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IT support teams understaffed by almost half

Sep. 22, 2007

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According to a study just released by IT staffing agency Robert Half International, there are many Canadian CIOs that strongly feel their IT support teams are understaffed by about 50 percent.

Overall, businesses with between 500 and 1,000 employees were closest to their ideal employee per IT staff ratio, with a ratio of approximately 79 to 1, compared to their ideal of 51 to 1, while smaller companies struggled with a mean ratio of 91 to 1, as opposed to the best-case scenario of 46 to 1.

"I was relatively not surprised by the results," said Geoffrey Thompson, an Ottawa-based director with Robert Half.

On average, about three-hundred Canadian enterprise-level CIOs were surveyed. Respondents said that their IT teams were 46 percent smaller than they would like them to be. Presently, the average number of end users assigned to a technical support employee is about 88. In a perfect world, CIOs would like to see that number go down to about 47 end users per IT staffer.

“What’s driving the demand is that organizations are now realizing that the technical support area is a level of support that is needed to provide employees with the tools to reach a certain level of service requirements. It’s a direct reflection on their bottom line—they’re unable to be productive if their IT doesn’t work,” added Thompson.

Thompson also said "the overall trendiness of optimal productivity is increased by the ever-growing reach and power of technology including new tools, upgraded systems and software packages available.

Cost is a major barrier to employing the desired number of IT support staff. “IT workers are not creating anything new. They keep things up and running, so it’s seen as an additional cost. It’s not as flashy as a new server or ERP system, even though they’re the ones in the trenches, solving requests,” said Thompson.

Mobility’s march into the enterprise has added another layer of responsibility for the IT support person, who has to manage the mobile devices and constant connectivity brought about by this development.

Then there is the so-called “consumer creep” effect, said David Woelfle, chief technologist with outsourcing vendor EDS Canada: “as a whole, and with the huge proliferation of media devices in homes, high tech consumers expect the same level of support in the business environment."

Woelfle also added that "at the same time, users are a lot more computer literate today than they were less than four or five years ago.”

He was quick to point out “most companies simply can’t afford it anyway. If a PC support worker costs between $45,000 and $65,000 a year, it gets very expensive.”

With the important skills shortage at hand today, businesses still have high expectations, and thus simply cannot find the entry-level workers experienced enough to fill them.

“They’re looking for the perfect candidate, and five or six years ago, there was a wealth of people. But nowadays, they’re simply not out there anymore. Additionally, entry-level workers aren't getting their chance to start either. People need to start hiring people right out of school. These kids are really good, especially as they’ve grown up with technology,” said Woelfle.

However, there are ways to go around staffing and cost issues who said that the number of large enterprises with decent staff-to-employee ratios is unsurprising as those are the companies that tend to automate and remotely control a lot of their IT support functions, resulting in fewer IT staff who also have more time, said Woelfle.

These days, even if a company has the money and the motivation to hire more tech support staff, it can be very tough to find anyone that is perfect for the job. Thompson added “it’s a candidate-short market, with people in great demand.”

The end result is that companies have to diversify their recruiting tactics and offer better compensation to attract and then make sure they keep the more coveted workers.

Many companies today are still operating under the assumption from the early 90s that allowed employers to put together a wish list and handpick the perfect candidate, said Woelfle.

He said that EDS Canada has a number of large enterprises who run a streamlined IT support operation with one IT staffer per 150 or 200 people, with an eventual target of one per every 200 to 400 end users.

Woelfle also suggests bringing in a supplemental workforce, courtesy of outsourcers, for a couple of times a month as a cost-effective solution.

Overall, these cost-saving measures might be the only realistic future, said Kevin Dee, CEO of the Ottawa-based IT staffing firm Eagle Online. Dee thinks the actual ratios will stay the same for at least a few years.

Even smaller organizations can become more efficient by standardizing their practices, which makes it easier for IT support teams to do their job well. “This can be done very inexpensively,” he said.

For his part, Woelfle predicts that these two practices will eventually trickle down to even the smaller organizations, resulting in better support, if not smaller ratios.

“It’s hard to quantify the return on investment of a 50 to 1 ratio over a 90 to 1 ratio. It comes down to the almighty dollar. It’s hard for the bean-counters to look at productivity and measure it to justify the hiring of more IT support staff,” said Woelfle.

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Source: IT World Canada