Worried? Not you

One of the more fun issues we put out every year is our You Issue. That’s where we take an inside look at what you, our readers do for a living. It’s an ecclectic take on what the people in our industry do.

One of the key features of our You Issue is our Top Concerns list. We obtained the Concern Rating by asking 100 enterprise network executives to rate their level of concern over 37 specific technology, management and career issues on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest level of anxiety. In the survey, conducted with the help of Research Concepts, respondents also told us which of four general areas – technology, management of employees/projects, their careers or the health of the network industry – concern them most and least.

For example, results show that enterprise IT executives are less worried about technology, managing employees and projects, their careers and industry health than they were last year. And their concern has been dropping steadily since the feverish days of 2000. This year, the overall Concern Rating dips to 5.84, down slightly from last year’s 5.99 but significantly from its height of 6.25 in 2000.

Although respondents are more worried about 14 items, concern for 12 of those increased only slightly (less than 10%) over last year. In fact, the Concern Rating for only one item – “supporting wireless devices” – increased by more than a full point. It’s 2003 Concern Rating is up 1.05 points at 6.19, from 5.14 in 2002, a 20% gain.

Of the 20 items with decreased year-over-year Concern Ratings, eight drop by 10% or more. Despite the turmoil in the network industry, “managing outsourced contracts” drops the biggest percentage – 21% – to 3.83 in 2003 from 4.87 in 2002. Likewise, “costs of salaries/benefits for employees” takes a nosedive to 5.76 in 2003 from 6.96 in 2002, a 17% decline.

For more on on our Top Concerns list, read: https://nwfusion.com/you/2003/0721concerns.html