Effective small business management can no longer be achieved without a little help. For most companies, even those with relatively few employees, it is not practical to manage multiple forms of client information, payroll, inventory and a variety of other necessary operations without high-tech solutions. Using business management software can help both managers and their staff do their jobs more efficiently, all while reducing costly errors.
While business management software may be an important component of any company's strategies for success, it is especially crucial for those that plan to expand their staff. According to the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Forecast and Local Trend Report, major growth may be imminent for the IT industry. In a study of more than 2,300 American CIOs, 61 percent plan to hire more staff for existing IT positions over the next three months. Another 14 percent claimed that, in the same time period, they would be adding job opportunities.
Despite desires to bring in new talent, IT executives are acutely aware of obstacles that exist in the current market to discovering these workers. Among those polled, 70 percent reported that finding skilled IT experts is challenging. Professionals in this field who are looking for new positions and possess networking, database management or applications development knowledge will like have the easiest time getting hired, as CIOs listed these as some of the more in-demand talents.
"We continue to see strong demand for IT workers as companies increase their investment in technology initiatives, including security, data mining and mobile," said John Reed, senior executive director of Robert Half Technology. "Companies are finding it most challenging to recruit technology professionals in specialties such as network administration and database management."
Improvements across the board
The IT industry is far from the only one having a strong start in 2013. According to another report from workforce-services provider ManpowerGroup, 11 percent of 18,000 surveyed employers nationwide plan to add employees this quarter. This figure is up 1 percent from the same time last year. Equally important, the research also showed that the majority of organizations that will not be hiring plan to keep their employee numbers steady.
In order to support a healthy enterprise environment, company leaders should consider adding to their business management tools. Especially in cases where budgets may not yet allow for the onboarding of more talent, solutions such as accounting software could help further streamline operations and expenses despite worker shortages, possibly allowing for the creation of jobs in the future.
