On the 12th day of IT, I gave to my boss: 12 workers whining, 11 computers crashing, 10 printers printing, 9 Windows updates, 8 phones a-ringing, 7 servers hanging, 6 vendors nagging, 5 worn out mice, 4 failing drives, 3 dead phones, 2 power spikes, and a bigger budget for IT.
Every November CDW invites IT decision makers to share their perspectives on the year gone by and wishes for the year ahead. This year 626 members of our Customer Advisory Board from a cross-section of large, midsize and small companies responded to our survey. We asked a senior staff member at The North Pole to review the findings and tell us what IT managers and executives are wishing for this season.
Asked what one gift senior management could provide to make their jobs easier in 2008, the top requests were for more IT staff (27%) and more budget (16%). However, the size of the respondent’s company was a factor, as respondents from companies with fewer than 100 employees wanted more for budget than staff.
This was a significant change from a year ago, when wishes for staff and budget overall were roughly equal, so perhaps the elves were listening in December 2006 and increased some IT budgets this year. Other responses this season included wishes for the option to telework, more technology upgrades, more time to get their own work done, more training and – of course – more time off.
Participants responded enthusiastically to an open-ended question about what they would give their senior management if money were no object. The most frequent suggestions were variations on “vacation,” although the length of time off and the destinations differed according to the, shall we say, motivation of the respondent. Many suggested practical gifts, such as high-powered laptops, business intelligence systems, or “a full staff of network elves, a pound of magic server pixie dust, and a gypsy to foretell network disasters.”
Most responses envisioned senior management walking a mile in IT’s shoes, including this spritely adaptation of a traditional holiday song that we now call “The 12 Days of IT,” submitted by CDW Customer Advisory Board member Scott Martin:
On the 12th day of IT, I gave to my boss: 12 workers whining, 11 computers crashing, 10 printers printing, nine Windows updates, eight phones a-ringing, seven servers hanging, six vendors nagging, five worn out mice, four failing drives, three dead phones, two power spikes, and a bigger budget for IT.
Entertainment products topped the Techno-Sugarplum Index (participants’ personal wish lists) again this year, with high-definition televisions still the clear leader at 24%, followed by the Nintendo Wii (10%), digital SLR cameras (9%), iPods (8%), home theater systems (8%) and other entertainment devices. Write-ins included wishes for conventional laptops, desktops and peripherals, while some eschewed technology altogether. “A new tractor – you have your ‘technology’ and I have mine,” offered one person. Others wished for “a back rub machine.”
When we asked, “If you were only allowed one holiday movie to watch during the entire season, which one would it be?”, the convincing winner was National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation at 24%, followed by Christmas Story (15%) and It’s a Wonderful Life (14%). We are not certain why Christmas Vacation is so overwhelmingly popular with IT people, but we assume it has something to do with the touching father-son relationships and the best-in-class lesson in exterior illumination – and we note that the SPCA did not participate in this survey.
Asked what technology stories were most important in 2007, virtualization and the market’s response to Microsoft Windows Vista tied for top choice at 18%. Although responses from larger companies favored virtualization, responses from smaller companies leaned toward Vista. Security, data losses and spam remain perennial hot topics, with 9% of respondents selecting them, and “green/energy-efficient IT” made a new showing (8%) as the most important topic of the year.
A second open-ended question asked respondents what technology news headlines they would most like to see in 2008. The most frequent headline subjects were Microsoft, Bill Gates, Google acquisitions and security issues, with treatments ranging from purely personal to topical or wishful. Here are 10 of the most creative wished-for 2008 headlines:
- People magazine names IT “sexiest career”
- RIAA leaves students alone, hunts hackers and virus writers instead
- Global warming traced to U.S. presidential campaigns
- New virus paralyzes hackers’ hands
- Spam canned for good
- Licenses now required to operate computers
- Blu-ray/HD DVD debate settled with a coin toss
- IT genius nabs Bin Laden’s IP address, ends war, collects $20 million reward
- Blogosphere disappears, U.S. economic output doubles
- Working teleport system erases air travel woes
One somewhat poignant headline nomination has nothing in particular to do with technology, but we would all be delighted to see, “Media stymied by shortage of bad news.”
We wish Network World and all of its readers a 2008 full of entirely good news.
Gambill is the chief marketing officer at CDW.
