'Dull' jobs cuts as companies turn to the cloud

HP claims IT departments should be prepared for some churn and upheaval in coming years as companies begin to embrace the idea of "cloud computing", which could result in many low-level IT jobs being cut.

Office insights…

♦  Workaholic Brits can't find the off switch

♦  Get flexible, keep staff - it works for the OFT

♦  Are remote workers hitting you where it hurts?

♦  Remote working here to stay

♦  Bored and underpaid? You're not alone…

♦  Health warning to overweight IT managers

♦  Demand for tech workers hits six-year high

♦  How the staffing crisis is deepening

♦  How techie salaries are faring

♦  Is the office getting you down?

Stephen Gill, vice president and managing director of HP UK and Ireland, said many large organisations currently devote around 70 to 75 per cent of their IT budget to managing their existing infrastructure, leaving little room for innovation that can bring value to the business.

However, by embracing the idea of cloud computing - where applications are hosted and computing power is virtualised and available as a utility - HP claims companies are able to effectively outsource the need for maintaining complex infrastructure and reduce their IT headcount as a result.

He said: "Overall you will see less people but with different jobs [and] more exciting roles. The junior roles are the ones that are usually dull and that will be automated anyway."

HP is hanging its vision of how cloud computing will affect the industry around the term "everything as a service".

Gill claimed HP had been undergoing an internal reorganisation - although it is not clear how much the strategy is related to cloud computing - that has seen it cut its IT staff from 19,000 to 10,000 over the past three-and-a-half years. "Most IT departments want to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the business and that is hard to if you are spending 70 per cent of your budget on infrastructure," he said.

HP is not the first company to sound the death knell of the traditional IT department. The trend towards hosted applications, utility computing and outsourcing have all combined to prompt other vendors and analysts to predict an upheaval in the way companies will manage their internal IT in the future.

Back in 2005, analyst Gartner predicted that by 2010 IT departments in medium-sized and large companies will be 30 per cent smaller than they were in 2005. "Jobs in technology infrastructure and services will decline in end-user organisations but grow in service, hardware and software companies, but many of these jobs will be in developing economies," the analyst claimed.

Original article: HP: Cloud computing will cut 'dull' IT jobs from ZDNet UK