InformationWeek
Defining The Business Value Of Technology
November 10, 1997
Who Did We Survey?
By Rusty Weston
This year's IS Executive Salary Survey was designed by
InformationWeek
editors and conducted by Valley Forge Information Service in Langhorne, Pa., over the course of two weeks in late September. We spoke via telephone to 400 senior IS executives. They were randomly selected from our subscriber base of 375,000 readers. To obtain regional views, we completed 100 interviews in each of four U.S. census regions: the Northeast, Midwest, West, and South.
The survey sample isola
ted IS executives by job title, i.e., CIO, executive VP, senior VP, VP, IS director, and senior manager. Nearly half the respondents are VPs of all stripes. Slightly more than 15% are CIOs. Nearly 18% are IS directors, and nearly 17% are senior managers.
As a group, the respondents are quite experienced and stable: Nearly three-quarters have at least 11 years in the IT field, and nearly two-thirds have been in their current position for at least four years.
The IS executives who participated in the study work at companies of all sizes. Nearly one-quarter work for small companies, those that report revenue of $100 million or less annually. Another 40% work in medium-sized companies, those with annual revenue of $100 million to $1 billion. And 36% work for big corporations, those with revenue of more than $1 billion annually.
The sample also represents a wide spectrum of industries. Executives at noncomputer manufacturers make up the largest group with more than 15% of the total. Finance and accou
nting executives represent just under 15%; and banking accounts for nearly 13%.
Money Walks
While this year's survey sample is 57% larger than the one we conducted in July 1996, we're not through tinkering with the formula. In 1998 we plan to conduct multiple salary surveys. Our goal: to inform you about salary trends across a wider range of IT positions, including programmers and support positions. We also intend to involve more of our readers in these salary surveys-quite possibly on the World Wide Web.
But we're going to need your assistance. Visit us at
www.informationweek.com
and let us know what you think about this year's survey, what you'd like to see in future salary surveys, and whether you would like to participate in the fu
ture. Send your comments to
rweston@cmp.com
.
Return to
The
InformationWeek
Annual Salary Survey
.
he first rule of a successful salary negotiation strategy is to figure out what you want-and what you're worth. To answer these questions, it helps to know where you stand in relation to everybody else. For example, compared with other 15-year IT veteran executives at large Midwestern companies, are you in the low, middle, or high end of your salary range? To find out, browse our benefits charts to see what forms of nonsalaried compensation are in vogue.
The study sample was biased toward profit-making enterprises. IT executives in government and schools were excluded because performance and benefits in these sectors are based on entirely separate principles.
