Executive Brief: Finding and Retaining Stellar IT Employees

Retaining great employees also helps your bottom line. A study by the Center for American Progress found that “very highly paid jobs and those at the senior or executive levels tend to have disproportionately high turnover costs as a percentage of salary (up to 213 percent!).”1 Replacing highly paid people is expensive, not to mention the negative impact of turnover on production, training and employee morale.

How big of an issue is employee retention in the IT industry? Based on LinkedIn member data from 2017, there is a worldwide turnover rate of 10.9 percent; the tech sector (software, not hardware) showing the most volatility with 13.2 percent turnover rate.

What does this look like on a day-to-day basis in your IT workplace? Committed employees:  

  • Care deeply
  • Understand company goals
  • Support and embody company values
  • Feel challenged by their work
  • Use a broad range of skills
  • Practice autonomous problem solving and decision making
  • Take responsibility for whole processes
  • Receive clear and consistent feedback

To learn practical, implementable ideas for each of the above to up your game in hiring and retaining, read our Executive Brief: Finding and Retaining Stellar IT Employees.

Executive Brief: The Pillars of Software Development Success

A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which reviewed 10,640 projects from 200 companies in 30 countries, found that only 2.5 percent of the companies successfully completed 100 percent of their projects. Another more recent study was slightly more upbeat, but far from great news. We’re referring to a 2017 report by the Project Management Institute (PMI), which found that 14 percent of IT projects fail and of the projects that didn’t fail outright:

31 percent didn’t meet their goals

43 percent exceeded the budget

49 percent were late

Intertech works with hundreds of companies every year on a wide range of software development projects. We’ve learned a lot about how to avoid these predictable project roadblocks. This Intertech Executive Brief shares our best thinking, and the thinking of recognized software development experts, to help you avoid these issues – as well as “bonus success tips” for your next software development project.

Click here to read Executive Brief: The Pillars of Software Development Success

Executive Brief: Selecting & Working with IT Consulting Firms

The global information technology industry is on pace to reach $5 trillion in 2019, according to the research consultancy IDC. The U.S. share of this enormous pie is $1.6 trillion in 2019, which represents 31% of the world’s tech market.

It’s exciting to participate in the biggest and most vital economic segment in the world. But it also means intense competition for skilled IT professionals who realize the market value of their highly in-demand expertise. No wonder many organizations engage IT consulting firms who can bring highly experienced consultants who put your interests first.

This Intertech Executive Brief provides insight into how to select an excellent consulting firm that fits your particular needs and to leverage that consulting relationship for maximum value.

Click here to get the Selecting and Working with IT Consulting Firms Executive Brief

Executive Brief: An Agile Methodology Overview for CIOs & Executives

Executive Brief_ An Agile Methodology Overview for CIOs & Executives

Over the past few months, I’ve spoken with many C-level executives about the high level, strategic challenges they’re facing when it comes to building software. Through these conversations, common themes emerged. To help with these challenges, I’m excited to introduce Intertech Executive Briefs.

Based on 25+ years of building enterprise software for our clients, each Intertech Executive Brief outlines the challenge along with recommendations and insights for the busy executive.

Agile Methodology Overview for CIOs & Executives

In February 2001, 17 software developers came together to discuss how to improve software development. They defined a compelling philosophy about how to develop software-based on 12 core principles. These principles have significantly impacted the practice of developing software: making it more flexible, people-oriented, communications-friendly and product-delivery focused.

Use of agile is becoming increasingly widespread. Almost three-quarters (71%) of global organizations surveyed in a Global Project Management Survey (2017) by the Project Management Institute reported using agile approaches “sometimes, often or always.”

Click here to read the Agile Methodology Overview Executive Brief.