It is estimated that half of them will go unfilled. Another study by IDC and Microsoft estimate that there will be over 1.6 million vacancies for IT professionals in Europe alone by 2002. The Information Technology Association of America expects an annual IT job growth rate of 1.75 lakh to 2.5 lakh. The IDC study warns that the shortage will result in high salaries, key project delays, lower employee productivity due to lack of IT resources and support, less return from existing IT investment, and increased use of international resources. Customers will buy the products only if they are able to deploy them and exploit their potential to create resources.
Deployment requires ready availability of skilled professionals.
One complements the other. In other words, sales and support go hand in hand. First the vendors create the product to match the requirements of the customers, and then create professionals to run and support the systems. Vendors view training and certification as key elements in the overall strategy to build businesses. The IT revolution has fuelled unprecedented growth in demand for skilled IT professionals.