IT dept Salaries

[5uper5aiyan]

Does anyone know how much the typical IT department salaries cost? Let's say my companies IT dept's salary costs 0.4% of the entire companies budget. I was thinking it should be closer to 3% but I am only guessing. Does anyone know of any websites that have this type of information?

 

[willir]

Oh man, I think you have to wittle this down a bit...

The amount a company spends on IT will depend greatly on the type of work done.

A trucking company will have a lesser need for IT than a phone company. Ditto a consulting company vs a Help Centre.

Then it depends on the bottom line - public vs private and profit vs non-profit corporation. And it depends on the policy / influence of senior mangement -- realizes the benefits of IT or considers IT a drain on fiancnes.

I worked for a company a while back where the IT budget was frozen for 3 to 5 years. I told management that they could "pay me" now or "pay me" later referring that the more they put off buying, the bigger the "binge" would be when they finally had to purchase their computers, etc.

But I realized that the company was sufferring from the high cost of oil.

I also am aware where the mnagement in control did not believe computers helped that much so would always look for a non-technical solution.

How much? As little as they can get away with. Your 0.4% is in line with my last experience of about 0.3% to 0.9% depending on the year.

 

[pmonett]

I have had a few rocky years lately, and I have discovered that there is no minimum for the IT department budget.
Being an IT consultant for the past ten years, I have long been convinced of the necessity that is the IT department, and a properly funded one at that. But managers view IT as cost only, since they have no way of measuring the benefit of being able to use a spreadsheet or click a button to have a report.
To me, it seems obvious that almost no company can survive without computers today, but ask any manager what IT is good for and most of the time the answer will be "spending money".
A few years ago, I had a very well-paid job in a consulting company. Then 9-11 struck, and a few months later I was downsized due to "budget constraints". I found another job in an agricultural company, but they told me they couldn't pay me more than 60% of my previous salary. Preferring work to unemployement, I took the job.
There, I integrated a company that gave the barest minimum in resources to the IT department. It was at a point where, if ever the special ticket printer broke down in the grain reception area (a common happening, what with all the dust floating around), there would be a two- to three-day delay before getting it fixed.
My conclusion is that IT will have the budget that allows the company to not totally break down. Any more than that is a luxury that only IT-concious managers will envision as useful.

Pascal.