Mean 2001

Mean 2000

Difference

  Making sure network is hackerproof.

8.13

7.94

0.19

  Security issues.

7.84

8.01

-0.17

  Finding and retaining qualified employees.

7.72

8.36

-0.64

  Acquiring skills in new and emerging technologies.

7.70

7.74

-0.04

  Keeping employees trained.

7.68

8.08

-0.40

  Maintaining skills in established technologies.

7.42

7.62

-0.20

  Dealing with employees.

7.18

7.87

-0.69

  Project management.

7.11

7.82

-0.71

  Securing reasonable budgets for projects.

7.02

7.66

-0.64

Mean 2001

Mean 2000

Difference

  Your career development.

6.99

7.94

-0.95

  Acquiring and improving upon business skills.

6.99

7.59

-0.60

  Your overall training.

6.98

7.50

-0.52

  Choosing between high pay and quality of life.

6.88

7.96

-1.08

  Obtaining a competitive salary and benefits.

6.84

7.47

-0.63

  Rising costs of salaries/benefits for employees.

6.59

6.88

-0.29

  Defining reasonable scopes of work for projects.

6.59

6.84

-0.25

  Your overall compensation.

6.54

7.51

-0.04

  Synching with departmental and corporate managers.

6.53

7.28

-0.75

  Upgrading the network infrastructure.

6.53

6.86

-0.33

  Career development opportunities at your current company.

6.43

7.32

-0.89

  The career path generally available to you at end-user organizations.

6.39

6.31

0.08

  Security of outsourcer's network and systems.

6.15

6.19

-0.04

Mean 2001

Mean 2000

Difference

  Implementing quality-of-service technologies.

5.92

6.22

-0.30

  Building remote-access and site-to-site VPNs.

5.90

6.44

-0.54

  Obtaining bonuses and stock options.

5.83

6.65

-0.82

  Dealing with vendors of equipment and services.

5.54

6.03

-0.49

  Losing employees to vendors or dot-coms with options.

5.49

6.54

-1.05

  Having a reasonable number of qualified vendors.

5.43

6.12

-0.69

  Supporting wireless devices.

5.35

4.83

0.52

  The opportunity presented by employment with a networking vendor.

5.25

5.60

-0.35

  Costs of outsourcing/outtasking.

5.24

5.29

-0.05

  Implementing and managing public-key infrastructure systems.

5.16

5.78

-0.62

  Managing outsourcing contracts.

5.16

5.00

0.16

  Convergence of voice and data.

5.05

5.27

-0.22

Mean 2001

Mean 2000

Difference

Outsourcing/outtasking.

4.86

5.26

-0.40

Finding outsourcers that can handle the tasks you'd like to offload.

4.76

4.70

0.06

The opportunity presented by employment at dot-com companies.

4.75

5.17

-0.42

XML.

4.68

4.71

-0.03

Integrating e-commerce applications with legacy network equipment and applications.

4.54

5.37

-0.83

Replacement of your networking staff with outsourced services.

4.50

4.65

0.78

Migration from 10/100 Ethernet to Gigabit Ethernet.

4.49

4.99

-0.50

Managing Web hosting services.

4.47

5.60

-1.13

E-commerce issues.

4.43

5.42

-0.99

Implementing and managing ASP services.

4.22

4.18

0.04

Building and maintaining supplier management systems.

4.15

4.45

-0.30

Developing applications for mobile devices.

4.00

0.00

n/a