Senior Technical Women: A Profile Of Success

New Report Outlines the Attributes of Success for Senior Technical Women; Offers Recommendations for Companies to Advance Women in Technology and Facilitate Diversity.

A new research report released by the Anita Borg Institute for Women in Technology (ABI) outlines the attributes of success for Senior Technical Women who, at only four percent of the 1,795 technical men and women surveyed for the report, represent a rarity in the technology industry.

The report, titled Senior Technical Women: A Profile of Success, examines the characteristics of high-ranking women in technology, how they perceive themselves and their top attributes for success, and what organizational practices they most care about. The ABI report is publicly available at www.anitaborg.org.

Senior Technical Women: A Profile of Success explores the demographics and attributes shared among women who defy the odds and achieve senior level positions on the technical track. It also makes recommendations for companies looking to retain senior technical women and for women seeking to advance to senior level positions.

A growing body of research has documented the underrepresentation of women in technical
positions in US companies. Women hold 24 percent of technology jobs, yet represent half the total workforce. This underrepresentation persists even though the demand for technical talent remains high: computer occupations are expected to grow by 32 percent between 2008 and 2018.

Companies are increasingly aware of the benefits of diversity for innovation, and are looking for solutions to recruit, retain,and advance women.

A combination of factors helps to explain the dearth of women in technical positions:

• A shortage of women graduating with degrees in technical fields. Women earned 18.6 percent of Computer Science bachelor’s degrees in the US in 2007, and 18.5 percent of engineering degrees. For computer science, this represents a sharp decline from the 37 percent of women graduating with a bachelor’sdegree in 1985.
• For women who do enter technical careers in industry, persistent barriers to retention and advancement have been documented, including: isolation and lack of access to influential social networks and mentors;unwelcoming cultures; work-family conflict and family configurations that differ from male colleagues;organizational cultures that do not reward mentoring and employee development; and hidden bias andstereotyping that become embedded in organizational processes.
• The mid-career level has been identified by researchers as an especially difficult juncture when 56 percentof technical women leave their companies, representing twice the turnover rate of their male colleagues.Furthermore, half of those women leaving their companies end up leaving technical fields entirely.

What about the women who persist and advance past the mid level? Little is known about the women who defy these trends and achieve senior level positions on the technical track.

Asocia Group is a leading information technology consulting and staffing firm and is 100% woman-owned and certified(WBE) by the Women’s Business Enteprise National Council(WBENC).
www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

Happy Fourth of July- 2010!!

Trivia about the 4th of July:

1.Who Wrote the Star Spangled Banner?

2. Which two presidents, both of whom signed the Declaration of Independence, died on the Fourth of July in 1826?

3. How many signatures are on the Declaration of Independence?

4. Which president of the United States was born on the Fourth of July?

5. The first Independence Day was July 4, 1776 but in what year was Fourth of July officially declared a national holiday by Congress?

4th of July Trivia Answers:

#1: Francis Scott Key
#2: Thomas Jefferson and John Adams
#3: 56
#4: Our 30th president, Calvin Coolidge
#5: 1941

Did You Know Trivia About July 4th:

-The names of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were withheld from the public for more than six months to protect the signers. If independence had not been achieved, the treasonable act of the signers would have, by law, resulted in their deaths.
-Betsy Ross, according to legend, sewed the first American flag in May or June 1776, as commissioned by the Congressional Committee.
-The origin of Uncle Sam probably began in 1812, when Samuel Wilson was a meat packer who provided meat to the US Army. The meat shipments were stamped with the initials, U.S. Someone joked that the initials stood for “Uncle Sam”. This joke eventually led to the idea of Uncle Sam symbolizing the United States government.
-Fireworks were invented in China in the 12th century to ward off evil spirits.
-The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council state that over 150 million hot dogs are consumed during Independence Day festivities. WOW!
-The US imports an estimated $128 million in fireworks from China each year.
-Bristol, Rhode Island is noted as having the oldest continuous 4th of July celebration.
-Thirty places nationwide with “liberty” in their name. Iowa has more of these places than any other state at four: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
-The Declaration of Independence 4 of July, 1776.

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July!! - ASOCIA Group

Dont Miss The Largest Women In Computing Conference: Grace Hopper Celebration- September 2010-Atlanta

“Collaborating Across Boundaries”
Atlanta, Georgia
September 28 - October 2, 2010

Co-founded by Dr. Anita Borg and Dr. Telle Whitney in 1994 and inspired by the legacy of Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, the Institute’s Grace Hopper Celebration (GHC) Of Women In Computing Conference is designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront. It is the largest technical conference for women in computing and results in collaborative proposals, networking and mentoring for junior women and increased visibility for the contributions of women in computing. Conference presenters are leaders in their respective fields, representing industry, academia and government. Top researchers present their work while special sessions focus on the role of women in today’s technology fields, including computer science, information technology, research and engineering.

Past Grace Hopper Celebrations have resulted in collaborative proposals, networking, mentoring, and increased visibility for the contributions of women in computing.

Keynote Speakers Include:

-DUY-LOAN T. LE, Senior Fellow & World Wide Advanced Technology Manager, Texas Instruments
-CAROL BARTZ, Chief Executive Officer, Yahoo!
-BARBARA LISKOV, Institute Professor Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, MIT
-AMY ALVING, Chief Technology Officer, SAIC
-KELLI CRANE, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Thomson Reuters

Registration

ASOCIA Group is a woman-owned enterprise(WBE), certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council(WBENC) since 2007. www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

ASOCIA Group provides IT staffing and executive search services. We strive to help support women in all levels in information technology careers, from entry-level to executive management.
www.asociagroup.com

EHR: CIO’s Worried About Meeting “Meaningful Use” Requirements

Eighty percent of chief information officers surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers say they’re worried their hospitals won’t be able to meet whatever meaningful use criteria the government sets for electronic medical records systems.

Chief information officers at healthcare providers and insurance firms are worried that their organizations won’t be able to win so-called “meaningful use“ designation for electronic health records systems in time to take advantage of government subsidies, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In a survey of 120 CIOs, the consulting firm found that 80 percent are “concerned with the ability to meet MU requirements within the specified time frame.”

“Without a set of final rules in place, lack of clarity around certain criteria and reporting requirements has left some CIOs at an impasse,” according to the report. “Fueling the concern are availability of skilled IT resources, infrastructure requirements, vendor readiness, and effecting behavioral change across the organization.”

The federal government is promising about $40,000 out of a $20 billion kitty to each physician practice, hospital or other healthcare provider that can prove “meaningful use” of an EMR system, but has yet to establish exactly what it means by meaningful use. More than a third of the CIOs surveyed said they’re also worried about software vendors’ ability to deliver systems that will meet the criteria, with 44 percent saying their HIT vendors aren’t ready.

“I think we all wonder if we’re going to be ready,” John McInally, CIO for MetroHealth System in Cleveland, told MedCity News. “I don’t know any of my colleagues anywhere that feel they’re completely ready for meaningful use.”

In order to be eligible for the federal handout, healthcare providers must use a certified EMR product and be able to demonstrate the ability to meet reporting requirements.

“The real test, though, will be the new quality reporting requirements that come with this meaningful use,” McInally said. “So it’s not enough to just have the information systems installed from certified vendors, but you also have to be able to produce reporting that demonstrates you’re using those systems to assure high-quality patient care.”

The PWC survey showed that healthcare providers that pull doctors, patients and insurers into the loop are more likely to be ready to apply for stimulus cash next year. But less than 20 percent of the CIOs surveyed said their employers are including patient input into their meaningful use initiatives. By contrast, 63 percent said their organizations are already working with physicians or will in the next six months.

ASOCIA Healthcare is a healthcare consulting, staffing and medical products distributor. With extensive experience in EHR consulting, our expertise can help ensure your success in deploying successful EHR systems.

For more information visit: www.asociahealthcare.com

ASOCIA Healthcare is a subsidiary of ASOCIA Group, a top-tier provider of information technology consulting, staffing and executive search services.

ASOCIA Group is a woman-owned organization (WBE), certified by the Women’s Business Enteprise National Council (WBENC) since 2007. www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

8 Trends Driving IT Job Growth, Salaries

1. Expect more churn in IT staff as CIOs accelerate their move to more flexibile staffing models, says Foote Partners. CIOs are outsourcing more technical work, including managed IP services such as VoIP and VPNs. They’re hiring more contractors for desktop and security services, and they’re putting more applications such as remote backup in the cloud. At the same time, they’re looking to hire IT people with business and analytical skills, such as risk management and project management. Indeed, CIOs report that they’re having trouble hiring IT people because either they can’t find IT professionals with the right business skills or they can’t afford them. All of this means more turnover in IT departments.

2. IT hiring will grow in the second half of 2010, according to Dice.com. The Dice.com Web site, which lists tech job openings, conducted a survey of IT hiring managers and recruiters, and nearly half of them said they plan to add 10% more employees in the next six months than they did in the first half of the year. Another 28% of respondents plan to increase hiring by 11% to 20%. Survey respondents are getting more optimistic about salaries, too. A quarter of survey respondents predicted that IT salaries will rise in 2010, compared to 10% of survey respondents making this prediction six months ago. Another good sign: 69% of survey respondents said layoffs are not likely at their companies during the next six months.

3. Banks are starting to hire IT staff, but they are in no hurry to fill open jobs, says Dice.com. Dice says banks are looking for IT professionals who can manage new technology or integration projects, but that they are taking from six to eight months to fill open jobs. This compares to three or four months to fill jobs prior to the recession. Dice said banks are being “really selective” and are looking for “exact matches” for their detailed job descriptions.

4. IT pros are getting paid slightly more than last year, says Janco Associates’ mid-year IT salary survey. Total mean compensation for IT pros has increased to $78,210 from $77,690 a year ago – a rise of less than 1%. However, most of the additional money is going to CIOs, and not their staffs. Compensation of CIOs in large enterprises rose 7.5% to $181,533, and in midsized enterprises it rose 3.7% to $169,303, Janco found. Lower-level IT pros, on the other hand, are experiencing reduced bonuses, frozen salaries and in some cases they are being asked to pay a greater portion of their healthcare costs, Janco said. One positive sign: companies are more willing to consider flexible hours and work schedules as a low-cost benefit for IT workers.

5. CIO confidence is up, according to a survey released in June by Robert Half Technology. The survey found that 10% of CIOs plan to expand their IT departments in the third quarter of 2010, while 4% plan to reduce staffing. The states with the most active IT hiring are expected to include New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Overall, 81% of CIOs said they are confident in their companies’ growth prospects in the third quarter, while 40% said their firms are likely to invest in new IT projects in the next three months.

6. Job hopping is on the rise, prompting CIOs to worry more about IT staff retention. A recent report found that more Americans quit their jobs in the last three months than were fired. The rise in voluntary departures is prompting CIOs to worry about retaining their best IT staff. The Robert Half Technology survey found that 34% of technology executives are concerned about losing top IT performers in the next year, up three percentage points from last month. Similarly, 43% of CIOs say it is “challenging” to find skilled IT professionals today.

7. CIOs say networking and security top their list of hot IT skills. CIOs surveyed by Robert Half Technology said they had the hardest time filling jobs in networking, applications development and security. Other hot skills include software development, database management and help desk/technical support. Similarly, a recent survey of 400 U.K. recruitment consultants found that IT security skills were most in demand for permanent hires. The Report on Jobs, by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, also found that full-time staff with enterprise software and developer skills were in short supply.

8. Government, usually the safest sector of the economy in a downturn, has announced more job cuts this year than any other employer. Challenger, Gray & Christmas said government agencies and nonprofits announced more job cuts than any other industry segment in May. The sector shed 16,697 jobs in May, 12% more than the job cuts announced in April. All total, the sector has shed 93,470 jobs in 2010. What’s driving the cuts are state and municipality budget problems, which are likely to continue due to lower tax revenues and stagnant housing values.

Full Article: www.networkworld.com

Silicon Valley Rebound Increases Competition In Tech Hiring

The pickup in tech hiring is spreading beyond Silicon Valley, forcing companies outside the big tech center to rethink their recruiting tactics.

Companies in second-tier tech locations such as Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, N.C., had an easier time recruiting talented employees during the slump. But now that Silicon Valley firms have started aggressively hiring, and the general economy is improving, competition is stiffening.

“We’ve always had a bit of a competition for talent with Silicon Valley,” says Julie Huls, president of the Austin Technology Council, a trade group of Austin-area technology executives. “As firms over there start to recover, we have to make sure we stay in the game.”

Convio Inc., a 370-employee Austin-based maker of fundraising software, continued adding employees during the recession, hiring about 35 people last year. “We were able to recruit incredible people that we couldn’t have gotten before the recession,” says Angie McDermott, vice president of human resources. That has gotten harder this year. Convio is planning to increase hiring and is looking for six engineers now.

SailPoint Technologies Inc., an Austin-based maker of security software for industries including banking and insurance, says many recruits are more discriminating now. This year, the firm is looking to hire about 20 people, about double last year.

“The days of ‘I’ll take what I can get’ are over,” says Mark McClain, the 60-employee company’s chief executive. SailPoint mostly competes against other startups, some of which are in Silicon Valley. Candidates he recruits now often have at least one offer in hand, sometimes two, he says. Mr. McClain says he hasn’t had to start offering perks such as increased signing bonuses, but anticipates that he will. For now, he is emphasizing Austin’s short commute times, cheap real estate and quality of life to potential employees.

“As hiring improves in the Valley, I’d expect that we might have to start looking at bonuses, salaries, or options again as ways to attract people,” he says. “We feel some of that tightness coming back.”

In Raleigh, N.C., Red Hat Inc. has also seen greater competition in recent months. In March, the maker of open-source software started retraining hiring managers as the firm looks to add 800 employees to its 3,200-person work force this year.

Previously, Red Hat’s recruiting pitch focused on pay, benefits and the product a developer would work on. But as Red Hat executives watched their Silicon Valley rivals rebound, they didn’t want to have to compete against them on pay and benefits. “We realized the competition would pick up,” says DeLisa Alexander, who heads human resources and brand marketing.

Instead, Red Hat made its pitch more personal. Hiring managers now are trained to talk about their career histories, emphasizing the variety of projects they work on and ideas they have been able to execute. The idea is to portray Red Hat as a more entrepreneurial place to build a career than its rivals in California. So far, the company has retrained 50 of its 437 hiring managers, and the firm says the effort is helping to land hires.

Full Article: WSJ.com

ASOCIA Executives Services Highlight – CIO Placement Specialists

Since our inception, the ASOCIA Executive Services Search division has been recognized has a national leader in mid- to senior-level executive placement. Our areas of expertise range from Fortune 500 to start-up organizations spanning all industries including information technology, finance and accounting, human resources, sales and marketing, and healthcare(biomedical, medical devices, pharmaceuticals).

We have further established ourselves as a industry leader in C-level placements, with a specialization in CIO placement due to our strong expertise in the information technology sector. Asocia Group’s core competency is providing information technology services to clients nationwide. Our strong background in information technology, coupled with executive recruitment expertise, has enabled us to become a market leader, as we have a thorough understanding our clients’ industry and needs.

Our seasoned technology executives have a reputation for producing in-depth, accurate assessments of our clients’ strengths and solving complex challenges. Whether you need restructuring leadership, program implementation or turnaround support.

We provide full-time and interim executive placement services. Our services are available on a retainer or contingency basis.

- ASOCIA Executive Services- CIO, CTO, VP of IT - CIO Executive Search

As a premier provider of human capital solutions, the Asocia Executive Services division is dedicated to helping our clients secure the most talented people in the market.

ASOCIA Group is a woman-owned organization (WBE), certified by the Women’s Business Enteprise National Council (WBENC) since 2007. www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

For more information on our executive placement services, please contact us:
Info@asociagroup.com
www.asociagroup.com

Women-Owned Businesses Fueling Employment

WOMEN’S BUSINESS ENTERPRISE NATIONAL COUNCIL: WBENC

According to the Center for Women’s Business Research 2009 study, “the economic impact of women owned business in the United States, there are an estimated 8 million US business -currently 51% women owned with an economic impact of $3 trillion annually and job creation or maintenance of more than 23 million jobs-16% of all US jobs”.

The Federal Government established a 5% goal for procurement with women-owned businesses in 1994. As of 2008 the actual expenditures for Federal contracts awarded to WOSBs was $14.7 billion or 3.4% against a goal of 5%. The difference between current performance (3.4%) and the goal (5%) represents approximately $6.9 billion in contracts annually, which would significantly support the growth of women owned businesses.

Why is it important that the Federal Government reach and possibly exceed the 5% goal with women owned companies? It’s all about employment.

By 2018 the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that small businesses will create 9.7 million new jobs, with approximately 5 million to 5.5 million of those being created by women owned businesses. This represents over half of the new jobs in the small business sector and one third of the total new jobs that will be created nationwide over the next eight years.

Supporting small and woman-owned business is important to our nation’s job growth and economy.

Asocia Group is a Woman-Owned Enterprise (WBE), and has been WBENC certified since 2007 by the Greater Women’s Business Council(GWBC).

We are committed to fostering diversity and supporting other diversity and woman-owned businesses.

Asocia Group’s commitment to diversity:
www.asociagroup.com/WBENC

Health IT Funding To Create 50,000 Jobs

Federal dollars being pumped into grant programs to spur students to enter IT careers in the health care industry should help to create between 45,000 and 50,000 jobs over the next five years.

Speaking at the Health Information Technology (HIT) Conference here, Dr. David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said a portion of $2 billion in discretionary spending under Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) is being targeted at education and training for electronic health record implementation. A large part of the training is for people to staff 60 regional extension centers, which are public, private partnerships that will assist rural hospitals and physician practices with 10 or fewer doctors in rolling out electronic medical records (EMRs) and supporting technology.

“There’s a shortage of workers who can staff these regional extension centers and provide the kind of support physicians and hospitals need to become meaningful users” [of EMRs], Blumenthal said.

Without specifying an amount, Blumenthal said the ONC has already handed out funding to 70 community colleges or other universities to create programs for workforce training for health information technology.

The HIT conference, hosted by the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium, focused not only how to create jobs in health information technology, but how that technology can reduce health costs while improving quality of care.

A final version of the government’s Notice of Proposed Rule Making helps define what type of technology should be used and spells out how $36 billion in incentives from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 should be paid out. A physician in private practice can receive up to $44,000 for rolling out EMRs and showing “meaningful use” of that technology.

Hospitals could potentially received millions of dollars in reimbursement.Physicians and hospitals that don’t roll out the EMR technology and prove that they are making “meaningful use” of it by 2015 face penalties in the form of reduced Medicare reimbursements.

“Our real challenge is to redesign health care so that it’s patient-centric, safe, effective, high quality for all individuals and affordable,” Griswold said. “That redesigned healthcare system will use health information technology to achieve those goals. She cautioned that IT is not a silver bullet, and that products need to be not only well designed but tested and carefully implemented with patient input.

The main hurdles to adoption included the ability to aggregate medical data and organize it, how to share it without mature, robust information exchange networks, and the security of data once it is online. John Moore, a managing partner with Chilmark Research, said that while 80% of people use the Internet to search for health information, a recent study showed that only 7% actually use PHRs.

Over the next two years, 58% of small physician practices plan to roll our EMRs, according to a recent survey. EMRs will share patient information between health care providers, ensuring a patient’s treatment medical history, existing conditions and prescription medication warnings are made automatically available to a treating physician.

Over the next year, Blumenthal said his office will focus on finalizing “meaningful use” regulations, which should be published later this spring, and implementing the Beacon Community Grant program, which will use $220 million to build out health IT infrastructures and regional information exchange capabilities in 15 communities.

Blumenthal said so far 130 counties throughout the U.S. have applied for the grant money. The ONC will also focus on helping hospitals and other health facilities use the National Health Information Network (NHIN), which is a set of standards, services and policies that enable secure health information exchange over the Internet.

“This is a major change to one of the most complicated systems in our society. ” Patrick said.“But, in a world where more and more average citizens are banking, shopping and communicating in an increasingly electronic world, it’s time for the health care system to catch up.”

Patrick pointed to New Zealand as the ideal for EHRs. “In New Zealand, when you are born, you get an electronic medical record. And that record is available in any hospital, clinic, doctor’s office, or pharmacy anywhere in New Zealand for the rest of your life,” he said. “That’s where I want to be. I want that kind of seamlessness, that kind of simplicity, that kind of efficiency.”

Full Article: CIO.com
Post by: Beth Frazier, Asocia Healthcare

Tech Hiring Is Ramping Up

The technology industry, an engine of innovation and U.S. prosperity for more than half a century, is accelerating its recovery from the recession with surging earnings that have spurred companies to sharply ramp up their hiring.

The latest evidence for the rebound came Thursday, when Internet giant Google Inc. posted a 37% profit jump for the first quarter and chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc. reported a 34% revenue increase to record levels. The results follow the strong showing of bellwether Intel Corp., which Tuesday announced quarterly profit that nearly quadrupled on a 44% jump in sales.

The trio of results kicks off what is likely to be a strong earnings streak as tech spending by companies and consumers picks up. Next week, Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., among others, are slated to report quarterly results. Tech-research firm ISI Group projects that overall revenues from such companies will rise more than 10% for the first quarter, compared with a 16% decline a year earlier. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s forecasts a 79% increase in tech earnings for the quarter from year-ago levels.

The growth has reached a level where tech companies are pushing to hire again, in some cases engaging in heated competition for talent. That’s a turnabout for the industry, which had a series of layoffs last year, when some tech giants, notably Microsoft Corp., had mass layoffs for the first time.

The hiring ramp-up began late last year, with demand for tech goods and services stabilizing after months of declines. At the time, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said the Mountain View, Calif., company was ready to spend again, including on new recruits. On Thursday, Google said it hired 786 new employees in the first quarter and was just getting started.

“We expect to continue hiring aggressively through the year,” said Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette on a call with analysts. “We have a strong pipeline of candidates primarily focused on engineering and sales, and we are on-boarding them to fuel our growth agenda as fast as possible.”

Earlier this week Intel disclosed plans for what it called its first substantial hiring in five years. The company expects to hire 1,000 to 2,000 people in 2010, an Intel spokeswoman said. The Santa Clara, Calif., chip maker, which has trimmed about 20,000 workers from its payrolls since 2006, ended 2009 with 79,800 employees.

Cisco Systems Inc. in February said it plans to hire between 2,000 and 3,000 workers, after adding 2,100 employees in the three months ended Jan. 23, mostly through acquisitions. In total, the networking-gear maker employs about 66,000 workers.

The hiring isn’t limited to tech behemoths, with smaller Silicon Valley companies also diving headlong into the race for people. Twitter Inc. has added about 125 employees since last May for a total of 170, and will continue ramping up, said Chief Executive Evan Williams this week. The San Francisco company, which relocated to a new headquarters last year, will have to move again in the next year or so, he added.

In an indicator of the growing demand, tech-jobs Web site Dice.com said it now lists more than 62,000 tech positions nationwide, up nearly 22% from 51,000 a year earlier. Year-over-year growth in tech-job listings picked up in March, the first time job listings rose on an annual basis since December 2007, according to Dice.

The demand has turned some hires into all-out bidding wars again, reminiscent of last decade’s tech boom. Sam Shah, 30 years old, a San Francisco resident and computer science Ph.D., began job-hunting in February after the Silicon Valley start-up he was working hit some bumps. Within a week, he says he had job offers from five Internet companies including LinkedIn.

The tech hiring contrasts with a relatively weak U.S. labor market, with the national unemployment rate holding steady at 9.7% in March. Few other major employers have reported plans to add or call back workers. On Wednesday, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. said it plans to hire nearly 9,000 U.S. employees, and CSX Corp., a major U.S. rail company, said it is calling back furloughed workers and even hiring new employees in some locations.

The recovery in the tech industry is broad, touching a diverse set of products and services from personal computers to online advertising. On Wednesday, research firms Gartner and IDC said global PC sales jumped more than 24% in the first quarter as consumers and businesses got back into the buying game.

“The tech recovery has started in the U.S. and around the world,” says Andrew Bartels, an analyst at Forrester Research. He estimates the U.S. technology market will increase 8.4% this year to $550 billion after shrinking 7.9% in 2009.

And the momentum isn’t dependent on just companies and consumers beginning to spend again on tech categories they had cut back on. Newer tech products such as videoconferencing systems and electronic medial records are also gaining traction. “That means this tech recovery has legs,” says Mr. Bartels.

Google’s results demonstrate why tech hiring has ramped up. The company’s Internet-ad business continued to improve during the first quarter as advertisers increased spending across geographies and products.

Full Article: Wall Street Journal
Post by: John Jeffers, Asocia Group