Companies Look To Hosted Web-Content AlternativesCompanies Look To Hosted Web-Content Alternatives

Using static information portals can be as boring and inefficient as leafing through the card catalog at a school library. Today's online mandate is for highly interactive Web sites, loaded with relevant content and the tools needed to effectively convey that content. The push for substance and function is taxing more than network bandwidth, but fewer companies are able to devote the necessary resources.

What will companies do to manage high costs while continuing to improve portals? Labor costs are going to play a role in any decision: The typical IT staffer responsible for Web-site design and development earns a median annual base salary of $55,000, according to information Research's 2003 National IT Salary Survey. For the same skills, managers earn $79,000. These salaries are relatively unchanged from 2002; the task is to fit them into budgets, which generally aren't as healthy as they were a year ago.

Companies seeking to trim costs have a possible alternative in hosted Web-content management. The long-term relief: release from staffing costs and hardware, software, and network-related upgrades. The immediate benefit: an increase in available IT resources. The Yankee Group expects U.S. companies to tap into this type of outsourcing and predicts demand for hosted Web-content management to increase. "Current market size for the U.S. is under $50 million with contracts, on average, ranging from $50,000 to $70,000 annually," says senior analyst Rob Lancaster.

To see how your salary compares with that of your peers, check out the free 2003 information IT Salary Adviser.

What concerns you the most about outsourcing online operations? Let us know.

Roma Nowak
Managing Editor, Online
[email protected]

More Than Before
How large a raise in base pay did you receive this year?

While many IT professionals faced layoffs, information Research's 2003 National IT Salary Survey found that, on average, online positions prospered. Web security proved the most lucrative position for staff, with a median increase in base pay of 11.9%. For managers, content development won the largest raise of the Web-related positions examined, at 9.6%.