A third of time is wasted on low level IT tasks

London, December 14 2012: A study of UK IT decision makers commissioned by IPsoft, has identified a worrying trend in over-qualified IT professionals spending nearly a third of their time on low level IT tasks such as responding to incidences and checking for errors. The Vanson Bourne research, commissioned by the expert systems specialist, identifies a clear mismanagement of resources with those surveyed admitting that on a regular day their staff only use about half (47%) of their applicable qualifications.

Against the backdrop of severe skills shortage across the IT industry, these findings are particularly worrying. IT managers are clearly more concerned about the poor use of skills than the need to train employees to gain the right ones. 74% of those surveyed revealed a major frustration with the level of time dedicated to low level IT tasks which is not only de-motivating for the individuals involved but is a huge waste of skills for the business.

"The research confirms and reinforces the level to which valuable expensive skills are lying dormant" comments IPsoft's UK MD Terry Walby. "Of course a skill that isn't regularly used is very rapidly forgotten. However, the biggest impact of this is that IT staff are not being used effectively and are missing the opportunity to drive technology innovation, which is vital in the development of most businesses."

Worryingly, many respondents feel resigned to the fact that wastage of skills is a necessary inconvenience. 88% accept that to make progress in an enterprise IT environment, IT operations staff will have to perform day-to-day tasks for which they are over-qualified. 69% of respondents agree that this is in part a direct result of teams having limited access to the right tools and technologies that could make them more efficient and productive. Just over two thirds (69%) feel that if their operations staff had more man hours available, they would be used to modernise their organisation's infrastructure, which is critical to business growth.

Bob Tarzey, Service Director at analyst firm Quocirca, commented: "The new research report explores the theme the wastage of human capital in IT operations. IT managers clearly understand the wastage of skills in their organisations and the impact this has on the ability to drive change. To break out of what can become a viscous circle, IT managers need to automate more mundane tasks and free their staff to focus on innovation. When the tools are in place that can handle these low level tasks, and more efficient workflow, the industrialisation of IT management can be undertaken".

Notes to Editors

About IPsoft
IPsoft is a global managed services provider of autonomic-based services. The company's mission is to power the world through expert systems, and to that end IPsoft leverages self-learning, self-healing cognitive systems across IT Operations, Cloud Orchestration, Fraud Prevention (FAS) and Business Process Automation. The unique autonomic proposition effectively manages operations while reducing human error and providing enhanced service levels. Headquartered in New York City, IPsoft has operations in ten countries across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific supporting enterprise customers, service providers and telecommunications companies.

For more information about what IPsoft does watch this video

About the primary research
The research presented in this press release was based on 100 interviews with senior IT managers in UK enterprises split across four industries: financial services, manufacturing, RDS (retail, distribution and transport) and other commercial. All the businesses had 1,000 plus employees.

About Quocirca whitepaper
Quocirca whitepaper: The wastage of human capital in IT operations is available to download here (http://www.quocirca.com/reports/779/the-wastage-of-human-capital-in-it-operations)

For more information please contact:
Russell Lindsey / Joe Johnston
Rocket Communications
0845 370 7024
IPsoft@rocketcomms.net