Last month, IT Week celebrated its 10th anniversary and to mark the occasion we carried out some research into enterprise IT priorities, canvassing the opinions of those who really are in the know -­ our readers.

Some of the findings made predictable reading, with those hardy perennials ­ cost cutting and security ­ emerging as the two biggest issues facing IT chiefs at present.

Other findings, however, were more intriguing. For example, only 14 per cent of IT Week readers rated recruitment or staffing as one of their top three priorities, compared with about 42 per cent for both reducing costs and security. This result is surprising considering the increasing degree of concern expressed by industry experts about forthcoming IT skills shortages.

These experts point to the falling number of young people taking technology subjects at school and university, and going on to a career in the sector. Many commentators blame the rise in offshoring for the drop in new UK talent. They argue that a growing appetite among organisations for offshore services has led to a widespread perception among young people that career opportunities in IT for indigenous workers are worsening.

To counter this perception, various schemes have been developed to attract young people into the industry, to ensure the UK can hold its ground against competition from emerging economies, such as India and China.

But surely, if an IT skills crisis is looming on the horizon, more of our readers ­ senior IT managers in large organisations ­ would have picked staffing and recruitment above issues such as information management, innovation and consolidation. The results indicate that IT managers are confident they can fill vacancies, and put a question mark over the value of promoting so many different schemes to boost the number of IT workers.

Another area that failed to generate much interest among our readership was the so-called consumerisation of IT. This phrase refers to the impact of consumer technology use on enterprise IT adoption, an issue that analyst firm Gartner previously predicted would heavily influence corporate technology procurement between 2007 and 2012.

However, less than a fifth of IT Week readers cited this trend as one of the top issues that would impact the industry going forwards ­ rating it less important than Web 2.0, green technology and the growing influence of India and China.

While I can understand the lack of votes for staffing and recruitment ­ possibly because UK IT leaders are already looking to the East to fill future skills gaps ­ the seemingly low influence of consumer technology trends on enterprise IT purchasing is more surprising.

As the latest 3G iPhone hits the shelves and more vendors jump on the mini-laptop bandwagon ­ two highly-coveted items that have captured the imagination of consumers and business users alike ­ IT chiefs will face growing pressure from employees to support devices and applications designed primarily for non-corporate purposes. They will also come under increasing pressure from senior management to crack down on any potential problems arising from this trend.

I am sure that if we carry out a similar survey to this one in 2013, to mark IT Week’s 15th anniversary, the consumerisation of IT will have risen up the ranks as a significant industry trend ­ although I am also willing to bet that cost cutting and security will still be up there as the biggest challenges facing companies.