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CRM, ERP Job Demand Holding Steady, Skill Demand Survey Finds

October 22, 2007

Online recruitment company The IT Job Board has announced the results of its latest Skills in Demand report, finding that ERP/CRM skill demand have stayed the same year on year with over 7,000 positions currently being advertised.

Demand in help desk positions has increased by 45 percent compared to the same period last year, and demand for IT project managers has risen by 35 percent compared to the same period last year.

The survey found that developers positions have increased "only slightly" at 10 percent compared to the same period last year.

Adam Stokes, Operations Manager at www.theitjobboard.com, called the demand in help desk roles "great news for graduates and junior candidates, as these types of roles provide a launch platform for their IT careers."


Stokes said how "interesting it is how strong the ERP/CRM market still is -- there still seems to be a high demand for these applications, and the combination of continued demand plus the lengthy  implementation schedules mean there's a real shortage of candidates with these skills in the market."

A growth in the demand for Project Managers is usually an indication that there is a growth in new projects being scheduled that need recruiting for, Stokes explained, but added "the relative inactivity in the Developer market might suggest that the apparent increase in IT projects may not be something to get too excited about.  There is a cyclical element to project management recruitment, as IT systems naturally age and need replacing."

In early October Datamonitor added a new report: "Economic Outlook: Customer Relationships Management (Market Focus)" to their offering.

"In this brief, we provide an analysis of the main trends affecting the market and advises vendors on how to respond to the changing market conditions," research officials say.

The report, according to the write-up by Datamonitor, "discusses the key trends impacting the current state of the customer relationship management market," and "analyzes which market segments and industries are driving investments in the customer relationship management market."

It is billed as discussing "changing market conditions and vendor go-to-market strategies," and "providing a market forecast of expenditure for the forthcoming five years."

Despite relatively high penetration rate of CRM products, the report finds, the market is "not maturing and the outlook for vendors is positive: investment, adoption and product revenues are all set to rise." Enterprises still list strategic issues as the top inhibitors, it finds, adding that "the market is increasingly segmented along the enterprise size axis."

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David Sims is a contributing editor for ContactCenterSolutions. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.



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