lists ITIL Manager as Hot Job #6. "The job market is brutal, but some IT specializations remain in high demand. Many of the hottest roles and skills address issues specific to survival, such as productivity, efficiency and process improvement.... Governance and standardization are key to getting automation efforts off the ground in an orderly fashion, and companies will be paying a premium for ITIL and business process experts in 2009." - Read full article CIO Insight also recently published something I found interesting, 10 Books for Managing in Tough Times . While I have not personally had a chance to read all of these books, I have reviewed their list. Several look to be very interesting and potentially helpful. - Read full article