Computerworld.com [Hacking News]

One of my favorite Android features right now is something that’s simultaneously new and familiar.

It’s Circle to Search — a clever concept that came out for Google’s Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro phones along with the Galaxy S24 earlier this year and is now in the midst of rolling out to even more Android devices.

Circle to Search is brilliant in both its power and its simplicity: On any device where it’s available, you just press and hold your finger to the bottom-center of the screen to summon it and search for anything you see on your screen at that moment.

The “Circle” part comes into play because after activating the system, you use your finger to circle the specific area of your screen you want to explore — be it an image you want to gain extra context around, a graphic with typically unselectable text that you want to copy, or a word or phrase you want to define or research further.

Google’s Circle to Search system in action on Android.

JR

It’s almost exactly like the powers Google gave us and then soon took back away with a feature called Google Now on Tap way back in 2015. The technology behind the system has grown more advanced in the time since Now on Tap’s debut and subsequent demise, but the core concept is shockingly similar.

And now more than ever, the system is packed with productivity-pushing potential. That’s especially true if you know about some impressive yet completely invisible tricks within it.

[Love learning little-known tech tricks? Check out my free Android Intelligence newsletter and get three new things to try in your inbox every Friday!]

Lemme show ya some of the best Circle to Search magic I’ve uncovered over these past several weeks — and if you’re using a phone that doesn’t have Circle to Search available yet, don’t despair: I’ve got a crafty workaround that’ll let you experience much of the same goodness on any Android device, even if Circle to Search itself isn’t present.

Android Circle to Search trick #1: Zippity zooming

Up first, ever find it tricky to circle or highlight small-sized text on your screen after activating Circle to Search?

Take note: Once the Circle to Search system is present, you can zoom in or out of the frozen area beneath it by pinching two fingers apart or together on the screen.

Zoom-a-zoom-zoom zoomin’, Circle to Search style.

JR Raphael, IDG

Good to know, right?!

Android Circle to Search trick #2: Bar bumpin’

The telltale sign of Circle to Search being active is the Google search bar at the bottom of the screen. But what if the area you want to circle and search is beneath that bar and impossible to access?

You’d never know it, but that Circle to Search bar is actually completely fluid and moveable. Just tap your finger onto it and swipe or flick upward to send it up to the top of the screen instead.

The Circle to Search bar can shift around the screen as needed.

JR Raphael, IDG

Whee!

Android Circle to Search trick #3: Easy adjusting

Here’s a neat one: If you ever find yourself wanting to shift the focus of Circle to Search after activating it and drawing your initial circle, you don’t have to close out your current session and start all over again.

Instead, just tap your finger anywhere on the screen to select another area — or use your finger to draw another circle. It’ll work, and it’ll instantly replace your original focus with whatever new one you select.

It’s simple to change your selection once Circle to Search is active.

JR Raphael, IDG

And speaking of after-the-fact adjustments…

Android Circle to Search trick #4: Fast follow-ups

The next time Circle to Search shows you info around something on your screen and you want to dive even deeper into that same subject, remember this: You can ask follow-up questions related to your selection to seek out even more specifics.

This trick works when you’ve selected a box-outlined area of the screen with Circle to Search — not just highlighted text. If you’ve highlighted text, you’ll need to tap on an open area of the screen without words on it to summon the box tool and then drag it over the appropriate area first.

Once you have an area selected with a box, though, you can simply tap the Google search bar in the panel at the bottom of the screen or tap the microphone icon within the bar to ask a conversational question about whatever Circle to Search is showing you.

See?

Asking a follow-up question in Circle to Search on Android.

JR

And finally…

Android Circle to Search trick #5: On-demand translation

Translating languages on Android has always been relatively easy to do, but it gets even faster with Circle to Search in the mix.

Just fire up Circle to Search while viewing the words you want to translate. Now, next to the search bar at the bottom of the screen, see that circular icon — the one with an “A” inside of it?

The Circle to Search translation button, hiding in plain sight.

JR Raphael, IDG

Tap that. And in the blink of an eye, your phone will pop up a prompt asking what languages you want to use for the translation.

Circle to Search translation lets you select your languages.

JR Raphael, IDG

Select what you want, and bam: Before you can even utter the words “bonjour, pamplemousse,” you’ll have your translation in front of your purty peepers and ready to be read.

A completed translation, by Circle to Search. Facile, non?

JR Raphael, IDG

Pas mal, pamplemousse. Pas mal du tout.

Get even more Googley knowledge with my free Android Intelligence newsletter — three things to know and three things to try every Friday!

Android, Google, Google Search, Mobile

Far from shrinking, the scale of mercenary surveillance companies paid by governments to spy on journalists, human rights campaigners, and other members of the civil state is growing.

Today Apple warned iPhone users in an astonishing 92 nations that attacks against them have taken place. (The company sends out these notifications several times each year.) Without opposition, governments and other entities will not quit this unconstrained descent into becoming a surveillance society.

You are a surveillance target

According to TechCrunch, Apple wrote users: “Apple detected that you are being targeted by a mercenary spyware attack that is trying to remotely compromise the iPhone associated with your Apple ID. This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do. Although it’s never possible to achieve absolute certainty when detecting such attacks, Apple has high confidence in this warning — please take it seriously.” 

The latest rash of warnings means Apple has now identified 150 nations in which such attacks have taken place. There are 196 nations on the planet.

“Since 2021, we have sent Apple threat notifications multiple times a year as we have detected these attacks, and to date we have notified users in over 150 countries in total,” Apple said.

Though it may not be aware of every attack, its security teams work around the clock to protect customers against what it has until recently described as “state sponsored mercenary surveillance.” Many of the firms engaged in selling snooping software are, like NSO Group, Israel-based. 

What to do if you receive a warning 

If you have received a threat notification, you should act immediately. Amnesty International’s Security Lab tells us that an Apple threat notification should be seen as a very strong indication that you are being attacked. 

Amnesty’s own forensic tests with individual devices that have received such notifications confirm they should be taken seriously, and if you have received one, you should take immediate steps to remediate and secure your digital existence. 

Apple advises that you secure expert help, such as the rapid-response emergency security assistance provided by the Digital Security Helpline at the non-profit Access Now. Amnesty International and other Security Lab civil society partners are also equipped to provide support to individuals who received the Apple notifications. 

Are these attacks proliferating?

Reuters also notes that Apple has changed how it describes the attacks. The company now tells people that they may have been victims of “mercenary spyware attack,” rather than framing the assault as being “state-sponsored” as it did before. 

While this is described as a reaction to government reluctance to be linked with such attacks, it is also plausible to believe that it reflects continued growth in the surveillance business. As I’ve warned before, today’s expensive state-sponsored attacks become tomorrow’s $100 bargain deal on the dark web. These offensive technologies are utterly insidious and rot the center of democracy.

Apple also updated its Apple Support article concerning mercenary spyware and the threat notifications it has shared. “Mercenary spyware attacks cost millions of dollars and often have a short shelf life, making them much harder to detect and prevent,” the company said. “The vast majority of users will never be targeted by such attacks.”

Ivan Krstić, head of Apple security engineering and architecture, has previously promised to keep fighting back: “Apple runs one of the most sophisticated security engineering operations in the world, and we will continue to work tirelessly to protect our users from abusive state-sponsored actors like NSO Group.”

That said, a report today from Interpres Security seems to confirm the growing magnitude of these threats.

Security advice

In an increasingly challenging security environment, everyone online should protect themselves:

• Update devices with latest software.
• Use complex passcodes.
• Use two-factor authentication.
• Protect their Apple ID with a strong password.
• Install apps only from trusted sources, such as the App Store.
• Use strong and unique passwords.
• Never click on links or attachments from people you do not know.

Finally, if you think you may be a target, use Lockdown Mode.

Apple developed this mode in response to a wave of sophisticated attacks (Pegasus, Devils Tongue and Hermit). Lockdown Mode provides a great deal of protection at the cost of some utility; Apple is expected to continue to invest in securing its platforms, even against the designed in weaknesses it is being forced to adopt in reaction to some regulations, particularly in Europe and the UK.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Apple, iOS Security, Mobile Security

Spreadsheets can be vast, often containing thousands of rows of repetitive data that makes them impossible to parse at a glance. Fortunately, Excel offers two powerful features — PivotTables and PivotCharts — for summarizing data sets and presenting them visually.

What is a PivotTable?

A PivotTable allows you to take an extensive data set with multiple columns and rows and summarize that data in a compact, easy-to-read table. You can create multiple PivotTables from the same data set, each highlighting different aspects of the data. And PivotTables are interactive — you can easily manipulate them to filter or rearrange the data shown in one.

What is a PivotChart?

A PivotChart is a chart visualization based on the summarized information in a PivotTable. You can choose from a wide variety of chart types to best display a PivotTable’s data. The combinations you can create using these tools are countless.

In this tutorial, we will give you step-by-step instructions on how to get started with PivotTables and PivotCharts, and you can apply these steps to any data set you work with in Excel. We’ll demonstrate in Excel for Windows under a Microsoft 365 subscription; if you’re using a different version of Excel, your interface might look a little different and the steps might vary slightly, but things work more or less the same way.

How to create a PivotTable in Excel

We will use the data set shown below as our starting point:

The starting data set for our PivotTable examples.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

To get started, select any cell in the data set, then go to the Ribbon toolbar at the top of the spreadsheet and select Insert. At the far left of the toolbar, select the PivotTable button.

A pop-up appears that lets you select the range of data you want to analyze and where to place the PivotTable. Make sure the whole data set is selected and that the PivotTable will be placed in a new worksheet, then click OK.

Starting a PivotTable in Excel.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

Now we are brought to the starting page for creating a PivotTable. From here, we can begin constructing our first data summary.

Your blank canvas for PivotTable creation.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

First, we will look at the total quantity of each ordered product. To do this, let’s check the checkbox next to Quantity in the PivotTable Fields sidebar on the right. This will move Quantity into the Values area at the bottom right of the sidebar. Next, drag Product_# into the Rows area to sort by Product_#. The screenshot below shows the result.

This PivotTable shows the quantity of each product type sold.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

Here we see a summary of the quantity of products sold by product number and the total quantity of all products sold. You can do this sort of simple analysis with any two variables, but you can also do more fine-grained summaries.

Next, we will add another layer to our analysis by displaying quantity of products by product number and categorizing them by order category. To do this, drag Order_Category into the Rows section of the sidebar and make sure that Order_Category is on top. (You can reorder the items in any area of the sidebar by dragging and dropping them.)

In this version of the PivotTable, another element is shown: Order_Category.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

It’s important to understand that you can manipulate how information is shown in the table by the order in which you place the items in any section of the PivotTable. Since we put Order_Category on top of the Rows area, the PivotTable is summarized by that first and then by Product_# inside. To show the opposite sorting, move Product_# to the top in the Rows section and see the result.

Reversing how Product_# and Order_Category are displayed in the PivotTable.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

So far, we have only used the Rows section of the PivotTable builder, but we can show even more information using the Rows and Columns sections together. To demonstrate, we will display the total quantity of products sold at different unit prices. To do this, uncheck the Order_Category checkbox at the top of the sidebar, keep Product_# in the Rows section, and then drag Unit_Price into the Columns section.

The PivotTable now has columns for different unit prices.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

We have created a summary showing the amount of each product sold at a particular unit price. Now, let’s say we don’t want to view all of the products at the same time. We can limit the products shown using the filtering tools built into PivotTables.

First, let’s filter our results by Products 1, 2, and 3. Click the downward triangle icon next to Row Labels. In the filtering pop-up that appears, select Products 1, 2, and 3. The PivotTable will change to show only those three products.

Filtering the PivotTable to show only Products 1, 2, and 3.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

Once you are done, select the Clear Filter button in the pop-up, and the full PivotTable reappears.

Next, let’s filter by unit price using the Column Labels filter option. Select that filter and select the $4.00, $5.00, & $7.00 options to change your PivotTable.

Filtering the PivotTable to show only items that cost $4.00, $5.00, and $7.00.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

You can also use the pop-up to sort the items in the PivotTable by various fields, and to filter using conditions such as “Greater Than” or “Contains.” It’s worth spending a little time playing with the options to see what happens; just remember to click Clear Filter when you’re done.

Before we move on to PivotCharts, let’s discuss the Filters area of the sidebar. This can be used to filter out specific items from the PivotTable, but you may find it simpler to remove the field altogether or use the filtering and sorting options that we discussed earlier for more granular control. However, you can see how this box functions by moving the “Product_#” field to the Filters area.

Another way to filter PivotTable data is by using the Filters area in the PivotTable Fields sidebar.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

How to create a PivotChart in Excel

Now, let’s move on to how to create data visualizations using PivotCharts. To add a PivotChart to the main data set, go back to the worksheet that contains the main data set, place your cursor in a cell that contains data, and select Insert>  PivotChart in the Ribbon.

Starting a PivotChart in Excel.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

Hit OK on the dialog box that pops up, and the familiar PivotTable builder interface appears, with an additional placeholder for a PivotChart.

Your blank canvas for PivotChart creation.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

We will summarize the quantity of items sold by order category and unit price. In the sidebar, check Quantity to add it to the Values area, then drag Order_Category and Unit_Price to the Axis (Categories) area, with Order_Category on top. This will create a PivotTable and a column chart displaying the information we have selected.

The PivotChart graphically displays the information from the PivotTable at left.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

But you’re not limited to column charts; there are multiple types of charts to choose from. Right-click the column chart, select Change Chart Type, and select Pie > 3-D Pie to see a different chart example.

Choosing a different chart type for the PivotChart.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

The result will look like the screenshot below.

The PivotChart in 3-D pie chart form.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

You can filter or sort the data in the PivotTable that a PivotChart is based on, and those changes will be reflected in the PivotChart. To see what this looks like, click the minus sign to the left of Large Order in the PivotTable to the left of the chart. The Large Order section of the PivotTable collapses and shows only the large order total, without breaking it down by unit price. The same thing happens in the PivotChart to the right.

The PivotChart with Large Orders collapsed into a single slice of pie.

Shimon Brathwaite / IDG

Now you see how using PivotTables and PivotCharts lets you create data summaries and visualizations to display specific data quickly and easily. These options can be used on data sets of almost any size and easily customized to show only very specific information. The combinations that you can create using PivotTables and PivotCharts are almost endless, and we encourage you to test them out on any data sets that you work with in Excel.

Microsoft 365, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Office, Office Suites, Productivity Software

The one thing that seems about as certain as death and taxes is that, over time, your Windows 10 PC seems to slow down. There are a variety of reasons this can happen, from accumulated apps and background processes that run amok to registry problems and outdated drivers.

How to speed up your computer

Want your Windows 10 PC to run faster? We’re here to help. By tweaking some of the operating settings, your machine will be zippier and less prone to performance and system issues.

And if you’re already running Windows 11, we’ve got you covered there. Check out our top ways to keep Windows 11 devices chugging along smoothly.

Here’s our list of tips for Windows 10.

The top ways to speed up Windows 10

• Change your power settings
• Disable programs that run on startup
• Go to a previous restore point
• Use ReadyBoost to speed up disk caching
• Shut off Windows tips and tricks
• Stop OneDrive from syncing
• Use OneDrive files on-Demand
• Turn off search indexing
• Clean out your hard disk
• Clean out your Registry
• Disable shadows, animations and visual effects
• Disable transparency
• Update your device drivers
• Turn on automated Windows maintenance
• Kill bloatware
• Defrag your hard disk
• Disable Game Mode
• Shut down and restart Windows

You may notice that that last tip is the most tried-and-true way of (hopefully) smoothing out any problems in Windows 10. There’s a reason it’s effectively an internet meme.

1. Change your power settings

If you’re using Windows 10’s “Power saver” plan, you’re slowing down your PC. That plan reduces your PC’s performance in order to save energy. (Even desktop PCs typically have a “Power saver” plan.) Changing your power plan from “Power saver” to “High performance” or “Balanced” will give you an instant performance boost.

To do it, launch the Control Panel app, then select Hardware and Sound > Power Options. You’ll typically see two options: Balanced (recommended) and Power saver. (Depending on your make and model, you might see other plans here as well, including some branded by the manufacturer.) To see the High performance setting, click the down arrow by Show additional plans.

Change your power settings in Control Panel to give your PC a performance boost. (Click image to enlarge it.)

To change your power setting, simply choose the one you want, then exit Control Panel. “High performance” gives you the most oomph, but uses the most power; “Balanced” finds a happy medium between power use and better performance; and “Power saver” does everything it can to give you as much battery life as possible. Desktop users have no reason to choose “Power saver,” and even laptop users should consider the “Balanced” option when unplugged — and “High performance” when connected to a power source.

2. Disable programs that run on startup

One reason your Windows 10 PC may feel sluggish is that you’ve got too many programs running in the background — programs that you rarely or never use. Stop them from running, and your PC will run more smoothly.

Start by launching the Task Manager: Press Ctrl-Shift-Esc, right-click the lower-right corner of your screen and select Task Manager, or type task manager into the Windows 10 search box and press Enter. If the Task Manager launches as a compact app with no tabs, click More details at the bottom of your screen. The Task Manager will then appear in its full-tabbed glory. There’s plenty you can do with it, but we’re going to focus only on killing unnecessary programs that run at startup.

Click the Startup tab. You’ll see a list of the programs and services that launch when you start Windows. Included on the list is each program’s name as well as its publisher, whether it’s enabled to run on startup, and its “Startup impact,” which is how much it slows down Windows 10 when the system starts up.

To stop a program or service from launching at startup, right-click it and select Disable. This doesn’t disable the program entirely; it only prevents it from launching at startup — you can always run the application after launch. Also, if you later decide you want it to launch at startup, you can just return to this area of the Task Manager, right-click the application and select Enable.

You can use the Task Manager to help get information about programs that launch at startup and disable any you don’t need. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Many of the programs and services that run on startup may be familiar to you, like OneDrive or Evernote Clipper. But you may not recognize many of them. (Anyone who immediately knows what “bzbui.exe” is, please raise your hand. No fair Googling it first.)

The Task Manager helps you get information about unfamiliar programs. Right-click an item and select Properties for more information about it, including its location on your hard disk, whether it has a digital signature, and other information such as the version number, the file size and the last time it was modified.

You can also right-click the item and select Open file location. That opens File Explorer and takes it to the folder where the file is located, which may give you another clue about the program’s purpose.

Finally, and most helpfully, you can select Search online after you right-click. Bing will then launch with links to sites with information about the program or service.

If you’re really nervous about one of the listed applications, you can go to a site run by Reason Software called Should I Block It? and search for the file name. You’ll usually find very solid information about the program or service.

Now that you’ve selected all the programs that you want to disable at startup, the next time you restart your computer, the system will be a lot less concerned with unnecessary programs.

3. Go to a previous restore point

As you use Windows 10, it automatically creates restore points that are essentially snapshots of your system at specific moments in time, including installed software, drivers, and updates. Restore points are a kind of safety net so if something goes wrong, you can always restore your PC to a previous state.

They can also be used to speed up your PC if you notice — for no reason you can fathom — it’s started to slow down. Recently installed problematic drivers, software, or updates could be to blame, so going back to a previous restore point could speed things up again because the system will be returned to the state it was in before the problems started. Keep in mind, though, that you’ll only be able to restore your system to the state it was in during the last seven to 10 days. (Restore points don’t affect your files, so you won’t lose any files by going to a restore point.)

To go to a previous restore point:

1. Save any open files and close all your programs.
2. In the search box type advanced system and then click View advanced system settings. You’ll be sent to the Advanced tab of System Properties in the Control Panel.
3. Click the System Protection tab.
4. In the System Restore area, click System Restore.
5. On the screen that pops up, the “Recommended restore” option will be chosen for you. Click Next if you want to go that restore point. To see others, click Choose a different restore point. Highlight the one you want to use and click Next.
6. Click Finish from the screen that appears.
7. Your system will restore to the restore point you chose and shut down. Restart your PC.

Going to a restore point can help speed up your PC if you’ve recently installed drivers, software, or updates that have slowed down your system. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Note: there’s a chance System Restore isn’t turned on, meaning you won’t be able to use this tip. If that’s the case, you should turn it on to solve any future problems. To do so:

1. In the search box, type create a restore point, then click Create a restore point.
2. On the System Protection tab, select Configure.
3. Select Turn on system protection. Leave the other settings on the page as they are.
4. Click OK. From now on, your PC will automatically create restore points.

4. Use ReadyBoost to speed up disk caching

Windows 10 regularly stores cached data on your hard disk, and then when it needs the data, fetches it from there. The time it takes to fetch cached data depends on the speed of your hard disk. If you have a traditional hard disk instead of an SSD, there’s a trick that can help speed up your cache: use Windows’ ReadyBoost feature. It tells Windows to cache data to a USB flash drive, which is faster than a hard disk. Fetching data from that speedier cache should speed up Windows.

First, plug a USB flash drive into one of your PC’s USB ports. The flash drive needs to support at least USB 2.0, and preferably USB 3 or faster. The faster your flash drive, the more of a speed boost you should see. Also, look for a flash drive that is at least double the size of your PC’s RAM for maximum performance.

After you plug in in the drive, open File Explorer and click This PC. Look for the flash drive. It may have an odd name, like UDISK 28X, or something even less obvious. Right-click it, choose Properties, and click the ReadyBoost tab.

Turn on ReadyBoost from this screen to speed up your PC. (Click image to enlarge it.)

You’ll come to a screen that asks whether you want to use the flash drive as a cache and recommends a cache size. Leave the cache size as is or change it if you like. Then select Dedicate this device to ReadyBoost and click Apply and then OK.

(Note that if you see the message, “This device cannot be used for ReadyBoost” when you click the ReadyBoost tab, it means your flash drive doesn’t meet ReadyBoost’s minimum performance standards, so you’ll have to insert a new one.)

As you use your computer, ReadyBoost will start filling the cache with files, so you may notice an increase in disk activity. Depending on how much you use your PC, it can take a few days for your cache to fill and offer maximum improved performance. If you don’t see an increase in performance, try a flash disk with more capacity.

Note: If you have an SSD, you won’t get any extra speed from ReadyBoost, and it might even hurt performance. So don’t use this on a system with an SSD.

5. Shut off Windows tips and tricks

As you use your Windows 10 PC, Windows keeps an eye on what you’re doing and offers tips about things you might want to do with the operating system. In my experience, I’ve rarely if ever found these “tips” helpful. I also don’t like the privacy implications of Windows constantly taking a virtual look over my shoulder.

Windows watching what you’re doing and offering advice can also make your PC run more sluggishly. So if you want to speed things up, tell Windows to stop giving you advice. To do so, click the Start button, select the Settings icon and then go to System > Notifications & actions. Scroll down to the Notifications section and uncheck the box marked “Get tips, tricks, and suggestions as you use Windows.”

Turning off Windows’ suggestions for you should help things run more smoothly (and give you back a measure of privacy). (Click image to enlarge it.)

That’ll do the trick.

6. Stop OneDrive from syncing

Microsoft’s cloud-based OneDrive file storage, built into Windows 10, keeps files synced and up to date on all of your PCs. It’s also a useful backup tool so that if your PC or its hard disk dies, you still have all your files intact, waiting for you to restore them.

Here’s how to turn off OneDrive syncing temporarily, to see if that boosts system performance. (Click image to enlarge it.)

It does this by constantly syncing files between your PC and cloud storage — something that can also slow down your PC. That’s why one way to speed up your PC is to stop the syncing. Before you turn it off permanently, though, you’ll want to check whether it is actually slowing down your PC.

To do so, right-click the OneDrive icon (it looks like a cloud) in the notification area on the right side of the taskbar. (Note: In order to see the OneDrive icon, you may need to click an upward facing arrow.) From the pop-up screen that appears, click Pause syncing and select either 2 hours, 8 hours, or 24 hours, depending upon how long you want it paused. During that time, gauge whether you’re seeing a noticeable speed boost.

If so, and you decide you do indeed want to turn off syncing, right-click the OneDrive icon, and from the pop-up, select Settings > Account. Click Unlink this PC, and then from the screen that appears, click Unlink account. When you do that, you’ll still be able to save your files to your local OneDrive folder, but it won’t sync with the cloud.

If you find that OneDrive slows down your PC but prefer to keep using it, you can try to troubleshoot OneDrive problems. For info on how to do that, check out Microsoft’s “Fix OneDrive sync problems” page.

7. Use OneDrive Files On-Demand

Some users may not want to stop OneDrive from syncing; doing so defeats its purpose of making sure you have the latest files on whatever device you use. And it would also mean you won’t be able to use OneDrive as a way to safely back up files.

But there’s a way to get the best of both worlds: You can keep syncing to an absolute minimum and only do it when absolutely necessary. You’ll speed up performance, and still get the best of what OneDrive has to offer.

To do this, you use Windows’ OneDrive Files On-Demand feature. With it, you can choose to keep only certain files on your PC, but still have access to all your other OneDrive files in the cloud. When you want to use one of those online files, you open it directly from the cloud. With fewer files on your PC syncing, you should see a performance boost.

Right-click the OneDrive icon on the right side of the Taskbar and select Settings. Click Advanced settings and scroll down to the Files On-Demand section. Click Free up disk space and select Continue. When you do that, all the files on your PC will be set to online-only, which means they’re only available from OneDrive in the cloud not on your PC. From now on, the first time you want to open one of your files, you’ll have to be online – that is, unless you use the following instructions to make some files available on your PC as well as in the cloud, while you leave others available only in the cloud.

After you click the Continue button, you’ll see OneDrive in a File Explorer window.  For every folder whose files you want kept on your PC, right-click the folder and select Always keep on this device. You can do the same thing for subfolders and individual files.

Later, if you want to have folders, subfolders, or files stored only in OneDrive in the cloud, right-click it in File Explorer, and uncheck the box next to Always keep on this device. You can change the status of folders, subfolders, and files like this whenever you like.

Use this dialog box to turn on OneDrive Files on-Demand

If you change your mind and want all your files stored locally and kept in sync via OneDrive, go back to the “Advanced settings” section of OneDrive settings page, scroll down to the Files On-Demand section and click Download all files.

Note that OneDrive Files On-Demand is available only on Windows 10 version 1709 and higher.

8. Turn off search indexing

Windows 10 indexes your hard disk in the background, allowing you — in theory — to search your PC more quickly than if no indexing were being done. But slower PCs that use indexing can see a performance hit, and you can give them a speed boost by turning off indexing. Even if you have an SSD disk, turning off indexing can improve your speed, because the constant writing to disk that indexing does can eventually slow down SSDs.

To get the maximum benefit in Windows 10, you need to turn indexing off completely. To do so, type services.msc in the Windows search box and press Enter. The Services app appears. Scroll down to either Indexing Service or Windows Search in the list of services. Double-click it, and from the screen that appears, click Stop. Then reboot your machine. Your searches may be slightly slower, although you may not notice the difference. But you should get an overall performance boost.

Here’s how to turn off Windows 10 indexing. (Click image to enlarge it.)

If you’d like, you can turn off indexing only for files in certain locations. To do this, type index in the Windows search box and click the Indexing Options result that appears. The Indexing Options page of the Control Panel appears. Click the Modify button, and you’ll see a list of locations that are being indexed, including Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer History, and your hard drive or drives. Uncheck the box next to any location, and it will no longer be indexed. If you’d like to customize what gets indexed and what doesn’t on individual drives, click the down arrow next to any drive and check the box next to what you want indexed and uncheck the box of what you don’t.

9. Clean out your hard disk

If you’ve got a bloated hard disk filled with files you don’t need, you could be slowing down your PC. Cleaning it out can give you a speed boost. Windows 10 has a surprisingly useful built-in tool for doing this called Storage Sense. Go to Settings > System > Storage and at the top of the screen, move the toggle from Off to On. When you do this, Windows constantly monitors your PC and deletes old junk files you no longer need — temporary files, files in the Downloads folder that haven’t been changed in a month, and old Recycle Bin files.

You can customize how Storage Sense works and also use it to free up even more space than it normally would. Underneath Storage Sense, click Configure Storage Sense or run it now. From the screen that appears, you can change how often Storage Sense deletes files (every day, every week, every month or when your storage space gets low).

You can also tell Storage Sense to delete files in your Download folder, depending on how long they’ve been there, and set how long to wait to delete files in the Recycle Bin automatically. You can also have Storage Sense move files from your PC to the cloud in Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage if they’re not opened for a certain amount of time (every day, or every 14 days, 30 days, or 60 days).

IDG

Here’s how to customize the way Storage Sense works, and to tell it to delete old versions of Windows. (Click image to enlarge it.)

10. Clean out your Registry

Under the Windows hood, the Registry tracks and controls just about everything about the way Windows works and looks. That includes information about where your programs are stored, which DLLs they use and share, what file types should be opened by which program, and just about everything else.

But the Registry is a very messy thing. When you uninstall a program, for example, that program’s settings don’t always get cleaned up in the Registry. So over time, it can get filled with countless outdated settings of all types. And that can lead to system slowdowns.

Don’t even think of trying to clean any of this out yourself. It’s impossible. To do it, you need a Registry Cleaner. There are plenty available, some free and some paid. But there’s really no need to outright buy one, because the free Auslogics Registry Cleaner does a solid job.

Before using Auslogics or any other Registry cleaner, you should back up your Registry so you can restore it if anything goes wrong. (Auslogics Registry Cleaner does this for you as well, but it can’t hurt to have it backed up twice.) To do your own Registry backup, type regedit.exe in the search box, then press Enter. That runs the Registry editor. From the File menu, select Export. From the screen that appears, make sure to choose the All option in the “Export range” section at the bottom of the screen. Then choose a file location and file name and click Save. To restore the Registry, open the Registry editor, select Import from the File menu, then open the file you saved.

Now download, install, and run Auslogics Registry Cleaner. On the left-hand side of the screen you can select the kinds of Registry issues you want to clean up — for example, File Associations, Internet, or Fonts. I generally select them all.

IDG

Auslogics Registry Cleaner scans for and fixes problems in your Windows Registry. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Next, tell it to scan the Registry for problems. To do that, click Scan Now, and from the drop-down menu that appears, select Scan. That lets you first examine the Registry problems it finds. If you instead choose Scan and Resolve, it makes the fixes without you checking them.

It now scans your Registry for errors, then shows you what it found. Uncheck the boxes next to any you don’t want it to fix.  Click Resolve when you’ve made your decision, and make sure that Back Up Changes is checked, so you can restore the Registry easily if something goes wrong. If you want to see details about what it’s done, click View detailed report at the bottom of the screen.

11. Disable shadows, animations, and visual effects

Windows 10 has some nice eye candy — shadows, animations, and visual effects. On fast, newer PCs, these don’t usually affect system performance. But on slower and older PCs, they can exact a performance hit.

It’s easy to turn them off. In the Windows 10 search box, type sysdm.cpl and press Enter. That launches the System Properties dialog box. Click the Advanced tab and click Settings in the Performance section. That brings you to the Performance Options dialog box. You’ll see a varied list of animations and special effects.

IDG

The Performance Options dialog box lets you turn off effects that might be slowing down Windows 10. (Click image to enlarge it.)

If you have time on your hands and love to tweak, you can turn individual options on and off. These are the animations and special effects you’ll probably want to turn off, because they have the greatest effect on system performance:

• Animate controls and elements inside windows
• Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
• Animations in the taskbar
• Fade or slide menus into view
• Fade or slide ToolTips into view
• Fade out menu items after clicking
• Show shadows under windows

However, it’s probably a lot easier to just select Adjust for best performance at the top of the screen and then click OK. Windows 10 will then turn off the effects that slow down your system.

12. Disable transparency

In addition to turning off shadows, animations, and visual effects, you should also disable the transparency effects that Windows 10 uses for the Start menu, the Taskbar, and the Action Center. It takes a surprising amount of work for Windows to create these transparency effects, and turning them off can make a difference in system performance.

To do it, from Settings, choose Personalization > Colors, scroll down to “Transparency effects” and move the slider to Off.

IDG

Turning off Windows 10’s transparency effects can help speed up performance. (Click image to enlarge it.)

13. Update your device drivers

Windows 10 can take a big performance hit if it’s using outdated drivers. Installing the latest ones can go a long way towards speeding it up. Particularly problematic are graphics drivers, so those are the ones you should make sure to update. To do it:

1. Type devmgmt.msc into the Search box and click the Device Manager icon that appears in the right pane.
2. Scroll to the Display Adapters entry and click the side-facing arrow to expand it.
3. Right-click the driver that appears.
4. From the context menu that appears, select Update driver.
5. You’ll be asked whether to have Windows search for an updated driver or if you want to find one and install it manually. Your best bet is to let Windows do the work. Follow the on-screen instructions to install the driver.

IDG

Updating your device drivers with the Device Manager can give Windows 10 a speed boost. (Click image to enlarge it.)

You can do this to update all your drivers, not just graphics-related ones. It can take a while to do that one by one using the Device Manager, so you might want to use Windows Update to do it for you instead.

1. Launch the Settings app and select Update & Security > Windows Update.
2. Select Advanced Options > View optional updates > Driver updates. A list of all driver updates that Windows has found but hasn’t installed appears.
3. Select any of the drivers you want to install and click Download & Install.

IDG

Windows Update finds drivers you might want to update. (Click image to enlarge it.)

14. Turn on automated Windows maintenance

Every day, behind the scenes, Windows 10 performs maintenance on your PC. It does things like security scanning and performing system diagnostics to make sure everything is up to snuff — and automatically fixes problems if it finds them. That makes sure your PC runs at peak performance. By default, this automatic maintenance runs every day at 2:00 a.m., as long as your device is plugged into a power source and is asleep.

There’s a chance, though, that the feature has been accidentally turned off or you haven’t had your PC plugged in for a while, so the maintenance hasn’t been done. You can make sure it’s turned on and runs every day, and run it manually if you’d like.

Run the Control Panel app and select System and Security > Security and Maintenance. In the Maintenance section, under Automatic Maintenance, click “Start maintenance” if you want it to run now. To make sure that it runs every day, click “Change maintenance settings,” and from the screen that appears, select the time you’d like maintenance to run, and check the box next to “Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer at the scheduled time.” Then click OK.

IDG

You can designate a time each day for Windows to run its maintenance tasks. (Click image to enlarge it.)

15. Kill bloatware

Sometimes the biggest factor slowing down your PC isn’t Windows 10 itself, but bloatware or adware that takes up CPU and system resources. Adware and bloatware are particularly insidious because they may have been installed by your computer’s manufacturer. You’d be amazed at how much more quickly your Windows 10 PC can run if you get rid of it.

First, run a system scan to find adware and malware. If you’ve already installed a security suite such as Norton Security or McAfee LiveSafe, you can use that. You can also use Windows 10’s built in anti-malware app — just type windows security in the search box, press Enter, and then select Virus & threat protection > Quick Scan. Windows Defender will look for malware and remove any it finds.

It’s a good idea to get a second opinion, though, so consider a free tool like Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. The free version scans for malware and removes what it finds; the paid version offers always-on protection to stop infections in the first place.

IDG

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is a useful application that will scan for and fix Windows 10 PC problems. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Now you can check for bloatware and get rid of it. A good program to do that is PC Decrapifier. And Should I Remove It? is a website that offers advice on what files may be malware or bloatware.

For more details about removing bloatware, check out Computerworld’s article “Bloatware: What it is and how to get rid of it.”

16. Defrag your hard disk

The more you use your hard disk, the more it can become fragmented, which can slow down your PC. When a disk gets fragmented, it stores files willy-nilly across it, and it takes a while for Windows to put them together before running them.

Windows 10, though, has a built-in defragmenter you can use to defragment your hard disk. You can even tell it to run automatically so it stays constantly defragmented.

To do it, type defrag into the search box and press Enter. From the screen that appears, select the drive you want you want to defragment. Click the Optimize button to defragment it. Select multiple disks by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking each one you want to defragment.

If you want to have your disk or disks defragmented automatically, click the Change settings button, then check the box next to Run on a schedule. Now select the frequency at which you want the disk(s) defragmented by clicking the drop-down next to Frequency and selecting Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. (Weekly will be your best bet.) From this screen you can also choose multiple drives to defragment.

Note: If you have an SSD, defragging won’t offer any noticeable performance boost, and it could cause wear on the disk. So it’s not worth your while to defrag SSDs.

IDG

You can set Windows 10’s built-in disk defragmenter to run automatically on a schedule. (Click image to enlarge it.)

17. Disable Game Mode

If you’re a serious gamer, you probably know all about Game Mode, which optimizes your PC for playing games. That’s great for when you’re doing just that, but it can slow down your system when you’re not playing because it keeps some system resources in reserve in case you start playing a game and has occasionally been linked to stability issues. So turning off Game Mode can give your PC a quick boost. (You can always turn it back on again when you want to play a game.)

Game Mode is turned on by default, so even if you’ve never played a game on your PC, it’s probably enabled. To turn it off, go to Settings > Gaming > Game Mode and move the Game Mode slider to Off.

IDG

Turning off Game Mode can give your PC an instant boost. (Click image to enlarge it.)

18. Shut down and restart Windows

Here’s one of IT’s not-quite-secret weapons for troubleshooting and speeding up a PC: Shut it down and restart it. Doing that clears out any excess use of RAM that otherwise can’t be cleared. It also kills processes that you might have set in motion and are no longer needed, but that continue running and slow your system. If your Windows 10 PC has turned sluggish over time for no apparent reason, you may be surprised at how much more quickly it will run when you do this.

Try just some of these tricks, and you’ll find that you’ve got a faster Windows 10 PC — and one that is less likely to have any reliability problems.

This article was originally published in February 2016 and most recently updated in December 2023.

Computers, Microsoft, Small and Medium Business, Windows, Windows 10

Google has rolled out a premium tier for Chrome Enterprise, offering additional security features for the popular web browser.

Google launched Chrome Enterprise in 2017 as a business-focused edition of its Chrome browser with built-in management features for IT admins and security teams. On Tuesday, Google unveiled Chrome Enterprise Premium, promising enhanced security with features not available in the core version. 

This includes malware deep scanning, data loss prevention, the ability to filter URLs based on website category, and “context-aware access controls” that help enforce zero-trust access to cloud applications. There are also additional controls that enable admins to enforce enterprise policies and manage software updates, Google said. 

The growth in remote work has created new challenges around endpoint security, Parisa Tabriz, Google’s vice president for Chrome, said in a blog post, with businesses forced to contend with variety of employee devices outside of an organization’s managed fleet. “As these trends continue to accelerate and converge, it’s clear that the browser is a natural enforcement point for endpoint security in the modern enterprise,” she said. 

Indeed, with many business apps running in the cloud, the browser is becoming the entire endpoint environment for many end users, said Phil Hochmuth, research vice president for endpoint management and enterprise mobility for IDC. The new features will allow IT and security teams to manage browsers “like a PC endpoint,” he said, “allowing for granular access control, data protection and usage polices to be applied to the Enterprise Chrome browser environment separately from the underlying hardware device.”

When managed-device-level security can be enforced at the browser level, he said, it’s possible to extend corporate apps and data access to more types of users, including  remote or contract workers with BYOD endpoints. “It can help workers become more productive with a more flexible, but secure and managed, computing environment,” said Hochmuth.

Chrome Enterprise Premium is generally available now, with prices starting at $6 per user, per month. 

Browser Security, Chrome, Enterprise Applications, Google, Vendors and Providers

As Apple becomes more deeply embedded in increasingly regulated enterprises, IT needs new tools for security compliance to keep their fleets in shape. Jamf introduced a batch of solutions to achieve this at a special event this week. I spoke again with Michael Covington, vice president of portfolio strategy at Jamf, to learn more about what the company has made available.

“We see organizations of all sizes struggle to establish good security hygiene for their Apple devices,” Covington said. “Our research shows 39% of organizations operate at least one device with known vulnerabilities, so improving basic endpoint configuration is low hanging fruit for security teams, and it can significantly improve their overall risk posture.”

What has Jamf introduced?

Jamf announced the following:

• A Compliance Dashboard in Jamf Protect that lets admins monitor their fleet against CIS benchmarks.
• The new Compliance Editor in Jamf Pro that lets admins deploy configuration files to bring mobile device in line with CIS benchmarks. This makes it easy for admins to select a baseline security standard and push it to all users. The idea is that organizations can ensure their fleets are compliant with relevant security standards.
• Jamf Routines, a new Jamf Pro tool that offers new no-code automations and integrations, such as between Jamf and Slack or Teams. This helps keep those devices in compliance with security benchmarks.
• App Version Control within App Installers, which puts admins in charge of app deployments and upgrades. Typically, some admins might want to test new application software updated across small groups before approving installation across the company. This tool helps them do that.

Privilege Elevation

The company also introduced a new Privilege Elevation tool in Jamf Connect for Macs. This lets IT assign admin privileges to users on a temporary basis. Covington explained what this is for: “There are many scenarios where a user could benefit from having ‘admin’ privileges, but granting permanent access presents a real security risk, both because of the damage that could be done accidentally and because of the risk of credential compromise with an active attacker.”

At the same time, a lack of admin access can be challenging. “System updates like adding a printer, installing a third-party app, or changing various settings are all fairly routine and benign, but may be unavailable when the organization enforces the principle of least privilege,” he said. “Privilege Elevation enables end users to receive elevated privileges on-demand, without requiring ad-hoc IT intervention. When scoped with this feature, users will be able to temporarily acquire local admin rights for a configurable amount of time. The feature includes safeguards and audit trails to reduce misuse and monitor for compliance.”

On Apple Watch and Vision Pro in business

From the thousands who took an interest in an earlier plea for device management support in Vision Pro  and Apple’s subsequent introduction of such support, we know that plenty of businesses are now making use of iPhones, iPads, and Macs at work. 

This extends to Apple Watch also, which is why Jamf now supports device management of that device. “We have seen some very clever solutions developed around the Apple Watch, with industries like aviation and medicine truly treating the device like a wearable computer instead of a timepiece,” Covington said. “Businesses that want to deploy the Apple Watch at scale will need management to do so. Jamf’s implementation is built on modern Declarative Device Management workflows and includes the ability for applications to utilize a secure enterprise VPN to access rich datasets.”

Covington confirmed his company is seeing its business clients begin to explore the potential of Vision Pro. He pointed to several industries — medical, education, field service and maintenance — already known to be using the device, saying:

“The key to extracting maximum value from a device like the Vision Pro is to develop a transformational application for the business, which typically requires secure access to critical enterprise data. As new applications are developed and tested, organizations are finding that they must manage and secure these new devices just like every sanctioned device in the business.”

Apple in the enterprise

It’s always good to get a reality check from Jamf concerning Apple’s enterprise markets. On the back of its success in mobile products and growing support for employee choice schemes, the company has done a great job of building a bridgehead into the industry, supported by third parties such as Jamf.

“Apple has made some tremendous strides in the enterprise over the past several years,” said Covington. “Their strength was initially in mobility, with businesses choosing the iPhone to enable a mobile workforce. But that position has expanded to both line of business solutions (often build around iPad) and to primary compute (with the MacBook becoming a de facto device choice for many users).”

The result (as regular readers may already recognize) is that, “Apple’s devices are no longer for niche use cases or hyper-specific user groups. They are now used to empower work in all corners of the business. With the recent introduction of enterprise support on both Apple Watch and the Vision Pro, it will be interesting to see what new enterprise use cases emerge for Apple to tackle in the future.”

Covington also confirmed the introduction of Apple Silicon chips in Macs helped spur interest across the enterprise, saying Jamf has seen the move accelerate employee choice programs. “Apple continues to outpace rivals with the overall compute experience they are offering professionals, with amazing hardware that comes to life through tightly integrated software, applications, and services,” he said.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Apple, Enterprise Applications, Enterprise Mobile Management, iOS, IT Management, IT Operations, Vendors and Providers

Google has added a new way for Workspace users to access generative AI (genAI) features for collaboration without requiring a full subscription to its Gemini AI assistant. 

The AI Meetings and Messaging add-on, which costs $10 per user per  month, offers a range of Gemini features via Google’s Meet video conferencing tool, with functionality for Chat  —  the team messaging app in Workspace —  to follow eventually.  

Features for Google Meet include generative backgrounds, AI-powered video quality enhancements, an automated caption translation (available now in preview), and automated note-taking during meetings (available in June). Also in the pipeline is an adaptive audio feature (set for general availability next month) and a screenshare watermark to help prevent data leakage (expected in the third quarter of the year).

Google will include offer automated translation of messages and conversation summaries in Google Chat as part of the add-on once the features are available later this year. 

At $10 a month, the add-on provides a lower-cost route for businesses to access Google’s Gemini AI features.  By comparison, the full Google Gemini for Workspace (formerly Duet AI) costs $30 per user each month for large enterprises, or $20 for smaller businesses. Customers on these plans have access to a wider range of genAI features, helping users write emails in Gmail, draft text in Docs, and generate images in Slides, for instance. 

“I believe that companies who upgrade with the AI and meetings offering —  and foster their use and adoption internally — will see significant time savings benefits that will justify spending for the benefit,” said Wayne Kurtzman, research vice president social, communities and collaboration  at IDC. 

The AI Meetings and Messages option is one of two Workspace add-ons announced during the Google Cloud Next ’24 event this week. Also available is a new AI Security add-on; it also costs $10 per user/month and will “automatically classify and protect sensitive files” stored in Google Drive, Google said.

Other updates to Workspace announced at Cloud Next include voice inputs for Gmail’s “help me write” AI feature, which promises to turn voice notes into a complete email, and a new “building blocks” feature coming to Sheets to help users create spreadsheets from scratch. It offers templates for project management, event planning, and more. Also coming in a few weeks is a tabs feature for Docs, making it easier to organize information instead of linking to multiple documents, Google said. 

Google introduces new Workspace app: Vids

Google has also developed a new Workspace app, Vids, that aims to simplify video creation. Vids provides guidance when producing and editing video content for the workplace such as videos for staff onboarding, learning and development, or sales pitches. The AI assistant can create a storyboard and suggest background images, for instance, and offers pre-set voiceovers to narrate a video. 

“Vids will sit alongside our other productivity tools like Docs, Sheets, and Slides,” Aparna Pappu, general manager and vice president for Google Workspace, said in a blog post.  “Like them, it includes a simple, easy-to-use interface and the ability to collaborate and share projects securely from your browser. 

“It’s an entirely new app that can help anyone become a great storyteller at work,” Pappu said.

“Google Vids underscores the multimodality of Google Gemini,” said Kurtzman. “Vids is an easy to use, enterprise video storytelling platform that leverages Gemini to stay on brand and deliver significant time savings.”

Google Vids will be available to Workspace customers in June. 

Collaboration Software, Enterprise Applications, G Suite, Generative AI, Google, Office Suites, Vendors and Providers, Video Editors

Your deep generative AI (genAI) large language model (LLM) knowledge and experience could set you up for a $1 million pay day.

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that software engineers who are experienced in training LLMs and who can rectify troublesome genAI problems, such as “AI hallucinations,” are in extremely high demand. According to the publication, the industry is willing to pay over $1 million in salary, bonus, and accelerated stock options to the most experienced individuals. 

“There is a secular shift in what talents we’re going after,” Naveen Rao, head of generative AI at Databricks, told the Journal. “We have a glut of people on one side and a shortage on the other.” Rao says there might be only a couple of hundred people out there who are qualified.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has sent emails directly to top people at Google’s DeepMind in an attempt to persuade them to accept Meta’s AI-related job offers. Google’s Sergey Brin personally called a Google employee who was leaving for OpenAI and — by offering a pay increase and other perks — persuaded the employee to remain at Google.

It’s not just Meta and Google that are after the top minds in genAI; start-ups, large corporate entities and even whole countries are after the best AI talent. There are reports of companies trying to hire away whole genAI teams from their competitors. 

The competition isn’t just about employees. Meta is also apparently seeking to corner the market on Nvidia H100 AI GPUs, which cost $30,000 each. The company placed an order with Nvidia for 350,000 units for 2024 (amid estimates that put Nvidia’s entire 2023 run of H100 AI GPUs at about 550,000.)

GenAI job seekers: Beware

Be wary of career fads built on knee-jerk assumptions about how AI will take over the business world. Companies need top expertise now, and are willing to pay for it; but what happens when companies reach their genAI goals? Are they going to keep paying you a pretty penny in perpetuity? Or will they look for a way out when the urgent need is no longer so urgent?

AI is on a fast track, but hype and immaturity could derail it. It’s human nature to amp up the outlook of emerging technologies and fast-moving tech trends. A lot of things are being predicted right now about where AI will take us. Hint: some of them won’t be true. 

“Historically, academia was at the heart of breakthroughs in machine learning models, with universities and research institutions leading the charge,” Neil C. Hughes writes in Techopedia. In recent years, the tech industry has taken over the AI innovation lead. One reason for that: academic institutions can’t afford the price of admission for hardware. This discrepancy results in a significant skills gap, in which competencies taught through standard educational methodologies fall short of the industry’s current requirements for AI technology, Hughes adds. 

The upshot: many of our teaching institutions can’t deliver the pertinent in-depth training needed by software engineering students and those looking to upskill with genAI.

For now, the nuances of building and managing LLMs are known to only a small fraction of the workforce; ultimately, companies need to rethink and reconsider how to get much better at upskilling and training their employees for the roles that need filling in a genAI world. 

Closing the AI skills gap

To some extent, chasing the small number of experienced genAI experts is a bit like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. AI is a huge wave of disruption that will transform many aspects of business globally. According to research by IBM, executives estimate that 40% of their workforces will need to reskill over the next three years as a result of implementing AI. This is the chief challenge businesses need to focus on. 

Although many companies have not yet come to terms with how to address AI upskilling and reskilling, it’s dawning on them that the knowledge that needs to be imparted can only partially be handled in traditional ways. 

According to Boston Consulting Group, the average half-life of skills is under five years, and in some tech fields it’s as short as two and a half years. Skills will overtake degrees as the key signposts on resumés leading to employment. And the focus of upskilling and reskilling should be on genAI skills needed by your company, not generic AI training. Some even foresee a new skills-based economy, where skills become equivalent to currency.

A few forward-thinking companies such as Amazon, Ericsson, and Vodaphone are operating internal AI upskilling programs, but a lot more needs to be done. By and large, companies aren’t yet meeting the needs of workers, who would very much like AI upskilling. Worldwide, almost 80% say their AI training is insufficient, according to an OliverWyman Forum report.

It’s time for companies to invest in genAI and machine learning/deep learning and put their money where their mouths are to build internal training programs for employees. Given where the tech industry is headed with genAI, it’s the smart bet, both for companies and the people who’ll lead them to success.

Generative AI, Industry, IT Skills, IT Training , Technology Industry

Connected, data-intensive and ubiquitous, endpoint devices — ranging from PCs and smartphones to internet of things (IoT) devices — are among the most valuable IT assets an organization can have. For a growing number of enterprises, unified endpoint management (UEM) is the platform of choice for managing endpoints and keeping them from becoming security, privacy, and regulatory compliance risks.

UEM explained

UEM platforms are software suites that provide a single management interface for the oversight of endpoint devices within an organization. These systems evolved from and in many cases are replacing mobile device management (MDM) and enterprise mobility management (EMM) tools.

MDM products control the functionality of mobile devices and include features such as device enrollment, remote control, device lockdown, and location tracking. EMM platforms provide those features in addition to mobile information management, mobile application management, and mobile content management.

UEM takes things a step further, expanding the enterprise mobility management spectrum to include not just mobile devices, but also desktop and laptop computers, printers, wearables, and IoT devices — all through a single management console.

Why enterprises need UEM

There’s no question that organizations need to manage and protect endpoint devices. Users are accessing corporate networks and data from an expanding array of devices — Windows PCs, Macs, Chromebooks; iOS and Android phones and tablets; and even AR/VR headsets such as Meta’s Quest 3 and Apple’s Vision Pro. More people are working remotely or in hybrid work environments, and in many cases using their personal devices. In addition, many companies are launching IoT and edge computing initiatives.

These endpoints are major security risks, especially when employees are using their own devices for work. That’s a key reason why managing the large and growing number of endpoint devices is so important for enterprises. UEM platforms are designed to simplify the management of devices and enhance the security of heterogeneous environments.

“The modern device management principles of UEM address the changing nature of work­, where employees are remote/hybrid and their devices are ‘off network’ for long periods of time,” says Phil Hochmuth, program vice president, enterprise mobility at research firm IDC.

One of the most important benefits of UEM for enterprises is that it’s preferable to using a multitude of disparate mobility management tools, which can end up increasing costs and decreasing efficiency. Using a single endpoint management tool also makes it easier to ensure that security, privacy, and data governance policies are applied consistently across various platforms and working environments.

“UEM promises to consolidate multiple management systems, teams, and polices, making endpoint management more efficient and workers more productive,” Hochmuth says.

Essential reading

• Enterprise mobility 2024: Welcome, genAI
• Download: UEM vendor comparison chart 2024
• How UEM supports the hybrid workplace
• What is UEM? Unified endpoint management explained
• 8 key technologies for the future of work

Major trends in UEM

One of the most notable trends in the UEM space is the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (genAI). This is not surprising, given that genAI has become a focal point for many organizations over the past year.

GenAI will impact multiple areas of UEM, including script creation, knowledge-based article creation, natural language processing-based querying of endpoint data, and help desk chatbots, according to Andrew Hewitt, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

Although there is much potential for genAI to enhance workplace operations, there has been limited adoption within UEM tool vendors thus far, says Tom Cipolla, senior director analyst at research firm Gartner. Gartner expects this to quickly change as vendors realize the added revenue opportunities associated with genAI-augmented tools, he says.

Because the UEM market is highly mature, “we see a new iteration on the horizon, appropriately labeled autonomous endpoint management [AEM],” Cipolla says. AEM combines the most effective features from UEM and digital employee experience (DEX) tools with AI and machine learning to accelerate endpoint patching, configuration, and experience management, he says.

“AEM will eventually replace traditional tools and architectures with lightweight, cloud-based, intelligence-powered capabilities,” Cipolla says. “Though AEM platforms are not yet widely available and product definitions are inconsistent amongst vendors, several are introducing their initial offerings for this new market. Organizations considering UEM tools should evaluate vendor roadmaps to determine if they will provide AEM functionality.”

In the meantime, pricing of UEM platforms is on the rise, Cipolla says. Most vendors have instituted price increases to keep pace with inflation and rising costs, he says. In addition, he says, perpetual licensing continues to be phased out in favor of subscription-based licensing.

How to choose UEM software

UEM platforms from the leading vendors have much in common, but of course no two offerings are exactly alike. IT leaders need to thoroughly evaluate the options in the market.

It’s a good practice to conduct a proof of concept or pilot test before committing to a broad rollout of a platform, because switching platforms later in the process might be difficult and costly. A pilot program is also a good way to determine which features and capabilities the enterprise needs most.

When evaluating UEM options, pay particular attention to these key factors:

1. Operating system support. A UEM platform should support a broad variety of operating systems, including Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, iOS, and Android. Enterprises want to provide employees with choices, especially when it comes to device operating systems, Hewitt says.

Some platforms support various operating systems with different levels of granularity and features, Hochmuth says. Some endpoint management vendors focus specifically on a certain device vendor or operating system, such as Apple or Android, he says.

2. Integration with other IT products. How well does the UEM platform work with other IT components such as ticketing systems and security tools? Integration with other products is important, and whether a vendor has partnerships with other platforms used to support IT is a key consideration, Hochmuth says. Many vendors offer UEM along with other products and have strong integration among them, he says.

3. Device security policies. Organizations must have the ability to set policies regarding jailbreaking, root detection, password setting, mobile threat detection, malware detection, anti-phishing, and so on, Hewitt says. Given that much corporate data is outside the firewall boundaries of an enterprise, ensuring mobile device security is vital, he says.

In addition, platforms need built-in policy templates to enforce common security framework baselines, Cipolla says. This can simplify security decisions and provide auditable compliance with well-established standards.

“Many UEM tools now include the ability to apply the security framework baseline directly to a device or a group of devices,” he says. “This ensures that the organization’s devices will be protected, even as the baseline changes.”

4. Management automation. Organizations continue to look for ways to reduce costs when it comes to deploying devices, and automation provides an opportunity to do that. These capabilities enable a fully automated deployment to occur quickly, Hewitt says. That means employees get devices faster and administrators spend less time on deployment.

5. Real-time telemetry collection. UEM should be able to do things like understand the end-user experience, automate issues, and improve root cause analysis, Hewitt says.

“The collection of real-time data, particularly DEX data, is a new trend that is hitting the UEM market,” Hewitt says. “With the rise of AI, these tools need as much data as possible to drive automation across the stack.”

6. Pricing. The cost of technology investments is always top of mind with IT and business leaders, and UEM platforms should be no exception. Some UEM platforms are relatively low cost if bundled with other products sold by the vendor, Hochmuth says. He recommends looking for a per-user pricing model rather than per-device pricing model. That’s because most users need to access multiple devices for work.

7. Regulatory compliance certification. Many organizations, particularly those in the federal government or in regulated industries, need to be compliant with multiple regulations governing functions such as data privacy and security. UEM platforms that are certified under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) or other certification initiatives can help ensure that all devices in an organization are up to date and compliant with relevant regulations.

Organizations in government and financial services typically look for these types of certifications because they verify that a UEM platform has been tested and secured, Hewitt says.

8. Conditional access. Another factor to consider is whether the UEM platform can enforce conditional access policies across all devices, apps, networks, etc. Conditional access — which enables organizations to look across a multitude of conditions to decide whether individual employees can access certain resources — is the foundation of an enterprise mobility strategy, according to Hewitt. If any of the conditions are noncompliant, access is blocked.

9. Support for remote environments. With hybrid work environments the norm, a lot of employees will continue to work remotely at least part of the time. Thus, it’s important for IT administrators to be able to troubleshoot endpoint devices in both on-premises and remote locations, which can improve user experience and limit downtime, Hewitt says.

10. Current or upcoming AEM features. Evaluate a vendor’s road map to determine if it includes emerging autonomous endpoint management features, Cipolla says. These include:

• Automated patch availability detection via AI
• The ability to predict the likelihood of deployment success and the level of performance impact based on demonstrated external and internal success metrics
• The ability to monitor device performance and employee sentiment post patching to detect impacts
• Customizable automation controls to adapt to an organization’s desired level of control

13 leading UEM vendors

The key players in the UEM market are for the most part the same companies that held leadership positions in the MDM/EMM segment. To get you started in your research, here are brief descriptions of the major UEM platforms available. (This list does not include management platforms that specialize in a single OS or vendor ecosystem, such as Apple MDM products.)

You can also download a detailed comparison chart that shows the features and functions offered by eight of the largest UEM vendors.

42Gears: 42Gears UEM supports Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux, and is designed to make it easier for enterprises to migrate from legacy platforms such as Windows 7 to an EMM-compliant version such as Windows 10. It offers a single platform to manage all endpoints, including desktops/laptops, employee-owned devices, IoT devices, sensors and gateways, ruggedized devices, wearables, and printers.

BlackBerry: BlackBerry UEM is a multiplatform system that provides device, app, and content management with integrated security and connectivity, and helps organizations manage iOS, macOS, Android, Windows, and ChromeOS devices. Key features include a single user interface, secure IP connectivity, user self-service, role-based administration, and company directory integration.

Cisco Meraki: Systems Manager, Meraki’s cloud-based UEM platform, provides central provisioning, monitoring, and securing of all endpoint devices within an organization, while keeping the enterprise network aware of constantly changing devices. The platform supports management of iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and ChromeOS environments. The Meraki cloud dashboard enables configuration and monitoring from a single console.

Google: Endpoint Management (part of the Workspace Suite) works on Android, iOS, ChromeOS, macOS, and Windows devices. Administrators can enforce policies across both Android and iOS, and distribute apps from the Admin console on Google Play or Apple’s App Store. Access from any Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, and Linux device is logged and can be blocked if needed. Certain advanced features are available only with Business and Enterprise licenses.

HCL Technologies: HCL BigFix Endpoint Management enables organizations to fully automate discovery, management, and remediation of endpoint issues, regardless of location or connectivity. Features include BigFix Insights, which lets organizations quickly visualize risks as well as costs, and multicloud management, which gives administrators 360-degree visibility, control, and compliance enforcement of both cloud and on-premises endpoints.

IBM: IBM Security MaaS360 is a cloud-based UEM platform that enables organizations to secure smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, wearables, and IoT devices. AI and predictive analytics provide alerts to potential endpoint threats and remediation to avoid security breaches and disruptions. MaaS360 protects apps, content, and data. The platform supports Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and other operating systems.

Ivanti: Ivanti Unified Endpoint Manager is designed to simplify enterprise mobility, applying policies and personalization across all devices. Companies can use the system’s artificial intelligence to determine which users and devices get what type of access. The platform supports Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Linux, iOS, Android and several other operating systems. Administrators can gather detailed device data, automate software and operating system deployments, personalize workspace environments, and address user issues.

ManageEngine: ManageEngine Desktop Central, a UEM platform from the IT management division of Zoho Corp., helps organizations manage servers, laptops, desktops, smartphones, and tablets from a central location. Enterprises can automate endpoint management routines such as installing patches, deploying software, and imaging and deploying operating systems. The platform also provides management of IT assets and software licenses, remote desktop control, and software usage monitoring. It supports Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, Android, and iOS, among other operating systems.

Matrix42: Matrix42 Unified Endpoint Management supports Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Android, iOS, and iPadOS and can be accessed from the cloud, on-premises, or in a hybrid environment. The platform provides automatic deployment of devices and applications, real-time reports and analysis on usage, and access control for applications and sensitive data. Data is encrypted on mobile devices, and personal and business data are separated on BYOD devices.

Microsoft: Microsoft Intune, a cloud-native management tool for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android devices, also includes Microsoft Configuration Manager for on-premises endpoints. Enterprises can configure specific policies to control applications, such as preventing emails from being sent to people outside the organization. On personal devices, Intune helps make sure an organization’s data stays protected and can isolate organization data from personal data.

Sophos: Sophos Mobile supports the management of Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices, providing configuration and policies, inventory and asset management, and detailed reporting on device usage. Organizations can install, remove, and view apps; use containers to manage content; provide compliance rules and remediation; and protect against threats such as malware and phishing.

SOTI: The SOTI ONE Platform allows companies to securely manage any device or endpoint, including IoT devices, with any form factor throughout its entire lifecycle. Supported OSes include Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, iPadOS, Zebra, and more. The platform features SOTI XSight, a diagnostic help desk tool that lets technicians analyze, troubleshoot, and resolve mobile device and app issues from anywhere at any time.

VMware: VMware Workspace ONE is a cloud-based platform for managing desktop, mobile, rugged, wearable, and IoT devices. It supports operating environments including Android, iOS, Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, and Linux. The platform offers data protection against security threats with conditional access and compliance policies, with a Privacy Guard feature designed to manage privacy policies. Among the first UEM vendors to offer genAI-powered scripting capabilities, VMware was purchased by Broadcom in 2023, with a sale now pending to investment firm KKR.

This article was initially published in October 2021 and updated in April 2024.

Related: Download our UEM vendor comparison chart

Endpoint Protection, Enterprise Buyer’s Guides, Enterprise Mobile Management, IT Management, IT Operations, Mobile Management, Security, Universal Endpoint Management, Vendors and Providers

If you’ve spent much time wading around this warbly ol’ web of ours lately, you might be feeling a teensy sense of unease over your internet browsing history.

The reason, in case you’ve been living under a metaphorical boulder for the past several days, is the revelation of a new legal settlement related to Google’s Chrome browser and its incognito browsing mode.

Or, to more accurately reflect the most common drive-by misinterpretation of the news: “Google is, like, totally spying on you, bro! Everything you do in incognito mode is being logged to your account and sneakily used for advertising, and all your deepest, darkest web browsing secrets have probably been sold to other privacy-prying companies already.”

It may sound outlandish to the level-headed among us, but the existence of this distortion is no exaggeration. I’ve lost count of the number of news articles, blogs, and social media mentions that convey these exact conclusions — sometimes even whilst including the very facts that contradict them and suggest (gasp!) a far more nuanced and less shocking reality. (Imagine that!)

So before you sever all connections, blow your browser to smithereens, and take shelter in the nearest metaphorical bunker, allow me to provide a teensy bit of desperately needed perspective.

[Get level-headed knowledge in your inbox every Friday with my free Android Intelligence newsletter. Tips, insights, and other tasty treats await!]

The Google Chrome incognito lowdown

First things first, let’s take a sec to catch up on the Chrome incognito quandary and what exactly has transpired.

Last week, a legal filing let us in on the fact that Google had settled a lawsuit claiming the company had been misleading users about the nature of Chrome’s incognito mode and causing them to believe their incognito browsing was entirely “private” and invisible to everyone.

As part of that settlement, Google agreed to delete “billions” of data records related to incognito browsing and to bring a beefier disclosure into Chrome’s incognito splash screen that explains how incognito browsing actually works. It also agreed to block third-party cookies by default for Chrome users when incognito mode is activated — a change it’ll maintain for the next five years, at a minimum. And it agreed to stop using internal systems that were able to detect when a user was browsing incognito and make note of that selection.

That’s the gist. Now, from that, people — even prominent news websites! — are concluding that Google was collecting all sorts of details around incognito web activity, associating it with users’ broader Google advertising profiles, and then somehow even selling it or otherwise sharing it directly with other companies.

Sensational of a story as that may make, none of it appears to be accurate. And, based on all the available info out there, most of the panic around this saga seems to be a case of premature conclusion-jumping along with a healthy pinch of misunderstanding around how the web actually works.

Incognito, unraveled

In reality, y’see, a browser’s incognito mode is all about making sure your activity isn’t logged into the browser itself or any associated profiles. That means when you go incognito, any sites you visit aren’t stored in your local browser history or the history associated with your Google account. And that, in fact, is how incognito mode on Chrome (as well as most other browsers) has always been positioned.

An official statement from a Google spokesperson explicitly confirms this. The broadly cited statement — one I’ve seen mentioned right alongside contradictory conclusions in more than a few respected media outlets — notes that the “technical data” collected from Chrome incognito browsing “was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalization.” That somehow widely glossed over fact is critically important to the actuality of this scenario.

As for the “selling your secrets to the highest bidder” bit, that’s a common misconception around Google and privacy that stretches back decades. And as has always been the case, there’s precisely zero truth to it.

For a quick refresher —  to quote a certain reality-obsessed writer I know:

Google’s always been very clear about the fact that it doesn’t go down that road. It uses customer data only internally, as part of an automated system, to programmatically pick ads it thinks are likely to be relevant and interesting to you based on the sorts of stuff you’ve looked at over time. It does that instead of just serving up random ads that have nothing to do with what you care about, as such non-targeted ads would likely be (a) far less interesting and potentially useful for you and (b) far less effective in terms of their performance.

That, of course, gets at the heart of how Google makes most of its money. And that is how the company’s able to offer us exceptional services like Gmail, Docs, and Photos — not to mention Google Search itself — without charging us to use all of those entities (at least in their core, non-enterprise-oriented forms).

And if that doesn’t assure you enough about the hype vs. reality of this situation, there’s plenty more data-driven info to chew over. (Mmm….data.)

Google’s Chrome incognito settlement, up close and personal

I dug in deeper to the thickly worded legal documents around this settlement to make sure I wasn’t missing anything, and while the heavy legalese is about as fun to digest as a mayonnaise-slathered Linux manual, the actual messaging within it is as clear as can be.

And here’s exactly what it tells us: 

• Data collected while users were in Chrome’s incognito mode did have some manner of “unique identifier” along with a designation that indicated it was seen in incognito mode.
• And Google employees agreed that the incognito mode disclosure could be confusing to users and should be improved (which, notably, it already has).
• But nothing in the settlement document so much as suggests any data was ever associated with any specific user profiles or Google accounts in any way — or that it was ever used for any manner of ad targeting.
• And absolutely nothing suggests any manner of user data at Google’s disposal was ever shared with anyone externally or sold on any level.

Now, the data associated with Chrome incognito activity could be associated with a user — in theory — if someone were to gain access to every shred of information about you and then meticulously line up all the variables to piece a puzzle together. But there’s no indication that anyone ever did that or that Google itself ever so much as attempted to use any of this data as part of ad targeting. And, again, there’s nothing to suggest that any of this data was ever shared outside of Google or used in any nefarious way.

More than anything, it seems like the practical concerns around this mostly come down to a misunderstanding of how the web works.

When you’re browsing the web in Chrome’s incognito mode, that doesn’t mean the various tracking mechanisms on sites around the web are magically eliminated based on your browser setting. So, yes, it is technically possible that your activity could be tracked on some level while you’re in that mode, as any activity could ultimately still be traced back to your IP address — even if you aren’t actively logged into or associated with your standard Google profile at that moment.

The same is true in any browser. That’s why people who really want to protect their privacy and keep activity from being traced back to them rely on a virtual private network, or VPN, to mask their actual IP address as well as more advanced script-blocking mechanisms in addition to simply signing out of their browser’s own local-collection state. And even then, of course, law enforcement or other motivated parties can conceivably still piece things together and trace activity back to its source, if they’re really so inspired.

None of this is a closely kept secret. You can always view your entire Google ad profile anytime to see exactly what the company (thinks it) knows about you — what its algorithms have determined you’re interested in, in other words, based on all the online activity it’s associated with your user profile — and then take control of that to remove inaccurate or unwanted info and customize exactly what types of ads you’re shown.

But, as you’ll see, whatever material you might’ve been viewing incognito won’t be in that list. (And not to worry. I won’t ask for specifics.)

Online privacy is a complicated, nuanced, and very relative subject in our modern-tech era. As usual, though, a little logic, perspective, and level-headed assessment can go a really long way.

Want even more Googley knowledge? Check out my free Android Intelligence newsletter to get next-level tips and insight delivered directly to your inbox.

Browsers, Chrome, Data Privacy, Google, Privacy, Vendors and Providers

Intel on Tuesday formally introduced its Gaudi 3 processor — aimed at accelerating enterprise generative artificial intelligence (genAI) workloads — at its Vision 2024 conference and unveiled a range of next-gen products and strategic collaborations to grow genAI adoption.

The chipmaker’s strategy enveloped hardware and cloud services roadmaps for everything from the data centers to edge devices, including AI-enabled PCs.

During a keynote speech, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger heralded the age of AI, which includes PCs that will be using a new family of Intel Core Ultra processors. The chipmaker expects to ship 40 million AI PC processors in 2024 and 100 million next year.

In December, Intel originally announced the upcoming release of its Gaudi 3 processor for data center AI workloads, and previewed its 14th-Gen Core Ultra “Meteor Lake” data center processors and 5th-Gen Xeon Scalable CPUs. The company made the official announcements of the two latter processors Tuesday.

Intel also announced that its next-generation Granite Ridge and Sierra Forest processors will be branded “Xeon 6,” replacing older marketing language that used generational terms, such as “Fifth-Gen Xeon Scalable” models.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger holds an upcoming Xeon 6 processor wafer.

Intel

The new Xeon 6 processors will incorporate software support for the MXFP4 data format, which reduces next-token latency by up to 6.5 times compared to 4th-generation Xeon using FP16, with the ability to run 70-billion-parameter Llama-2 large language models.

During its onstage presentation, Intel offered new details about the Gaudi 3 architecture, performance, and the OEMs committed to bringing it market and touted a number of new customers. The company cited more than a dozen “partners” using its Gaudi 3 accelerators, including Naver Corp., Bosch, NielsenIQ, and Seekr.

Historically, Nvidia has led the AI hardware market with it  GPUs (graphics processing units) and TPUs [tensor processing units], created to power and train large language models and AI applications. Intel positioned its Gaudi 3 as a direct competitor to Nvidia’s H100 GPU.

The Gaudi 3 delivers 50% on average better inference and 40% on average better power efficiency compared to the Nvidia H100 – “at a fraction of the cost,” Gelsinger said. According to Intel, the Gaudi 3 accelerators can deliver four times AI compute for computer memory systems suing the BF16 floating point format and 1.5 times the in-memory bandwidth over Gaudi 2; it also offers twice the networking bandwidth compared to its predecessor.

Intel used TSMC’s 5nm process to build the Gaudi 3 chips, which are now available to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including Dell, HPE, Lenovo and Supermicro for AI data center market. The chip is designed to be strung together with thousands of others in racks within data centers.

Last year, Nvidia controlled about 83% of the data center chip market, with much of the remaining 17% dominated by Google’s custom tensor processing units (TPUs).

Benjamin Lee, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, said Intel’s trajectory isn’t an easy one and it has challenges to being competitive with Nvidia.

“Intel long dominated the design and manufacture of high-performance CPUs, but recent challenges reflect fundamental changes in the computing landscape,” Lee said. “Data centers will continue to deploy CPUs in large numbers to support Internet services and cloud computing, but are increasingly deploying GPUs to support AI, and Intel has struggled to design competitive GPUs.”

Intel’s unique advantage is that it’s the only domestic chip fabrication provider that could possibly compete with TSMC in manufacturing the most advanced chips, “giving it an upper hand against competitors like Nvidia and AMD, which are fabless,” Lee said. “Intel has not yet succeeded in establishing and growing a foundry business like TSMC. This will be essential to its future, given so many technology companies now design their own high-performance processors.”

Intel also has not kept pace with TSMC’s advances in transistor technology or the ability to satisfy contracts with the precision and efficiency to match TSMC’s foundry, Lee said. And Intel currently lacks the fabrication capacity to serve both its own manufacturing needs and a larger customer base.

Intel’s roadmap as laid out by its CEO is sensible, Lee noted, yet “the million-dollar question is whether it can execute it effectively using a fresh injection of federal funding from the CHIPS Act.”

In August 2022, Congress passed the CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS Act) to address processor shortages exposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The legislation provided the US Department of Commerce (DoC) with $52.7 billion for a suite of programs under the CHIPS for America program to “revitalize” the US position in semiconductor research, development, and manufacturing. Intel is poised to get about $8.5 billion of those funds.

Intel’s Gelsinger heralded the CHIPS Act as enabling the company’s first chips to emerge from its $20 billion Ocotillo fabrication facility in Chandler, Ariz., last year.

At present, however, the CHIPS Act provides little direct support for chip designers such as Nvidia’s GPUs, Apple’s NPUs, and Google’s TPUs, all of which have historically flourished in the US.

During its Vision conference, Intel also provided updates on its next-gen products and services across all segments of enterprise AI, including its new Intel Xeon 6 processors, which can run retrieval augmented generation processes, or “RAG” for short

RAG creates a more customized and accurate genAI model by using an organization’s proprietary data and information; that can greatly reduce known AI problems such as erroneous outputs and hallucinations.

Gelsinger illustrated how unreliable genAI is using data scraped from the Internet that’s not updated in real time.

With standard LLMs, “maybe if you’re really good you’re updating and retraining…maybe once a week, maybe once a month?” he said. “When you’re combining [an LLM] with real-time data coming through your vector databases, your streaming unstructured databases — as well and bringing both of those together in real time — we think that’s extraordinarily powerful.”

Intel also said that this quarter it will release a new brand for its next-generation processors for data centers, cloud and edge purposes. The Intel Xeon 6 processors with Efficient-cores (E-core — formerly code-named Sierra Forest), will offer up to 2.4 times the performance per watt and 2.7 times better rack density compared to 2nd-gen Intel Xeon processors. 

He described the past decade of Intel’s innovation as mundane, saying the company made PCIe a little bit faster, incrementally upgraded DDR memory, and added “a few more cores” to chips before shipping them out the door.

“Boring,” Gelsinger said. “AI is making everything exciting like we haven’t seen. The fundamental direction computing is taking is the biggest change in technology since the Internet, and it’s going to reshape every aspect of our business and yours.”

The total addressable market for semiconductor is expected to grow from $600 billion now to more than $1 trillion by the end of the decade, he said.

To that end, Gelsinger also announced that the company’s next-generation Core Ultra client processor family (code-named Lunar Lake) will be launching later this year. The processors will have than 100 platform tera operations per second (TOPS) and more than 45 neural processing unit (NPU) TOPS for next-generation AI PCs.

“Intel’s on a mission to bring AI everywhere,” Gelsinger told a packed auditorium in Phoenix, Ariz. “I’m quite excited about the next platform. You know, before competitors shipped their first [AI] chips, we’re launching our second — the Lunar Lake with 3X the AI performance. And, the third generation is in [fabrication].”

Gelsinger compared AI-enabled PCs to Wi-Fi, saying the day will come when a PC without AI capabilities will be considered passé. “Microsoft Copilot, AI developers, Zoom and Teams summarization, translation, contextualization,” he said. “Every application is going through an AI makeover. You’re going to miss out. Simply put, it’s time to refresh your PCs.”

Intel is also working on creating an open Ethernet networking model for AI fabrics, and introduced an array of AI-optimized Ethernet solutions. The company is working through the Ultra Ethernet Consortium (UEC) to design large scale-up and scale-out AI fabrics.

“These innovations enable training and inferencing for increasingly vast models, with sizes expanding by an order of magnitude each generation,” Intel said in a statement. “The lineup includes the Intel AI NIC (network interface card), AI connectivity chiplets for integration into XPUs, Gaudi-based systems, and a range of soft and hard reference AI interconnect designs for Intel Foundry.”

Artificial Intelligence, CPUs and Processors, Emerging Technology, Industry, Intel, Vendors and Providers

Google Sheets lets you design spreadsheets with sophisticated features, and one of the most useful to know is dropdown lists. You can add a dropdown list to a cell (or to a range of cells), and when you or another person with access to your spreadsheet clicks the cell, a dropdown will open that shows a list of numbers or words that they can select. The number or word that’s selected will then appear inside the cell.

Some use case examples:

• You need co-workers to enter very specific numbers or words into your spreadsheet. Providing dropdown lists makes this more convenient for them and eliminates the risk of mistyped entries.
• You add a dropdown list containing number presets that immediately change a chart embedded on your spreadsheet.
• You create a spreadsheet to track a project, in which co-workers select their work progress status from a dropdown list.

This guide walks you through the basic steps of creating dropdowns and adding color to them. In this article, we assume you already know the basics of using Google Sheets. If you need help getting started, see our Google Sheets cheat sheet.

How to add a dropdown list in Google Sheets

You can create two kinds of dropdown lists in Google Sheets: The first lists specific numbers or words that you’ve entered as preset choices, while the second lists data that currently appears in a range of cells in your spreadsheet.

Create a dropdown that lists numbers or words

Select the cell or range of cells where you want the dropdown to be on your spreadsheet. Then, on the toolbar above your spreadsheet, click Insert > Dropdown. The “Data validation rules” sidebar opens to the right.

Type in each item you want to appear in the dropdown list.

IDG

To add items to your dropdown: Inside the boxes “Option 1” and “Option 2,” type the number or word options that you want included in your dropdown list. Click Add another item to add another option to the dropdown.

To move an item in the dropdown list: Click-and-hold the six-dot icon to the left of an item, drag it up or down, and release it in a new spot on the dropdown list.

To assign a color to an item in the list: Click the gray circle to the left of an item. From the “Colors” panel that opens, click the color you want for the item’s background. If you want to select a color you don’t see or change the item’s text color, click Customize.

You can assign colors to the items in a dropdown.

IDG

When the item is selected from the dropdown on your spreadsheet, the cell and its text display its assigned color. In addition to making your spreadsheet more visually interesting, unique colors can help differentiate items or signify the importance of an item.

To change the dropdown display style: Click Advanced options and scroll down in the “Data validation rules” sidebar until you see “Display style.” The options here let you control how the dropdown appears in the cell you’ve selected in the spreadsheet. If you’ve selected multiple cells, each cell will have its own dropdown indicator.

• Chip: The dropdown appears as a button with a down arrow at its right. This is the default option. Users click the button to open the dropdown list.
• Arrow: This type of dropdown is indicated only by a down arrow at the right edge of the cell. Users click the arrow or double-click anywhere in the cell to open the dropdown list.
• Plain text: This type of dropdown has no indicator. To open the dropdown list, users double-click the cell or type the first letter or number of an item in the dropdown.

Two chip style dropdowns on the left, two arrow style dropdowns on the right.

IDG

To insert your dropdown in the spreadsheet: When you’re finished building your new dropdown, click the Done button at the bottom of the sidebar.

Now when a user clicks (or double-clicks) one of the cells you selected in the first step, a dropdown will open that lists the numbers or words you typed in above. When one of these items is selected, it will appear inside the cell.

In the spreadsheet, click the down arrow in a cell with a dropdown list to see the available options (left); the item you select will appear in the cell (right).

IDG

Dropdown lists with colored items selected in the chip and arrow display styles.

IDG

If you assigned a color to an item and chose the chip style display, the color appears on the button in the cell after a user selects it. If you chose the arrow or plain text style, the entire cell shows that color.

Create a dropdown that lists data from your spreadsheet

Select the cell or the range of cells where you want the dropdown to be on your spreadsheet. Then, on the toolbar above your spreadsheet, click Insert > Dropdown to open the “Data validation rules” sidebar to the right.

Under “Criteria,” click Dropdown. From the list that opens, select Dropdown (from a range).

To manually enter a range of cells: Inside the entry box that appears below “Dropdown (from a range),” type the range of cells that you want to appear as items in the dropdown list. For example, if you type in A1:A10, the data inside cells A1 to A10 on your spreadsheet appear as the 10 items in the dropdown list.

To select a range of cells: Click the grid icon inside the entry box below “Dropdown (from a range).” The “Select a data range” panel will open over your spreadsheet. With this panel open, you can scroll through your spreadsheet. Select a range of cells in the spreadsheet; their letter-number designations (for example, C4:G4) appear in the panel’s entry box.

Selecting a range of cells as the source data for a dropdown.

IDG

Click the OK button. In the “Data validation rules” sidebar, your selected range of cells appears inside the entry box below “Dropdown (from a range),” and the data in those cells appears as the items in your dropdown list.

To change the dropdown’s appearance: Just as for the first type of dropdown, you can rearrange items in the list, assign colors to items in the list, and change the look of the dropdown indicator. See the previous section of the story for full instructions.

To insert your dropdown in the spreadsheet: When you’re finished building the dropdown, click the Done button at the bottom of the sidebar.

Now when a user clicks (or double-clicks) one of the cells you selected in the first step, a dropdown will open that lists the current data (numbers or words) from the range of cells that you selected. When one of these items is selected, it will appear inside the cell.

The dropdowns in column I show a list of items from the selected cell range (C4 to G4).

IDG

If the range of cells you selected includes formulas, the current number appearing in a cell that’s calculated by a formula will appear as an item on the dropdown list. If the range of cells you selected contains words, those words will appear in the dropdown list. You can even select a range of cells that contains a mix of formulas, numbers, and words. The dropdown will list whatever currently appears in each cell in the range of cells you selected.

How to edit or delete a dropdown

Click (or double-click) a cell that has a dropdown in it. On the dropdown menu that opens, click the pencil icon on the lower right. This opens the “Data validation rules” sidebar, and you can make changes to the dropdown, such as changing items’ values or colors.

To delete the dropdown from your spreadsheet, click Remove rule at the bottom of the sidebar.

If you have two or more dropdowns on your spreadsheet, you can see them all listed in the “Data validation rules” sidebar. From the toolbar above your spreadsheet, select Data > Data validation. On the sidebar that opens, click the dropdown you want to edit to open it in the sidebar, or click the trashcan icon next to it to delete it from your spreadsheet.

You can view all the dropdowns in a spreadsheet by selecting Data > Data validation.

IDG

How to apply conditional formatting to a dropdown

As mentioned previously, assigning different colors to the items in a dropdown can indicate their relative importance. Another way to do this is to assign background colors using conditional formatting rules. This gives you some additional options for highlighting the status of items in the list, including triggering colors based on formula calculations and displaying items along a color scale.

Note: Applying conditional formatting to dropdowns should not be used in addition to assigning colors to the items in a dropdown as described above, but as an alternative approach. Also, it works best with the arrow or plain text dropdown display styles. If you use the default chip style, the button will obscure most of the background color in the cell.

Assign color triggers to items in a dropdown

You can assign colors to numbers or number ranges that may show up when a formula in your dropdown list calculates them. For example, if the formula for an item in your dropdown list calculates the number 90 or above, then the cell background color could become green when the item is selected from the dropdown list. If the value for an item is calculated from 20 through 89, then the cell background color would become yellow.

Select the cell or cell range that contains the dropdown that you want to apply color triggers to. Then, on the toolbar above your spreadsheet, click Format > Conditional formatting. The “Conditional format rules” sidebar opens along the right.

Use the “Conditional format rules” sidebar to assign background colors to items if they meet certain criteria.

IDG

In the sidebar under the “Format rules” header, click Is not empty. From the long list that opens, select Greater than or equal to.

An entry box with the words “Value or Formula” appears. Type in a value — in this example, type 90.

Next, below the bar labeled “Default,” click the Fill color icon, a paint can. A color selection panel opens. For our example, select bright green.

Designate the formatting rules (left), value (middle), and fill color (right) for an item in the dropdown.

IDG

Near the bottom of the sidebar, click Add another rule.

Inside the entry box under “Greater than or equal to,” this time type 20. Then click the paint can icon and select the color yellow.

Finally, click the Done button.

Now if a formula in your selected cell range for this dropdown calculates 90 or above and the number is selected from the dropdown list, the background color of the cell will become green. If the formula calculates 20 or above (up to 89) and the number is selected from the dropdown list, the background color of the cell will become yellow.

When the value of the list item selected is 90 or above, the cell is colored green. When it’s 20 or above (but less than 90), the cell is yellow.

IDG

Of course, you aren’t limited to “Greater than or equal to” rules or even numerical values. When you click Is not empty, the list that opens contains several other rules that you can apply to trigger a change in background color, based on the text, date, or numerical value of the data in the cell.

Assign a color scale to items in a dropdown

You can assign a range of background colors to the items in your dropdown list. For example, you could set it so that if the user selects 100 from your dropdown list, the cell background color turns green. For 60, the cell background turns yellow. For 10, the cell background turns red. And for any numbers on your dropdown list that fall between two of these three, the background will appear as an intermediate shade between the two colors. This provides a visual indicator for the values of items in a dropdown list.

To illustrate this, let’s create a dropdown list that contains ten numbers (10, 20, 30, etc.) that can be selected.

Select the cell or cell range that contains the dropdown list, then click Format > Conditional formatting to open the “Conditional format rules” sidebar. On the sidebar, click the Color scale tab on the upper right. The sidebar will switch to the “Color scale” panel.

The default color scale in the “Conditional format rules” is subtle. For this demonstration, we’ll use more dramatic colors.

IDG

Next, under the “Format rules” heading, click Min value under “Minpoint” to open its dropdown menu. For our example, select Number. Type 10 in the entry box to the right.

Click the paint can icon to the right. From the color selection panel that opens, select the color red.

To set up a color range, assign a Minpoint, Midpoint, and Maxpoint value and color.

IDG

Select Number from the dropdown lists under “Midpoint” and “Maxpoint” too, and type in 60 and 100, respectively. Click their paint can icons and select the color yellow for Midpoint and green for Maxpoint. As you set these points and colors, you’ll see a preview of the whole color range just above.

Click the Done button.

Now when the number 60 is selected from the dropdown list, the cell’s background color turns to yellow. When you select 70, the background color turns to a yellow that has a tinge of green mixed in. When you select 100, the cell’s background color will be fully green.

Using a color scale provides a visual indicator for the values of items in a dropdown list.

IDG

Manage conditional formatting colors

If you want to change the background colors you’ve assigned to the items in a dropdown list, click to select the cell that contains the dropdown list, then click Format > Conditional formatting to open the “Conditional format rules” sidebar. In the sidebar you’ll see a list of the color assignments you’ve made for the dropdown list, each with its own color swatch.

Click the trashcan to remove a conditional color assignment.

IDG

To remove a color: Move the pointer over the color swatch and click the trashcan icon that appears to the right of the swatch.

To change a color: Click the color swatch. If it’s a single color, the sidebar will switch to the “Single color” panel. If it’s a range of colors, the sidebar will switch to the “Color scale” panel. Click the paint can icons on either panel to change colors.

To add a new color: Click Add another rule. The sidebar will switch to the “Single color” panel. If you want to assign a range of colors to the items in your dropdown list, click Scale color on the upper right to switch to this panel.

This article was originally published in November 2022 and updated in April 2024.

More Google Sheets tips

• How to use the new genAI template tool in Google Sheets
• How to use Google Sheets for project management
• How to use smart chips in Google Docs and Sheets
• Google Sheets: How to use filters and slicers
• Google Sheets: How to use PivotTables
• Google Sheets: Create an automatically updating spreadsheet
• All Google Workspace tips and tutorials

Collaboration Software, Enterprise Applications, G Suite, Google Sheets, Office Suites, Productivity Software, Vendors and Providers

Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscribers get more frequent software updates than those who have purchased Office without a subscription, which means subscribers have access to the latest features, security patches, and bug fixes. But it can be hard to keep track of the changes in each update and know when they’re available. We’re doing this for you, so you don’t have to.

Following are summaries of the updates to Office 365/Microsoft 365 for Windows, with the latest releases shown first. We’ll add info about new updates as they’re rolled out.

Note: This story covers updates released to regular Office 365/Microsoft 365 for Windows subscribers. If you’re a member of Microsoft’s Office Insider preview program or want to get a sneak peek at upcoming features, see the company’s “Release notes for Office for Windows Desktop (Beta builds)” page.

Version 2403 (Build 17425.20176)

Release date: April 9, 2024

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2403 (Build 17425.20176).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20184)

Release date: March 12, 2024

This build fixes three bugs: one in which Access closed unexpectedly, one in which Excel closed unexpectedly when opening files with pivot tables and table design in macro-enabled files, and one in which Word closed unexpectedly when the undo function was used.

This build also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20184).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20162)

Release date: March 4, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one that crashed Outlook when a link was clicked on, and another for the entire Office suite in which opened Office apps didn’t automatically start when a laptop was reopened, and an error message appeared after manual relaunch.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20162).

Version 2402 (Build 17328.20142)

Release date: February 28, 2024

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly when expanding a conversation in the search results from a search of “All Mailboxes,” and another in which users were not able to create a bullet list with hyphens in PowerPoint.

Get more info about Version 2402 (Build 17328.20142).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20236)

Release date: February 13, 2024

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which macros were being corrupted when saving Excel files and another that affected the entire Office suite in which add-ins would not load after Click trust for content add-in was selected.

This build also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20236).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20194)

Release date: February 1, 2024

This build fixes a single bug in which expanded groups in the message list collapsed when users changed which column they were arranged by.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20194).

Version 2401 (Build 17231.20182)

Release date: January 30, 2024

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which Excel would stop responding when saving changes, one in PowerPoint in which Notes and Slide layout would open with incorrect proportions when a file was opened from a protected view, and one in Word in which comment cards appeared too wide and cut off text when changing or switching the screen in use.

Get more info about Version 2401 (Build 17231.20182).

Version 2312 (Build 17126.20132)

Release date: January 9, 2024

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2312 (Build 17126.20132).

Version 2312 (Build 17126.20126)

Release date: January 4, 2023

This build introduces a new sensitivity toolbar in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that helps users understand the security policies that apply to their documents. It’s available when users are creating copies of their documents in File / Save As. In addition, Office now had a new default theme, which Microsoft says is “more modern and accessible.”

It also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which Custom Menu text was truncated when right-clicking in a cell, one in PowerPoint in which restoring a previous version of a presentation was not working as expected when using Version History, and one in Word in which the content control end tag was marked at the end of the document automatically if the document was edited in Word Online and then opened in Word desktop.

Get more info about  Version 2312 (Build 17126.20126).

Version 2311 (Build 17029.20108)

Release date: December 12, 2023

This build fixes one bug in Outlook, in which the message list was blank when switching between the “Focused” and “Other” views.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2311 (Build 17029.20108).

Version 2311 (Build 17029.20068)

Release date: November 29, 2023

This build automatically inserts image captioning for Excel’s images. When you insert an image into a spreadsheet, accessibility image captioning is automatically generated for you.

It also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which list box controls would not respond to mouse clicks after scrolling using the mouse wheel, and one in Word in which the language of a presentation was not retained when saving or exporting the presentation to a PDF file.

Get more info about Version 2311 (Build 17029.20068).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20150)

Release date: November 14, 2023

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which Outlook failed to comply with the default browser settings for some users, and another in which new lines were added to an Outlook signature when pressing Enter in the body of the email.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20150).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20124)

Release date: Oct. 31, 2023

This build fixes a bug that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly when clicking the More link in the Search results list.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20124).

Version 2310 (Build 16924.20106)

Release date: Oct. 25, 2023

In this build, the Teams Meeting App works in Outlook, too. With it, you’ll be able to configure a meeting app while scheduling an invite in Outlook. The meeting app will be ready to use when you chat or join the meeting on Teams.

A wide variety of bugs have also been fixed, including one in Excel where certain Pivot Tables would load slowly; one in which OneNote would close unexpectedly when rapidly navigating from one .PDF file to another .PDF file between different sections, or when performing an undo operation on a .PDF printout insertion; and one in the entire Office suite that caused unexpected black borders to appear around screen captures added with the Insert Screenshot functionality.

Get more info about Version 2310 (Build 16924.20106).

Version 2309 (Build 16827.20166)

Release date: October 10, 2023

This build fixes two bugs, one in which users were missing their Outlook add-ins, and another in Word in which subheading numbering with a custom Style would disappear if the file was saved and reopened. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2309 (Build 16827.20166).

Version 2309 (Build 16827.20130)

Release date: September 28, 2023

This build introduces two new features, including the ability to disable specific types of automatic data conversions in Excel and support for the “Present in Teams” button to present local files in PowerPoint Live in Microsoft Teams.

Several bugs have also been fixed, including one in which the setting to control how Outlook opens previous items at start-up was missing from the Options window, and another in Word in which the Add-ins tab was not visible when using custom toolbar information.

Get more info about Version 2309 (Build 16827.20130).

Version 2308 (Build 16731.20234)

Release date: September 12, 2023

This build fixes several bugs, including one that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when viewing an email, and another in PowerPoint in which the presenter view slide section zoomed in and out when zooming in the notes section.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2308 (Build 16731.20234).

Version 2308 (Build 16731.20170)

Release date: August 28, 2023

This build introduces several new features, including adding AutoComplete functionality to the Data Validation dropdown list in Excel, designed to make data entry and validation more efficient. In Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with 256-bit key length in Cipher Block Chaining mode (AES256-CBC) is now the default Microsoft Purview Information Protection encryption mechanism. (More details here.)

Several bugs in Outlook have also been fixed, including one that that caused Outlook to quit unexpectedly when users executed a search with the “All Mailboxes” scope, and another that caused Outlook to crash when non-HTTP links were clicked.

Get more info about Version 2308 (Build 16731.20170).

Version 2307 (Build 16626.20170)

Release date: August 8, 2023

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Excel in which certain macros used for updating charts caused Excel to close unexpectedly, and another in Outlook that caused Outlook to fail to show Top Search Results in some views. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2307 (Build 16626.20170).

Version 2307 (Build 16626.20134)

Release date: July 27, 2023

This build fixes an extended range of supported characters to prevent display issues in Office apps.

Get more info about Version 2307 (Build 16626.20134).

Version 2307 (Build 16626.20132)

Release date: July 26, 2023

This build includes several new features, including an improved way to recover from errors when collaborating in Word, and the ability to insert a live camera feed in all slides with one click in PowerPoint.

A number of bugs have also been fixed, including one in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word in which sensitivity labeling was unavailable for documents opened from SharePoint on-premises servers, and one in which Outlook would prompt you to save changes to a meeting when no changes were made.

Get more info about Version 2307 (Build 16626.20132).

Version 2306 (Build 16529.20182)

Release date: July 11, 2023

This build fixes an alert to better communicate text support for picture-to-drawing object conversion in Excel and Word. It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2306 (Build 16529.20182).

Version 2306 (Build 16529.20154)

Release date: June 26, 2023

This build includes several new features, including adding autocomplete capabilities to Excel’s Data Validation dropdown list, and giving Outlook pop-up messages that warn, justify, or block emails being sent based on sensitivity labels.

A number of bugs have also been fixed, including one in Outlook’s Me control that showed the wrong display name in Office apps, and one in Word in which doing a mail merge displayed the error “Microsoft Word is required to run the Mail Merge Wizard.”

Get more info about Version 2306 (Build 16529.20154).

Version 2305 (Build 16501.20210)

Release date: June 13, 2023

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2305 (Build 16501.20210).

Version 2305 (Build 16501.20196)

Release date: June 1, 2023

This build offers faster filtering when cells contain unique or duplicate rules in Excel, as well as a new accessibility ribbon tab in Outlook and PowerPoint for making emails and presentations more accessible.

It also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which Conditional Formatting rules were not being preserved after closing and reopening a workbook, one in Outlook in which people were shown the error “We cannot render Actionable Messages right now” when reading some email messages, and one in Access in which refreshing an ODBC connection to an Access database caused the operation to stop working after refreshing the link several times.

Get more info about Version 2305 (Build 16501.20196).

Version 2304 (Build 16327.20248)

Release date: May 9, 2023

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Outlook that caused users of the Event-Based feature to be unable to utilize some of the new APIs included in Mailbox Requirement Set 1.13, and one in Project in which users were unable to connect Project Client from the desktop to a Project Web Access site in Project Server 2016.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2304 (Build 16327.20248).

Version 2304 (Build 16327.20214)

Release date: April 25, 2023

This build offers several new features, including adding closed captions to audio objects in PowerPoint and web browser control for Edge in Access. (Access still supports Internet Explorer browser control.)

The build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which an Excel file could not be previewed in File Explorer if the file’s extension included a capital letter such as XLSX or Xlsx, and one in which PowerPoint sometimes crashed when opening a file.

Get more info about Version 2304 (Build 16327.20214).

Version 2303 (Build 16227.20280)

Release date: April 11, 2023

This build fixes two bugs, one that causes Access to close unexpectedly when exporting from an SAS application to a Microsoft Office format, and another in Outlook that hat caused some users to see the wrong Data Loss Prevention policy annotations in a multi-account profile.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2303 (Build 16227.20280).

Version 2303 (Build 16227.20258)

Release date: April 4, 2023

This build fixes two bugs in Outlook, one that caused the new labels to fail to appear for some users of the Label Inheritance feature, and another that caused the Suggested Replies feature to not be disabled when connected experiences are disabled.

Get more info about  Version 2303 (Build 16227.20258).

Version 2303 (Build 16227.20212)

Release date: March 28, 2023

This build offers a variety of new features, including the ability to assign a sublabel as the default when a parent label is selected in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. When using built-in sensitivity labels, admins can specify a sublabel to get applied automatically when a parent label is selected.

The build also disables the Azure Information Protection Add-in by default in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. The apps will now automatically disable the legacy Azure Information Protection add-in and use the built-in sensitivity labels to view and apply labels powered by Microsoft Purview Information Protection.

In addition, there is a new Sensitivity toolbar in Excel, PowerPoint, and Word that makes it easier to prevent data leaks. New sensitivity labels powered by Microsoft Purview Information Protection are now displayed alongside the filename in the app’s title bar, allowing you to easily recognize and adhere to your organization’s policies. The sensitivity toolbar is also available while saving new documents or renaming existing ones.

The build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when using Loop Components in an email, and another in which the task pane add-in API for Microsoft Project was not returning the proper value for the Summary, Milestone, and Active properties. A bug for the entire Office suite was fixed as well, in which spaces were not inserted properly when inserting text with dictation.

Get more info about Version 2303 (Build 16227.20212).

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20332)

Release date: March 20, 2023

This build fixes two bugs, one in Outlook in which some settings did not roam between machines when switching to Focused Inbox, and another in Project in which the task pane add-in API for Microsoft Project was not returning the proper value for the Summary, Milestone, and Active properties.

Get more info about Version 2302 (Build 16130.20332).

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20306)

Release date: March 14, 2023

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Outlook that caused users to see an inaccurate count of the number of new notifications present when opening the notification pane, and another in which the error message “The last time you opened filename, it caused serious error. Do you still want to open it?” may appear when creating Word documents through automation using templates.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about  Version 2302 (Build 16130.20306).

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20218)

Release date: February 28, 2023

This build offers several new features, including one for Excel, Word, and PowerPoint in which user-defined permissions support domain name restrictions. Now, when you choose a sensitivity label configured for user-defined permissions, domain names can be used to restrict file access to all individuals from that domain.

Three bugs have also been fixed, including one in which when clicking on an email notification of @mention in a comment, the Excel app would close unexpectedly if the workbook was already open and was in a hidden window.

Get more info about Version 2302 (Build 16130.20218).

Version 2301 (Build 16026.20200)

Release date: February 14, 2023

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which when clicking on an email notification of an @mention in a comment, the Excel app would close unexpectedly if the workbook was already open and was in a hidden window, and one for the entire Office suite that caused users to experience the application to close unexpectedly when clicking on some non-HTTP links.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2301 (Build 16026.20200).

Version 2301 (Build 16026.20146)

Release date: January 26, 2022

This build makes several improvements in Excel’s pivot tables, including new data support for pivot tables connected to Power BI, as well as new alerts about pivot table compatibility issues and providing documentation and workarounds for them.

It also fixes two bugs, one in Excel in which when you inserted a People Graph add-in in RTL Excel, the application closed unexpectedly, and another in PowerPoint in which you could not add or copy/paste a new slide to the presentation.

Get more info about Version 2301 (Build 16026.20146).

Version 2212 (Build 15928.20216)

Release date: January 10, 2023

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2212 (Build 15928.20216).

Version 2212 (Build 15928.20198)

Release date: January 4, 2022

This build lets you code-sign your Microsoft Access database and VBA code. Signing a database will allow VBA code in the database to be run even if Trust Center settings specify that only digitally signed code should be enabled.

In addition, you can now create tasks and assign them to team members without leaving Word by adding a comment, @mentioning your team member, pressing Ctrl + Enter, and checking Assign.

It also fixes a number of bugs, including one in Excel in which when you right-clicked on a chart and selected Edit, the application closed unexpectedly.

Get more info about Version 2212 (Build 15928.20198).

Version 2211 (Build 15831.20208)

Release date: December 13, 2022

This build fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2211 (Build 15831.20208).

Version 2211 (Build 15831.20190)

Release date: December 6, 2022

This build improves the spacing of the buttons in the Ribbon in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel when tablet posture is being used. It also adds the ability to insert images directly in cells in Excel, and to save media to a file in PowerPoint with closed captions included.

The build also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which when toggling the visibility of the Ribbon with sheet tabs hidden, the application would close unexpectedly, and one in Word in which changing the reading speed for Read Aloud would cause Word to stop working.

Get more info about Version 2211 (Build 15831.20190).

Version 2210 (Build 15726.20202)

Release date: November 8, 2022

This build fixes two bugs: One in Word in which when using Admin Managed Plugin and the Group Policy “Block all unmanaged add-ins,” the registry key name was case-sensitive, and one in OneNote that affected scrolling with touch.

It also fixes a number of security holes. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2210 (Build 15726.20202).

Version 2210 (Build 15726.20174)

Release date: October 27, 2022

This build lets you link charts to Dynamic array calculations in Excel, which can produce results of variable length. When the array recalculates, the chart will automatically update to capture all data instead of being limited to a specific number of data points. The build also lets you create e-signature approvals containing signature fields within Teams.

It fixes a number of bugs, including one in Outlook that caused emails to get stuck in the outbox for some profiles with multiple Exchange accounts configured, and another in PowerPoint that caused problems when updating links when the linked file was already open.

Get more info about  Version 2210 (Build 15726.20174).

Version 2209 (Build 15629.20208)

Release date: October 11, 2022

This build fixes a number of bugs, including one in Excel in which some content could have stopped working and not appear correctly after zooming with a touchpad, and another in Outlook that caused emails to get stuck in the outbox for some profiles with multiple Exchange accounts configured.

It also fixes a number of security holes in Word and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2209 (Build 15629.20208).

Version 2209 (Build 15629.20156)

Release date: September 26, 2022

This build adds several new features to Teams, including allowing meeting organizers to assign seats to participants in Together Mode, and the ability for people to see up to 49 videos (7×7) on their screen by default without any explicit action.

It also fixes a number of bugs, including one Outlook that caused users to experience a close unexpectedly when switching views in the calendar module, and another that crashed Outlook shortly after a boot.

Get more info about Version 2209 (Build 15629.20156).

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20148)

Release date: September 13, 2022

This build fixes a number of bugs, including one in Outlook that that caused the Customization Quick Access Toolbar file (.exportedUI) to not import when the simplified Ribbon is in use, and one in the entire Office suite that caused issues in Color Picker text selection scenarios with Shapes and SmartArt.

It also fixes a number of security holes in PowerPoint and Visio. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about  Version 2208 (Build 15601.20148).

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20088)

Release date: August 31, 2022

This build introduces a variety of new features, including protecting PDFs created using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, taking voice notes in OneNote, the addition of fourteen new text and array functions in Excel, and the ability to join Teams meeting by meeting ID and passcode from Teams rooms on Windows.

It also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Access that caused memory leaks when iterating over DAO record sets in VBA code in Excel, one in Word in which you could not copy rows of a table from older versions in Version History to the current version, and one in which Outlook sometimes closed unexpectedly when right-clicking on an app in the new app bar.

Get more info about Version 2208 (Build 15601.20088).

Version 2207 (Build 15427.20210)

Release date: August 9, 2022

This build fixes a bug in Outlook, which would sometimes crash after being opened.

It also fixes a number of security holes in Excel, Outlook, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2207 (Build 15427.20210).

Version 2207 (Build 15427.20194)

Release date: August 3, 2022

This build optimizes Excel recalculation on devices with constrained resources. On resource-constrained devices (two cores or less and eight gigabytes of RAM or less), Excel now by default makes recalculation more optimal by running calculations on a single thread.

In addition, Outlook gets a suggested replies feature that offers you three possible replies to simple messages. Word makes voice dictation easier.

A number of bugs were also fixed, including one in Excel in which cell references in charts were displaying incorrectly, and one in Word in which “paste as link” might not update automatically.

Get more info about Version 2207 (Build 15427.20194).

Version 2206 (Build 15330.20246)

Release date: July 18, 2022

This build fixes one bug in Access, in which when opening an ACCDE/MDE file, users may receive an error message with the text “Requested type library or wizard is not a VBA project.” Go here for more details.

Get more info about Version 2206 (Build 15330.20264).

Version 2206 (Build 15330.20246)

Release date: July 12, 2022

This build fixes one bug, in which Excel closed unexpectedly when interacting with fonts.

It also fixes a Windows Graphics Component Information Disclosure Vulnerability and a Microsoft Office Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability, both for the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2206 (Build 15330.20246).

Version 2206 (Build 15330.20230)

Release date: July 6, 2022

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in which Excel crashed when showing a live preview of a chart, one that caused OneNote to crash, one in Outlook in which users could not add room mailboxes to the calendar, and one in Word in which nested fields in headers displayed incorrectly while scrolling.

Get more info about Version 2206 (Build 15330.20230).

Version 2206 (Build 15330.20196)

Release date: June 29, 2022

This build introduces new Excel features such as the ability to quickly copy data from the status bar, including information from aggregations like “Sum,” “Average,” and “Count.” It also lets you find data more quickly in Excel by speeding up the AutoFilter function. In PowerPoint, you can now anchor comments to specific ranges of text.

The build also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which shared workbooks in .xls format improperly merged changes, one in Outlook in which users were not able to add room mailboxes to the calendar, and one in Word in which nested fields in headers displayed incorrectly while scrolling.

Get more info about Version 2206 (Build 15330.20196).

Version 2205 (Build 15225.20288)

Release date: June 14, 2022

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Word in which while coauthoring, some replies to comments weren’t shown until the next time a document was opened, and one in Outlook that caused users to see multiple copies of a shared calendar rendered in certain circumstances.

It also fixes a remote code execution vulnerability security for the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2205 (Build 15225.20288).

Version 2205 (Build 15225.20204)

Release date: May 24, 2022

This build offers new automatic groupings in Teams as suggestions to use in channel posts. For example, you can @TeamOwners in a channel posting and all Team Owners will be notified. It also fixes several bugs, including one in Excel in which the letter “j” was not being properly inserted, one in Outlook that caused users to see the error “Cannot perform the requested operation…” when attempting to expand a local contact group, and one in which the entire Office suite crashed when rendering code.

Get more info about Version 2205 (Build 15225.20204).

Version 2204 (Build 15128.20248)

Release date: May 17, 2022

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Outlook that caused users to see the error “Cannot perform the requested operation…” when attempting to expand a local contact group; one in Word in which the Office “Insert Screenshot” showed blank/incomplete screenshots for Office Apps; and one in the entire Office suite in which font download requests for endpoints that don’t support font service were being issued.

Get more info about Version 2204 (Build 15128.20248).

Version 2204 (Build 15128.20224)

Release date: May 10, 2022

This build fixes several bugs, including one that caused Excel to consume excessive memory, one in Word in which in which a document scrolled to the end after deleting a paragraph mark, and an issue with rendering in Excel and Project when using certain older versions of Windows 11.

It also offers a security update for Excel and one for the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2204 (Build 15128.20224).

Version 2204 (Build 15128.20178)

Release date: April 26, 2022

This build reduces unwanted fragmenting of conditional formatting rules in Excel, and also improves Power BI dataset request access from Excel.

It also fixes several bugs, including one in Access that that prevented Outlook event-based add-ins from functioning properly, one that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly during launch when connected to a OneDrive for Business endpoint with no service URL, and one for the entire Office suite in which the font drop-down would not accurately reflect what font was selected in a shape.

Get more info about Version 2204 (Build 15128.20178).

Version 2203 (Build 15028.20228)

Release date: April 20, 2022

This build fixes three bugs, one in Access that prevented Outlook Event-Based Add-Ins from functioning properly, one in Outlook that caused EU users to see information missing from person cards, and another in Outlook that caused users to experience a “stop responding” when responding to certain contacts.

(Get more info about Version 2203 (Build 15028.20228).

Version 2203 (Build 15028.20204)

Release date: April 12, 2022

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Outlook in which the “Move to Other” functionality stopped working properly, and another for the entire Office suite in which the font drop-down would not accurately reflect what font was selected in a shape.

It also offers security updates for Excel. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2203 (Build 15028.20204).

Version 2203 (Build 15028.20160)

Release date: March 30, 2022

This build introduces one new feature, a navigation pane for Excel that lets you see the layout of your workbook at a glance and navigate through its elements quickly. The build also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which using custom command bars could cause Excel to crash, one in Outlook that caused the “Index out of date” message to display too often, one in Word that caused a performance issue when opening Word documents with thousands of track changes, and one for the entire Office suite that caused contact cards to display improperly

Get more info about Version 2203 (Build 15028.20160).

Version 2202 (Build 14931.20132)

Release date: March 8, 2022

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Outlook that caused users to experience performance issues when switching folders due to a corrupt view setting. It also offers security updates for Visio and Word. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about  Version 2202 (Build 14931.20132).

Version 2202 (Build 14931.20120)

Release date: February 28, 2022

This build offers a wide variety of new features, including one in Excel that disables Excel 4.0 (XML) macros by default to improve security; one in Word that lets you proofread selected text with Editor; one in Outlook that lets you visualize and explore your company’s internal structure, work teams, and individual roles; and one on PowerPoint that lets you pre-record video with animation. It also has many new Teams features, including enabling Teams app developers to test their monetized apps within Teams clients, and the addition of a new compact view in Chat.

Many bugs were also fixed, including one in Outlook in which the folder hierarchy did not synchronize all folders for very large primary mailboxes with more than 100,00 folders, and another in Word in which SVG images that contain external content weren’t showing up.

Get more info about Version 2202 (Build 14931.20120).

Version 2201 (Build 14827.20198)

Release date: February 16, 2022

This build fixes a single bug in Access that caused errors while running an application.

Get more info about Version 2201 (Build 14827.20198).

Version 2201 (Build 14827.20192)

Release date: February 8, 2022

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which people could not save their files in Project. It also offers security updates for Excel, Visio, and the entire Office suite. For details, see the Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2201 (Build 14827.20192).

Version 2201 (Build 14827.20158)

Release date: January 26, 2022

This build includes a variety of feature updates, including easier scrolling through Excel spreadsheets that are large or that have very wide cells, new Cortana features for Teams, and an improved address book search in Outlook.

A number of bugs were fixed, including one in Outlook that caused applications to become unresponsive after loading a contact card, one in Word in which “Repeat style” applies Normal instead of repeating the style, and another in Access that caused the Insights add-in to stop working intermittently.

Get more info about Version 2201 (Build 14827.20158).

Version 2112 (Build 14729.20260)

Release date: January 12, 2022

This build includes a variety of bugs and performance fixes.

Get more info about Version 2112 (Build 14729.20260).

Version 2112 (Build 14729.20248)

Release date: January 11, 2022

This build fixes a bug in Excel in which shapes and form controls could not call VBA macros. It also offers security updates for two Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities. For details, see “Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.”

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2112 (Build 14729.20248).

Version 2112 (Build 14729.20194)

Release date: January 4, 2022

This build offers a variety of new features, including the ability to track only your own changes in Word when collaborating, an improved way to search Outlook’s calendar, and several new features in Teams, including one that lets you “raise your hand” virtually to let people know you want to contribute without interrupting the conversation.

It also fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Access that that caused an application to close unexpectedly when connection to an Access or Jet database using multiple threads, and one in Outlook that caused users to see garbled text in some fields when exporting contacts to a CSV.

Get more info about Version 2112 (Build 14729.20194).

Version 2111 (Build 14701.20262)

Release date: December 16, 2021

This build fixes two bugs, one in Access that prevented multiple users from opening a database on a network file share, and for the entire Office suite related to refreshing elements that may contain text.

Get more info about Version 2111 (Build 14701.20262).

Version 2111 (Build 14701.20248)

Release date: December 14, 2021

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which opening an XLSM file in the SpreedsheetCompare tool sometimes caused the tool to stop responding, and one in which the teaching callouts (tips) about the new look of Office did not appear in Outlook.

It also offers security updates for Excel and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2111 (Build 14701.20248).

Version 2111 (Build 14701.20226)

Release date: December 3, 2021

This build fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which newly created PivotTables could lose custom settings if the data source range was changed; another in PowerPoint and Word in which some pop-up UI elements could not be clicked, such as the Join Meeting pop-up in Outlook or the Welcome Back pop-up in PowerPoint; and another in Project in which some projects would close unexpectedly when loading customized reports.

Get more info about Version 2111 (Build 14701.20226).

Version 2110 (Build 14527.20312)

Release date: December 1, 2021

This build fixes several bugs, including one that wouldn’t allow people to insert their signatures into new emails, replies, or forwards after a restart of Outlook, and another in which the theme picker in Word’s File > Options menu for x64 users didn’t work.

Get more info about Version 2110 (Build 14527.20312).

Version 2110 (Build 14527.20276)

Release date: November 9, 2021

This build fixes a variety of bugs, including one in Excel in which when opening linked tables to Dynamics, numbers may appear as small squares when the data is displayed, and one in Project in which when tasks are rescheduled, manually scheduled tasks may be scheduled earlier than they should be. It also offers security updates for Excel, Word, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2110 (Build 14527.20276).

Version 2110 (Build 14527.20234)

Release date: October 28, 2021

This build fixes several small bugs, including one in Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word in which each app stopped responding when drawing an image.

Get more info about Version 2110 (Build 14527.20234).

Version 2110 (Build 14527.20226)

Release date: October 25, 2021

This build includes a wide variety of new features, including several dozen in Teams, ranging from making Live Transcript available for web users of Teams meetings, a new Question & Answer application for Teams webinars & meetings, and allowing people to join meetings in other clouds anonymously from the Teams desktop app.

Several Office bugs were also fixed, including one in Excel in which a query update caused Excel to stop responding, and one in Outlook that caused a sync failure to occur when generating a preview.

Get more info about Version 2110 (Build 14527.20226).

Version 2109 (Build 14430.20306)

Release date: October 14, 2021

This build offers a variety of unnamed bug fixes and performance fixes.

Get more info about Version 2109 (Build 14430.20306).

Version 2109 (Build 14430.20298)

Release date: October 12, 2021

This build offers security updates for Excel, Visio, Word, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2109 (Build 14430.20298).

Version 2109 (Build 14430.20270)

Release date: October 6, 2021

This build fixes a bug in Outlook that caused some users to experience a stop responding when attempting to retrieve AutoDiscover settings.

Get more info about Version 2109 (Build 14430.20270).

Version 2109 (Build 14430.20234)

Release date: September 28, 2021

This build introduces more than a dozen new Teams features, including one in which you can now define a default number of days to keep Teams meeting recordings saved to OneDrive and SharePoint before they are automatically deleted, and the introduction of the Network Planner for government clouds to help you determine and organize network requirements for connecting Microsoft Teams users across an organization.

It also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint in which some users could not export documents to PDF or XPS formats, and another in Word in which the insert online video button was disabled.

Get more info about Version 2109 (Build 14430.20234).

Version 2108 (Build 14326.20404)

Release date: September 14, 2021

This build fixes a single small bug and includes security updates. The bug fixed is one that caused a loss of HTML formatting when a draft of an email was saved to disk.

The security updates are for Access, Excel, Visio, Word, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2108 (Build 14326.20404).

Version 2108 (Build 14326.20348)

Release date: September 7, 2021

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Excel in which not all columns appeared when linking to or importing from a Dynamics table, one in Outlook that that caused Room Finder to fail to load, and one in Word in which the print preview was not loading when using Print.

Get more info about Version 2108 (Build 14326.20348).

Version 2108 (Build 14326.20238)

Release date: August 25, 2021

This build introduces many new features for Microsoft Teams, including the ability for meeting participants to transfer calls between desktop and mobile, a “top hits” section added to the top of search autosuggestions, and live captions being made available to users accessing Teams meetings via the web.

The build also fixes a wide variety of bugs, including one in which connecting to a data source from within the PowerPivot window in Excel was not working, one that crashed Outlook while email was being composed, one in Word in which the Insert Online Video button was disabled, and one for the entire Office suite in which some documents failed to load after using some web add-ins.

Get more info about Version 2108 (Build 14326.20238).

Version 2107 (Build 14228.20250)

Release date: August 10, 2021

This build fixes a variety of small bugs and includes security updates. Among the bugs fixed are one in Excel that caused some linked Dynamics tables to stop responding and one in multiple Office apps in which document exports to PDF or XPS formats stopped responding due to recent updates.

The security updates are for Word and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2107 (Build 14228.20250).

Version 2107 (Build 14228.20226)

Release date: August 3, 2021

This build fixes two bugs in Outlook. One caused emails resent by a different user to appear to have been sent by the original sender in organizations that enable Send From Alias. The other caused users to see duplicate time entries in the end meeting time drop-down when the start of the meeting and the end of the meeting were on different dates.

Get more info about Version 2107 (Build 14228.20226).

Version 2107 (Build 14228.20204)

Release date: July 26, 2021

This build offers several minor new features and fixes a variety of bugs. Among the new features are one in which you can use the Immersive Reader in Outlook to create custom text spacing, page colors, column width, and line focus, and another in PowerPoint adds Flipgrid video support.

Among the bugs fixed are one Word in which comment cards next to the Word canvas were the incorrect size, and one in which Outlook crashed for some people when performing searches.

Get more info about Version 2107 (Build 14228.20204).

Version 2106 (Build 14131.20332)

Release date: July 20, 2021

This build fixes several small bugs in Outlook, including one that caused some users to experience an unexpected close when Outlook was collecting diagnostic information, and another that caused Cloud Settings users to experience an unexpected close when an incompletely configured account was present in the profile.

Get more info about Version 2106 (Build 14131.20332).

Version 2106 (Build 14131.20320)

Release date: July 13, 2021

This build fixes a variety of small bugs and includes security updates. Among the bugs fixed are one in Outlook that caused some systems to crash while retrieving service-powered search suggestions, and one for the entire Office suite related to instability during DirectX device loss and recovery situations.

The security updates are for Excel, Word, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2106 (Build 14131.20320).

Version 2106 (Build 14131.20278)

Release date: June 29, 2021

This build introduces several new minor features for Outlook, including one that includes the most relevant files related to your search when you type in the Search box, and another alerts you if any suspicious sign-in activity is detected and tells you when and where you last signed into your account.

It also fixes a variety of small bugs, including one in Outlook that disabled translation options for some people, and one in PowerPoint in which people couldn’t to enter credentials into a Windows Security dialog to open a file, because a PowerPoint dialog box obstructed it.

Get more info about Version 2106 (Build 14131.20278).

Version 2105 (Build 14026.20308)

Release date: June 18, 2021

This build fixes several small bugs, including one in Outlook that caused users to experience an unexpected property change prompt when closing a message they had replied to or forwarded, and other for the entire Office suite in which Office crashed when reopening certain files.

Get more info about Version 2105 (Build 14026.20308).

Version 2105 (Build 14026.20270)

Release date: June 8, 2021

This build fixes a variety of small bugs and includes security updates. Among the bugs fixed are one in Excel in which extra entries appeared in the Excel Add-in list for some users, one in Outlook that caused it to close when interacting with Outlook Mail or Calendar Views, and one for the entire Office suite that caused a performance regression on opening SyncBacked files.

The security updates are for Access, Excel, Outlook, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2105 (Build 14026.20270).

Version 2105 (Build 14026.20246)

Release date: May 24, 2021

This build includes nearly two dozen new features in Teams: anonymous users can join a Live Event so that they can present during the event, webinars can be scheduled and delivered for up to 1,000 people at a time, and users can create group chats that include people external to their organization who use Teams.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint now allow documents encrypted with sensitivity labels to be AutoSaved and co-authored with others in real time. (Unencrypted documents have this feature already.)

There are also a wide variety of resolved issues, including fixing a bug in Word in which the Editor Pane didn’t open, and one in PowerPoint in which the Reuse Slides option was not available for some users.

Get more info about Version 2105 (Build 14026.20246).

Version 2104 (Build 13929.20386)

Release date: May 18, 2021

This build fixes two issues with Outlook, one that caused the people picker in Outlook to expand upward rather than downward for users with a perpetual license, and another that caused the feedback option to fail to appear for users of the Office Perpetual 2021 preview.

Get more info about Version 2104 (Build 13929.20386).

Version 2104 (Build 13929.20372)

Release date: May 11, 2021

This build fixes a variety of small bugs and includes security updates. Among the bugs fixed are one in which a major version build rollback could result in crashes when opening files in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, and one that caused Word to unexpectedly close when the user logged off or restarted their computer.

The security updates are for Access, Excel, Word, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2104 (Build 13929.20372).

Version 2104 (Build 13929.20296)

Release date: April 29, 2021

This build offers a variety of feature updates, including the addition of new linked data types in Excel, improved collaboration and a dark mode in Word, a set of ready-made graphics in Visio, and the ability to create an out-of-office message in Teams.

There are also a variety of bug fixes, including for one in Excel in which some automation add-ins for Excel couldn’t load, another in Excel that caused users to see signatures disappear unexpectedly, one in Project in which users were unable to remove projects from the resource pool, and one in Word in which some texts weren’t visible when using the dark mode theme in reading mode.

Get more info about Version 2104 (Build 13929.20296).

Version 2103 (Build 13901.20400)

Release date: April 13, 2021

This build fixes several small bugs throughout Office and includes security updates. Among the bugs fixed are ones in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word that caused a resource contention issue when drawing an image.

The security updates are for Excel, Outlook, Word, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Microsoft’s Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2103 (Build 13901.20400).

Version 2103 (Build 13901.20336)

Release date: April 2, 2021

This build fixes a bug in Outlook in which a component of Outlook used by MAPI-enabled applications on computers with ARM processors caused searches to fail or put extra load on the computer as background apps restarted repeatedly.

 Get more info about Version 2103 (Build 13901.20336).

Version 2103 (Build 13901.20312)

Release date: March 30, 2021

This build offers several new features, including getting meeting suggestions when you search for someone in Outlook; being able to send a copy of email messages or conversations, including attachments, from Outlook into Teams chats and channels; and drafting documents with your voice in Word.

In addition, a number of bugs were resolved, including fixing an issue that crashed Outlook when it was syncing folder hierarchy changes, and fixing a bug in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word in which disabled commands in the Office Ribbon would only have the icon grayed out but not the text in Dark Gray Office Theme.

Get more info about Version 2103 (Build 13901.20312).

Version 2102 (Build 13801.20360)

Release date: March 18, 2021

This build fixes several bugs, including one in Outlook that caused users of the Cloud Settings feature to see customized settings overridden by default setting after configuring Outlook on a new device, and one in Word in which typing at the end of a hidden paragraph cased Word to hang.

Get more info about Version 2102 (Build 13801.20360).

Version 2102 (Build 13801.20294)

Release date: March 9, 2021

This build fixes several small bugs with Outlook and includes security updates. Among the bugs fixed are one that in which newly added calendars didn’t appear in the navigation pane until after Outlook had been restarted, and one in Word in which Narrator skipped over paragraphs.

The security updates are for Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, and the entire Office suite. For details, see Release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2102 (Build 13801.20294).

Version 2102 (Build 13801.20266)

Release date: March 1, 2021

This build introduces a number of new features. In Excel, you can now unhide multiple sheets at a time, and you can also resize Conditional Formatting dialogs. Outlook gets an updated Contacts view list. Teams lets you send “reactions” to others during meetings. In addition, you can add a channel to a calendar tab. Excel, PowerPoint, and Word now require that users apply sensitivity labels to documents if their organization’s policy requires it.

The build also fixes a number of issues. In Excel, an issue was fixed that prevented users from exporting an Excel workbook to PDF. In Outlook, an issue was fixed that caused users to see duplicate calendar groups appearing after creating a new group. In Word, an issue was fixed in resolving conflicts while in coauthoring.

Get more info about Version 2102 (Build 13801.20266).

Version 2101 (Build 13628.20448)

Release date: February 16, 2021

This build fixes several bugs, including one in which Outlook sometimes closed unexpectedly when users were doing a search, and another in Outlook that caused mails to be sent as digitally signed after the user unchecked that option.

It also fixes two bugs for the entire Office suite, including one related to media controller event notifications and another related to media player engine timing.

Get more info about Version 2101 (Build 13628.20448).

Version 2101 (Build 13628.20380)

Release date: February 9, 2021

This build fixes several issues with Outlook and includes security updates for Excel. Among the Outlook bugs fixed are one that caused Cloud Settings users to experience a hang when updating settings, and another that caused issues with displaying the correct default signature in OWA.

The security updates fixed three Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities. For details, see the release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2101 (Build 13628.20380).

Version 2101 (Build 13628.20274)

Release date: January 26, 2021

This build offers a variety of new features, including allowing government customers to apply sensitivity labels to documents and emails in Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Word. It also automatically sends audit data about that sensitivity labeling to Microsoft 365 administrators. Additionally, in Outlook, you can now delete conversations based on message owners.

There are also a variety of bug fixes, including for a bug in which Excel would fail to launch or close unexpectedly if certain Windows Security exploit protection settings (SimExec, CallerCheck) were in use, another in which Outlook closed unexpectedly in certain search scenarios, and another in Project in which borders weren’t showing up for tasks in the Team Planner view.

Get more info about Version 2101 (Build 13628.20274).

Version 2012 (Build 13530.20440)

Release date: January 21, 2021

This build fixes a handful of bugs, including one in Outlook that caused users that have Shared or Delegated Mailboxes with large hierarchies in their profile to encounter hangs, and other that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly in certain search scenarios.

Get more info about Version 2012 (Build 13530.20440).

Version 2012 (Build 13530.20376)

Release date: January 12, 2021

This build fixes two bugs, one in which Excel would fail to launch or close unexpectedly if certain Windows Security exploit protection settings (SimExec, CallerCheck) were in use, and another in Outlook that that caused an edited signature to fail to save after prompting the user to do so.

There are also a variety of security fixes for Excel, Word, and the entire Office suite.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2012 (Build 13530.20376).

Version 2012 (Build 13530.20316)

Release date: January 5, 2021

This build lets you change your Outlook settings in the cloud, such as for Automatic Replies, Focused Inbox, and Privacy, and have them available on all of your PCs. PowerPoint gets a new feature called Presenter Coach that helps you helps you prepare to give more effective presentations.

There are also a variety of bug fixes, including for a bug in Outlook that that caused some people to encounter a hang while loading their calendar, and another in PowerPoint in which fonts didn’t properly display inside equations.

Get more info about Version 2012 (Build 13530.20316).

Version 2011 (Build 13426.20404)

Release date: December 21, 2020

This minor build fixes three issues, one in which Excel would incorrectly show in the message bar that a new version of a file is available and force the user to save their changes in a copy of the workbook or discard their changes; another in which Excel left macros disabled without prompting when opening an Excel Add-in file containing Excel 4.0 macros; and one for the entire Office suite, in which a file would be opened as NOT SyncBacked when the URL from cache and the URL from OneDrive did not match.

Get more info about Version 2011 (Build 13426.20404).

Version 2011 (Build 13426.20332)

Release date: December 8, 2020

This minor fixes a single issue for the entire Office suite in which SaveRequestManagerCam was causing the application to close instead of returning an error.

It also has security updates for Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint. Get details here.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2011 (Build 13426.20332).

Version 2011 (Build 13426.20308)

Release date: December 2, 2020

This minor build fixes several minor issues, including one in Outlook that caused the original attendees of some meetings to receive a cancellation when another attendee forwards the meeting, and another in which installing a newer version of Office over certain older versions caused impaired functionality, such as being unable to use Power Query.

Get more info about Version 2011 (Build 13426.20308).

Version 2011 (Build 13426.20294)

Release date: November 30, 2020

This build fixes two minor issues, one that caused problems when copying and pasting an equation from Word to PowerPoint, and another in Word in which document styles were being replaced with other styles from the template.

Get more info about Version 2011 (Build 13426.20294).

Version 2011 (Build 13426.20274)

Release date: November 23, 2020

This build offers a variety of minor new features, including the ability to paste SVG files from Office into third-party apps, and being able to switch Office themes automatically to match your Windows 10 theme settings. There are also several bug fixes, including fixing an issue in Outlook that caused the To field to be blank when sending a status report on a task, and one in PowerPoint in which some corrupt PowerPoint files were not opening correctly, even after a document repair operation.

Get more info about Version 2011 (Build 13426.20274).

Version 2010 (Build 13328.20408)

Release date: November 17, 2020

This build fixes a handful of minor bugs in Office, including one that broke the MailItem.BeforeAttachmentAdd event in Outlook, and one that affected the entire Office suite in which Save As would fail in certain scenarios.

Get more info about Version 2010 (Build 13328.20408).

Version 2010 (Build 13328.20356)

Release date: November 10, 2020

This build fixes two minor bugs and includes security updates. It fixes an Outlook issue in which users couldn’t grant Editor permission to their delegates, and an issue with the entire Office suite in which files that were transitioned from synced to server-only couldn’t be saved.

There are also security updates for Excel, Word and the entire Office suite. For details, see the release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2010 (Build 13328.20356).

Version 2010 (Build 13328.20292)

Release date: October 27, 2020

This build offers several  new features, including the ability to insert iPhone photos directly into Office apps. You can now also create data types with Power Query from any power source. Outlook can now check your grammar as you type. In Teams, you can pin any message in a channel onto the channel info pane.  

There are also a wide variety of bug fixes, including for a bug in Outlook that that caused Cloud Settings not to be turned on by default, one in which Project could crash when opening files where resource contours were specified in a certain manner, and one for the entire Office suite in which when printing to an inkjet printer, the printer reports “Toner Low” or “No Toner” even though inkjet printers don’t use toner.

Get more info about Version 2010 (Build 13328.20292).

Version 2009 (Build 13231.20418)

Release date: October 21, 2020

This build fixes several minor bugs, including one that closed Outlook unexpectedly when selecting a search result, and one in PowerPoint in which the forms content add-in didn’t render after insertion until the user clicked to another slide to make it show.

Get more info about Version 2009 (Build 13231.20418).

Version 2009 (Build 13231.20390)

Release date: October 13, 2020

This build fixes one minor bug and includes several security fixes. It fixes an issue in which Project may have crashed on opening files where resource contours were specified in a certain manner.

It has security fixes for Access, Excel, Outlook, Word, and the entire Office suite. For details, see the release notes for Microsoft Office security updates.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2009 (Build 13231.20390).

Version 2009 (Build 13231.20368)

Release date: October 8, 2020

This build fixes several minor bugs and has a security fix. It fixes an issue that caused Outlook to unexpectedly start in an offline state, and one for the entire Office suite in which when printing to an inkjet printer, the printer reports “Toner Low” or “No Toner” even though inkjet printers don’t use toner.

It also fixed a security issue in PowerPoint that disabled IRM protections when opening a PowerPoint file in Protected View.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2009 (Build 13231.20368).

Version 2009 (Build 13231.20262)

Release date: September 28, 2020

This build offers several minor new features and fixes a number of bugs. In Excel, you can now save shapes as pictures and can create named variables in new or pre-existing formulas. Outlook has a new profile card with an improved organization view, which matches the card style of Outlook on the web.

Among the bugs fixed are an issue with the Style Gallery dialog in Word, one in PowerPoint that caused slow coauthoring on files containing large numbers of the E2o data object, and one for the entire Office suite in which the Export to Animated GIF feature was not working.

Get more info about Version 2009 (Build 13231.20262). Version 2008 (Build 13127.20508)

Release date: September 22, 2020

This build fixes several small bugs, including one in which Excel could crash when using the Quick Analysis after freezing the top row of the sheet, and another in Outlook that caused users to be unable to close shared calendars by clicking on the “X” in the corner.

Get more info about Version 2008 (Build 13127.20508).

Version 2008 (Build 13127.20408)

Release date: September 9, 2020

This build fixes several small bugs, including one in which Excel could crash in certain circumstances when using the Format Painter, and another in Word in which a user might lose content when resizing a shape.

Get more info about Version 2008 (Build 13127.20408).

Version 2008 (Build 13127.20296)

Release date: August 31, 2020

This build offers a variety of new features and includes several bug fixes. You can now pin folders from the Save dialog in Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Across the entire Office suite, you can switch among multiple panes using a tab on the right side of an app. (The tab only appears if you have two or more panes open.) In Teams, you can use a variety of Cortana voice skills, such as for meetings or collaboration. In Outlook, when you include a link in an email, the file name automatically replaces the URL.

Among the bugs fixed are one that caused crashes when replying to or composing new email in Outlook, and another in Project in which project finish dates weren’t getting updated for projects connected to SharePoint tasks lists.

Get more info about Version 2008 (Build 13127.20296).

Version 2007 (Build 13029.20460)

Release date: August 25, 2020

This build includes a variety of minor bug fixes, including for one in Excel that occurred when trying to save a file that contained a formula with the LET() function, another in Outlook that caused issues when navigating in compact views, and another for the entire Office suite in which a crash could occur when a document was closed while the Share pane was open.

Get more info about Version 2007 (Build 13029.20460).

Version 2007 (Build 13029.20344)

Release date: August 11, 2020

This build includes 13 security updates, including for Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities for Excel, Access, and the entire Office suite, as well as Information Disclosure Vulnerabilities for Excel, Word, Outlook and the entire Office suite. For details, see the Release notes for Microsoft Office Security Updates.

This build also fixes several small bugs, including one that caused Outlook to fail to retrieve search suggestions, and another that caused devices to occasionally crash when retrieving personal information from Outlook.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2007 (Build 13029.20344).

Version 2007 (Build 13029.20308)

Release date: July 30, 2020

This build offers a variety of new features and squashes several bugs. You can now create pivot tables from datasets in Power BI within Excel, and also connect to, import, and refresh data from a PDF in Excel.

In Outlook you can create polls with Quick Poll and quickly reopen items from previous sessions. PowerPoint and Word now let you auto-apply or recommend sensitivity labels. Teams gets a variety of changes, including simplified notification settings and turning off previews for your chat notifications.

Among the issues fixed are one that caused and error or hang in Excel when loading a workbook with multiple sheets in page break preview and another in Project in which the task selected in the assign resources dialog wasn’t the same as the task selected in the task board view. A bug was fixed for the entire Office suite that caused a runtime message to show even though the transition to the full product is complete.

Get more info about Version 2007 (Build 13029.20308).

Version 2006 (Build 13001.20498)

Release date: July 28, 2020

This build fixes several minor issues, including one in Word and Outlook that caused problems when copying and pasting SVG images, and a timing issue for the entire Office suite that caused crashes when closing office files.

Get more info about Version 2006 (Build 13001.20498).

Version 2006 (Build 13001.20384)

Release date: July 14, 2020

This build squashed a number of bugs and includes security updates. Among the issues resolved are one in Access that caused a problem when inserting linked SQL tables that include an identity (e.g., autonumber) field, and one in Excel that could cause a crash when trying to create a data connection if you have signed out from your account.

Among the security updates are ones that fixed a Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities in Excel, Outlook, Project, Word and the entire Office suite, among others. For details and a complete list, see the Microsoft 365 Apps Security Updates release notes.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2006 (Build 13001.20384).

Version 2006 (Build 13001.20266)

Release date: June 30, 2020

This build offers a variety of new Office feature and squashes a number of bugs. Excel now supports OneDrive/SharePoint files with names and paths of up to 400 characters. Among other changes, PowerPoint has improved streaming video performance, Teams gets a simplified way to manage channel notification settings, and Outlook offers an option to disable @ mention suggestions when you’re composing mail in Outlook.

Among the issues resolved are one that which caused CustomUI XML for a custom ribbon tab to be removed when saving to SharePoint/OneDrive, one that caused users of the Shared Calendar improvements to see calendar failures in Outlook, and another that wouldn’t allow projects to be opened in the Project desktop client from Project Web App if the URL ended in .com.

Get more info about Version 2006 (Build 13001.20266).

Version 2005 (Build 12827.20470)

Release date: June 24, 2020

This build fixes a variety of issues throughout Office 365/Microsoft 365. In Excel, a bug that caused CustomUI XML for a custom ribbon tab to be removed when saving to SharePoint/OneDrive was fixed. Among the several Outlook problems resolved are one that caused users to see Outlook continuously prompt them to run the Inbox Repair tool. Word resolved an issue that may have caused a crash when dragging some content from the app. In PowerPoint an issue that caused the suggestion pane to crash was fixed.

Get more info about Version 2005 (Build 12827.20470).

Version 2005 (Build 12827.20336)

Release date: June 9, 2020

This build fixes a number of issues and has several security updates. In Excel, a bug was fixed in which Excel could crash when PivotTables were inserted into a chart sheet. In Project, an issue was fixed in which the ProjectBeforeTaskChange event didn’t fire when there was a change to the project summary task.

This build includes security fixes for two Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities, a Microsoft Outlook Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability, a Microsoft Project Information Disclosure Vulnerability, and a Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. For details, see these release notes.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2005 (Build 12827.20336).

Version 2005 (Build 12827.20268)

Release date: June 2, 2020

This build offers multiple feature updates and fixes a number of issues. In Excel, when you type a data value that resembles a stock or a geographic location, Excel offers to convert it to the right data type, either Stocks or Geography. Outlook’s Calendar has gotten a makeover that makes it easier to scan. PowerPoint lets you use Surface Earbuds to control your presentation. Teams has many new features, including one that allows participants to raise a virtual hand in meetings, and another that lets them customize meeting video backgrounds. Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word can now use animated GIFs.

Among the resolved issues are one in which Excel could become unresponsive after using Ctrl+Shift+Arrow keys to scroll when the Excel window is shared through Teams, one in Outlook that caused users to experience a crash when submitting feedback from an Admin Notification, and one throughout the Office suite in which in Visual Basic for Applications in Microsoft Office, certain VBA projects that contained references to code libraries with DBCS characters in the library name or library path would be viewed by the Office application as corrupt on load.

Get more info about Version 2005 (Build 12827.20268).

Version 2004 (Build 12730.20352)

Release date: May 21, 2020

This minor build fixes several bugs, including one in Excel in which the external link stopped working after the file was reopened if the file path was too long, one in Outlook that that caused users to experience crashes when submitting feedback from an Admin Notification, and one that affected the entire Office suite, in which Visual Basic for Applications projects with references that were expected to be found by searching locations specified in the PATH environment variable would not be found properly at runtime, leading to VBA runtime errors.

Get more info about Version 2004 (Build 12730.20352).

Version 2004 (Build 12730.20270)

Release date: May 12, 2020

This build fixes an Outlook issue that caused users to experience a crash when displaying toast notifications. It also includes a security fix for a Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. For details about the security fix, see these release notes.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2004 (Build 12730.20270).

Version 2004 (Build 12730.20250)

Release date: May 4, 2020

This minor update fixes an issue in Visual Basic for Applications throughout Microsoft Office in which certain VBA projects that contain references to code libraries with DBCS characters in the library name or library path were viewed by the Office application as corrupt on loading.

Get more info about Version 2004 (Build 12730.20250).

Version 2004 (Build 12730.20236)

Release date: April 29, 2020

This update includes a variety of minor updates and bug fixes. Excel no longer supports external data connections that use the Facebook connector, Outlook now lets you join meetings without leaving your Inbox, and Access offers several new improvements to help be more productive working in Query Designer, SQL view, and the Relationships window. Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word now have access to thousands of royalty-free stock images, icons, and stickers.

Among the bugs fixed are one that caused cause Excel to crash in some cases after copying a sheet containing a PivotTable, another that caused some users to experience a hang while exiting Outlook, and one that affected the entire Office suite, preventing users from restricting access and protecting files with a password simultaneously.

Get more info about Version 2004 (Build 12730.20236).

Version 2003 (Build 12624.20466)

Release date: April 15, 2020

This update includes “various bug and performance fixes,” which Microsoft has not detailed.

Get more info about Version 2003 (Build 12624.20466).

Version 2003 (Build 12624.20442)

Release date: April 14, 2020

This release includes a variety of security updates and several small bug fixes. Among the security vulnerabilities fixed are a Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability, a Microsoft Word Remote Code Execution Vulnerability and a Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability for the entire suite. Get more details in the Release Notes for Office 365 Security Updates. 

Among the bugs fixed are an issue that caused users to occasionally experience a crash when using the “X” button on their mouse in Word and Outlook, and Application.Evaluate (VBA) not working for user-defined functions in some cases in Excel.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2003 (Build 12624.20442).

Version 2003 (Build 12624.20382)

Release date: March 31, 2020

This update improves OneNote’s sync and server stability and fixes an issue in Project in which users were unable to enter time-phased Baseline Work when the setting to protect actual work is on.

Get more info about Version 2003 (Build 12624.20382).

Version 2003 (Build 12624.20320)

Release date: March 25, 2020

This update introduces several new features and fixes a number of bugs. In Outlook, you can now drag email to a group, and also more easily log into Wi-Fi networks. Co-authoring in Word has been sped up so that collaborators see changes more quickly. And throughout the Office suite, you can now apply sensitivity labels to prompt you for custom permissions.

Among the bugs fixed are one in which Excel crashed in certain cases when reopening a workbook embedded in Word or PowerPoint, and another in which copying a shape in PowerPoint slide might fail.

Get more info about Version 2003 (Build 12624.20320).

Version 2002 (Build 12527.20278)

Release date: March 10, 2020

This update has a single bug fix and addresses several security issues in Word. It fixes an issue in Project in which the OnUndoOrRedo event doesn’t fire without first running the OpenUndoTransaction method. It also plugs four Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities in Word. Find more details in the security release notes.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 2002 (Build 12527.20278).

Version 2002 (Build 12527.20242)

Release date: March 1, 2020

This update has only a single, minor change: an Outlook bug that that wouldn’t allow third-party applications to send email has been fixed.

Get more info about Version 2002 (Build 12527.20242).

Version 2002 (Build 12527.20194)

Release date: February 25, 2020

This update includes a few minor new features and fixes several bugs. In Excel and Word, you can now save objects as such as charts, shapes, ink, icons and pictures as an SVG (scalable vector graphics file). Click here for details. In Excel, you can also get at-a-glance analysis of the data in your columns, identify error and empty values, and see distribution histograms using the Query Editor.

In Excel, an issue was fixed in which CUBEVALUE functions would sometimes return an incorrect result. Among several Outlook bug fixes are one that that caused commas in the location field of a meeting to turn into semicolons, and another that could cause a crash when viewing the same item in multiple windows.

Get more info about Version 2002 (Build 12527.20194).

Version 2001 (Build 12430.20288)

Release date: February 19, 2020

This update includes “various bugs and performance fixes,” which Microsoft has not detailed.

Get more info about Version 2001 (Build 12430.20288).

Version 2001 (Build 12430.20184)

Release date: January 30, 2020

This update includes new features for Excel, Outlook and Word, along with bug fixes. In Excel, you can now respond to comments and mentions from within email without opening the workbook. Excel also gets a new XLOOKUP function that lets you search in a table by range or row. A new group naming policy in Outlook lets IT admins standardize and manage the names of groups created by users in an organization. Word now lets you save shapes as pictures and use the Lasso tool on the Draw tab to help select objects drawn with ink.

A bug has been fixed in Access that can cause Access to fail to identify an Identity Column in a linked SQL Server table, which can cause rows to be reported as deleted incorrectly. Also fixed was a bug in Excel and Outlook that caused users to experience crashes when renaming a signature.

Get more info about Version 2001 (Build 12430.20184).

Version 1912 (Build 12325.20344)

Release date: January 22, 2020

This very minor update resolves a single issue in which Microsoft Access failed to identify an Identity Column in a linked SQL Server table, which could have caused rows to be reported as deleted incorrectly.

Get more info about Version 1912 (Build 12325.20344).

Version 1912 (Build 12325.20298)

Release date: January 14, 2020

This security update addresses security issues in Excel and the entire Office suite. It plugs holes in three Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities, and one in a Microsoft Office Memory Corruption Vulnerability. Find more details in the security release notes.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1912 (Build 12325.20298).

Version 1912 (Build 12325.20288)

Release date: January 8, 2020

This update includes a new feature that can create looping GIFs in PowerPoint, and new accessibility features for Outlook and PowerPoint. In PowerPoint, the new Accessibility Checker helps you arrange objects on your slides with screen readers in mind. And Outlook now displays an alert reminding you to make your content accessible when sending mail to a user who prefers accessible content.

There are also a variety of minor bug fixes, including fixing an issue in Outlook that caused users to experience hangs in Outlook when retrieving Cloud Settings, and an issue in Word in which the building blocks organizer had displayed an invalid alert: “You have modified styles, building blocks.”

Get more info about Version 1912 (Build 12325.20288).

Version 1911 (Build 12228.20364)

Release date: December 10, 2019

This update offers a few minor bug fixes and several security updates. It fixes the right-click menu for Excel’s Pivot Charts to enable the “Show Detail” option and also fixes an issue in Outlook that allowed web add-ins to access Digital Rights Managed messages.

Among the security updates are those that fix an Excel Information Disclosure Vulnerability, a Word Denial of Service Vulnerability and a PowerPoint Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. For details, see the security update release notes.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1911 (Build 12228.20364).

Version 1911 (Build 12228.20332)

Release date: December 3, 2019

This update offers a few minor features and fixes a variety of bugs. Six new functions have been added in Excel: FILTER, SORT, SORTBY, UNIQUE, SEQUENCE and RANDARRAY. Excel also now has a data visualizer add-on that can create flow charts in Visio. Word’s co-authoring capabilities have been improved, making it more likely changes will be seen by others in real time.

Among the bugs fixed are one that caused crashes when users searched for recent files in Excel while no workbook was open, and another in which Office updates unexpectedly downloaded files from the Office CDN instead of the intended source, such as a local or network share or Configuration Manager-provided location.

Get more info about Version 1911 (Build 12228.20332).

Version 1910 (Build 12130.20410)

Release date: November 22, 2019

Microsoft isn’t saying much about this update except that it includes “various [unnamed] bugs and performance fixes.”

Get more info about Version 1910 (Build 12130.20410).

Version 1910 (Build 12130.20390)

Release date: November 18, 2019

This update includes unnamed bug and performance fixes in Microsoft’s description. It also fixes two issues with Outlook, one that caused users to see the location field in meetings change unexpectedly, and another that caused users to see an empty message box with an “OK” button when trying to contact support from the Account Creation context.

Get more info about Version 1910 (Build 12130.20390).

Version 1910 (Build 12130.20344)

Release date: November 12, 2019

This security update comprises two fixes for Excel, including Remote Code Execution Vulnerability CVE-2019-1448 and Information Disclosure Vulnerability CVE-2019-1446, and two for the entire Office suite, including ClickToRun Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability CVE-2019-1449 and Information Disclosure Vulnerability CVE-2019-1402.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1910 (Build 12130.20344).

Version 1910 (Build 12130.20272)

Release date: October 30, 2019

This update introduces a wide variety of minor new features, including one for Excel, Word and PowerPoint that checks PDFs you create for accessibility issues and offers fixes, and another for Excel, Word, Outlook and PowerPoint that applies sensitivity labels to your documents and emails to keep them compliant with your organization’s information protection policies. Word also gets coauthoring improvements.

Get more info about Version 1910 (Build 12130.20272).

Version 1909 (Build 12026.20344)

Release date: October 22, 2019

This very minor non-security update fixes a bug in Microsoft Project, in which users could get several messages when opening a read-only project. And in order to protect Office users’ security, Microsoft Office updates are now being signed using the SHA-2 algorithm exclusively.

Get more info about Version 1909 (Build 12026.20344).

Version 1909 (Build 12026.20334)

Release date: October 14, 2019

This very minor non-security update fixes a single bug that affects the entire Office suite. The bug didn’t allow people to save Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents when they tried to create a new file and bring up the “Save as Model Dialog” option after clicking on the Save icon or pressing Ctrl + S.

Get more info about Version 1909 (Build 12026.20334).

NOTE: On Oct. 15, 2019, Microsoft released an unnamed update that temporarily disables the Cloud Save dialog to address the saving issue addressed on Oct. 14. Microsoft says the feature will be re-enabled soon.

Version 1909 (Build 12026.20320)

Release date: October 8, 2019

This build includes a security update and a number of minor bug fixes. In Outlook, several bugs were squashed, including one that wouldn’t allow people to open some instances of recurring calendar items, and another that caused Outlook to crash when a profile was being created. PowerPoint had an issue fixed that caused data loss when coauthoring and offline editing.  For the entire Office suite, several issues were fixed, including one that crashed Office when files were opened. In addition, Microsoft Updates are now signed using the SHA-2 algorithm exclusively in order to improve security.

There are also fixes for two Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerabilities, detailed in CVE-2019-1327 and CVE-2019-1331.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1909 (Build 12026.20320).

Version 1909 (Build 12026.20264)

Release date: September 30, 2019

This build offers a variety of new features and fixes several bugs. In Outlook, it’s now easier and faster to update shared calendars. In addition, when you search through your mail, the most relevant email messages are now grouped at the top of the results.

PowerPoint lets you save illustrations as SVG files, and you can now animate an ink drawing so that it replays either forward or backward during the presentation. In Excel, Word, and PowerPoint you can now more easily share files by using the “recently used” list without having to open the file.

Get more info about Version 1909 (Build 12026.20264).

Version 1908 (Build 11929.20300)

Release date: September 10, 2019

This build offers several minor bug fixes and a security update. In Outlook, a bug was fixed that caused some users to encounter authentication errors when trying to retrieve their cloud settings. In PowerPoint, an issue was fixed that prevented some animations from starting. For the entire Office suite, an issue was fixed that caused large tree views to fail.

There are also security fixes for Excel and the entire Office suite, including a Microsoft Excel Information Disclosure Vulnerability, a Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability, a Jet Database Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability affecting the entire suite, and a Microsoft Office Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability affecting the entire suite.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1908 (Build 11929.20300).

Version 1908 (Build 11929.20254)

Release date: August 26, 2019

This build offers a several new minor features throughout Office. You now have more control over text boxes and borders in Excel, Word and PowerPoint, and you can also more easily insert and manage icons in those applications as well as in Outlook. The entire Office suite also gets new icons. In addition, there are a variety of bug fixes.

Get more info about Version 1908 (Build 11929.20254).

Version 1907 (Build 11901.20218)

Release date: August 13, 2019

This build offers two minor bug fixes and a variety of security updates for Outlook, Word and the entire Office suite. Among the security issues fixed are remote code execution vulnerabilities in Outlook and Word and a Jet database engine remote code execution vulnerability in the entire Office suite. (See the security release notes for details.)

The non-security changes include fixing an issue in Outlook in which users having their mailbox upgraded from basic to modern authentication were ending up with the wrong account associated with their Outlook profile.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1907 (Build 11901.20218).

Version 1907 (Build 11901.20176)

Release date: July 29, 2019

This build offers a variety of new features for Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Word. It’s now easier to code using Power Query in Excel, with enhancements including autocomplete and syntax coloring. In Outlook, when you type a person’s name in the Search box, the most relevant email messages will now be included alongside your search suggestions. PowerPoint lets you save a video to Microsoft Stream, which lets you insert a streaming video instead of the entire file into a presentation to reduce file sizes. Word now has two different sized erasers so you can fix small inking imperfections.

In addition, Excel, PowerPoint and Word make it easier to create map charts, and also let you decide whether links to Office documents should open in the appropriate app or instead in a browser.

Get more info about Version 1907 (Build 11901.20176).

Version 1906 (Build 11727.20244)

Release date: July 9, 2019

This build has security updates for Excel, Outlook, Skype for Business and the entire Office suite. For details, see these release notes. In addition, there is a fix to an Outlook bug that caused the current folder search to intermittently fail.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied relatively soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1906 (Build 11727.20244).

Version 1906 (Build 11727.20230)

Release date: June 27, 2019

This extremely minor build has only a single change: It fixes an issue that caused a subset of POP3 users to see all of their emails formatted as plain text, regardless of their settings. Users who want to see their messages formatted with HTML can now do so.

Get more info about Version 1906 (Build 11727.20230).

Version 1906 (Build 11727.20210)

Release date: June 24, 2019

This build offers a variety of new features for several Office applications, primarily Outlook. Outlook gets a simplified Ribbon that tames its frequently complex interface. (The simplified Ribbon has been available in a preview for quite some time, but now is officially launched.) In addition, you can now synchronize more than 500 folders when syncing shared mailboxes. The previous limit was 500. The quick action menu can also be customized.

You can now insert 3D animated graphics into Excel. In Word, multiple people can co-author documents in the open, XML-based.docm format. And in Skype, you can crop video in a meeting on a 4K monitor when the “Crop and Center my video in meetings” setting is turned on.

There are also a number of undocumented bugs and performance fixes, according to Microsoft.

Get more info about Version 1906 (Build 11727.20210).

Version 1905 (Build 11629.20246)

Release date: June 11, 2019

This build addresses two security holes in Word, remote code execution vulnerabilities CVE-2019-1034 and CVE-2019-1035.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1905 (Build 11629.20246).

Version 1905 (Build 11629.20214)

Release date: June 4, 2019

This build fixes a single, minor issue, one in which some add-ins caused unexpected errors to appear around shapes in PowerPoint charts.

Get more info about Version 1905 (Build 11629.20214).

Version 1905 (Build 11629.20196)

Release date: May 29, 2019

This build introduces minor new features to multiple Office applications. In Word, PowerPoint and Excel, if you @mention people in document comments, they will automatically receive an email notification that they’ve been mentioned, so they can check out the comments. Across all Office applications except Outlook, a new account manager is available; it displays all Office 365 work and personal accounts in a single location, making it easier to switch among them.

In addition, in PowerPoint, presenters’ words are automatically shown on screen as captions and can be translated into subtitles in the language of your choice. In Outlook, it’s now easier to add Outlook.com and Gmail accounts that use two-factor authentication.

Get more info about Version 1905 (Build 11629.20196).

Version 1904 (Build 11601.20204)

Release date: May 14, 2019

This build includes security fixes for a Microsoft Word Remote Code Execution Vulnerability, a Microsoft Office Access Connectivity Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability and a Microsoft Office Access Connectivity Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Go to the release notes for Office 365 ProPlus Security Updates for more details.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied soon. Over the next few weeks, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1904 (Build 11601.20204).

Version 1904 (Build 11601.20178)

Release date: May 8, 2019

This build includes “various bugs and performances fixes,” in Microsoft’s words, that Microsoft hasn’t provided any details on.

Get more info about Version 1904 (Build 11601.20178).

Version 1904 (Build 11601.20144)

Release date: April 29, 2019

This build includes a few minor updates. The most notable is the ability to find files by typing into the Search box on the File > Home page in Excel, PowerPoint and Word. The entire Office 365 suite sports a new set of icons, and the suite also gets an updated set of privacy controls, covering things such as the types of diagnostic data sent to Microsoft. Administrators, not Office users, have control over setting them. Here’s an overview of the new settings.

Get more info about Version 1904 (Build 11601.20144).

Version 1903 (Build 11425.20244)

Release date: April 23, 2019

This build includes “various bugs and performances fixes,” in Microsoft’s words, that Microsoft hasn’t provided any details on.

Get more info about  Version 1903 (Build 11425.20244).

Version 1903 (Build 11425.20228)

Release date: April 17, 2019

This build includes “various bugs and performances fixes,” in Microsoft’s words, that Microsoft hasn’t provided any details on.

Get more info about Version 1903 (Build 11425.20228).

Version 1903 (Build 11425.20218)

Release date: April 16, 2019

This build includes “various bugs and performances fixes,” in Microsoft’s words, that Microsoft hasn’t provided any details on.

Get more info about Version 1903 (Build 11425.20218).

Version 1903 (Build 11425.20204)

Release date: April 9, 2019

This build includes security updates for Excel and the entire office suite. Among the holes fixed are the Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability, the Microsoft Graphics Components Remote Code Execution Vulnerability, and the Microsoft Office Access Connectivity Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. For details, go to the security update’s release notes.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied soon. Over the next few days, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about Version 1903 (Build 11425.20202).

Version 1903 (Build 11425.20202)

Release date: April 1, 2019

This build includes minor updates for Excel, PowerPoint and Word. All three of them now have an accessibility checker which examines documents to see how accessible they are, and offers suggestions if they’re not. Go to Review > Check Accessibility to try it out. In addition, PowerPoint gives you more control over how its Morph feature works.

Get more info about  Version 1903 (Build 11425.20202).

Version 1902 (Build 11328.20158)

Release date: March 12, 2019

This build includes very minor bug and performance fixes — so minor that Microsoft has not detailed what they are.

Get more info about Version 1902 (Build 11328.20158).

Version 1902 (Build 11328.20146)

Release date: March 4, 2019

This build adds a variety of features to several Office applications. It’s now easier in PowerPoint to insert videos from YouTube and Vimeo. You can also hand-draw math expressions in PowerPoint and have them turned into standard characters.

Outlook lets you set meetings to end five to ten minutes early by default, so that people can easily attend back-to-back meetings. Outlook can now also read mail aloud. Excel lets you use @mentions in comments to let co-workers know when you’re looking for their input. And a new Ideas button in Excel lets you look for patterns in your data and uses them to create personalized suggestions for how to use the data.

Access now clearly lets you see the active tab, easily drag tabs to rearrange them, and close database objects with a click.

Get more info about Version 1902 (Build 11328.20146).

Version 1901 (Build 11231.20130)

Release date: January 31, 2019

This minor build includes small changes to Excel, Outlook, Visio and the entire Office suite. A reply box has been added to Excel, making it easier to make comments during collaboration. Outlook now lets you use animated GIFs in your emails. Visio gets a series of Azure stencils so you can design a cloud app or plan a cloud architecture. And the entire Office suite now allows Office add-ins to insert graphics in SVG format.

Get more info about Version 1901 (Build 11231.20130).

Version 1812 (Build 11126.20266)

Release date: January 14, 2019

This minor build addresses performance issues.

Get more info about Version 1812 (Build 11126.20266).

Version 1812 (Build 11126.20196)

Release date: January 8, 2019

This build includes both security fixes and a minor bug fix. The bug was an issue in Project in which you couldn’t uncheck the Critical, Late and Slack bar styles for the Gantt chart after you had checked one of them.

Security patches include closing an information disclosure vulnerability in Outlook, fixing a remote execution vulnerability and an information disclosure vulnerability in Word, and closing a remote code execution vulnerability for the entire Office suite.

What IT needs to know: Because this is a security update, it should be applied soon. Over the next few days, check for reports about problematic issues, and if all seems well, apply the update.

Get more info about non-security changes in Version 1812 (Build 11126.20196) and security fixes in Version 1812 (Build 11126.20196).

Version 1812 (Build 11126.20188)

Release date: January 3, 2019

This build offers minor improvements to several Office applications. In Word, you can now use a feature called line focus that lets you move through a document with one, three, or five lines in view at a time. A new feature also lets you create a web page from a Word document by going to File > Transform > Transform to Web Page.

PowerPoint now lets you convert your ink to standard shapes and text, then get smart slide-design ideas from PowerPoint Designer. Outlook has new options for encrypting messages. And Word, Excel and PowerPoint all now let you keep track of accessibility issues in your documents without having to keep the accessibility checker open all the time.

Get more info about Version 1812 (Build 11126.20188).

Enterprise Applications, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office, Office Suites

Business users are picking up on Apple’s visionOS, exploring a range of mission-focused applications and prompting one leading SAP executive to call the tech, “a force multiplier for enterprises”. 

Apple improves its visionOS offer for the enterprise

Apple is aware of this and today Apple announced a new developer support module called the Enterprise Spatial Design Lab. These sessions will be available later this summer and are designed to provide enterprises with support to bring apps from concept to reality.

And in a second move, Deloitte announced today it is expanding its Apple practice to include a new Academy for Apple Vision Pro. With trained experts, the Academy aims to provide a series of one-week, instructor-led courses to help business users come to grips with the potential of visionOS

Why is business interested?

So, why are business tech leaders so excited? In the simplest terms, they see opportunities for new wearable computing interfaces using artificial intelligence (AI) to unlock productivity. Morgan Stanley analyst Eric Woodring got it right when he said in February, “The Vision Pro seems ripe for Enterprise adoption.”

Spatial computing isn’t just some kind of posh entertainment system (though it is also that); it’s an immersive augmentation environment in which computation becomes highly contextual. It also makes extensive use of AI and the on-chip Neural engine to handle tasks such as hand tracking, room mapping, and more. 

The hint that Apple expected leading edge users to work with the device first was — and still is, quite obviously — in the name (as well as the MDM support). Box CEO Aaron Levy is typical in sharing high expectations, telling me recently, “I think we’re going to look back on this period as probably the most transformative technology we’ve ever seen.”

What SAP says

SAP introduced a visionOS version of SAP Analytics Cloud on the day Apple shipped the product. It’s a tool that helps surface data-driven insights to improve business decisions. The app gives Vision Pro users a wide field of view, along with the capacity to drill deep down in data. This is not the only SAP application to make it to Apple’s new device – SAP Mobile Start is also available.

Philipp Herzig, chief AI officer for SAP SE, explained: “Going forward, we see the power of visionOS combined with generative AI being a force multiplier for enterprises.”

What Microsoft thinks

Apple and Microsoft worked together to ensure Microsoft 365 productivity apps were available with the introduction of Vision Pro. That also includes support for Microsoft’s own generative AI (gene) companion, Copilot. “Spatial computing has enabled us to rethink how professionals can be productive and work intelligently with the power of AI,” said Nicole Herskowitz, vice president for Microsoft 365 and Teams. “With Microsoft 365 and Teams on Apple Vision Pro, your office moves with you, allowing users to view apps side by side on an infinite canvas with spatial computing for incredible multitasking and collaboration. 

Porsche races into spatial

The Porsche Race Engineer app is a unique deployment that combines data in interesting ways for use in real life situations on the racetrack. What the app does is combine critical car data, such as speed and braking performance, and puts this beside track conditions, car positioning, and live video from the car’s dashboard.

 The idea is that the engineering teams have more insight into vehicle performance than ever before. Armed with the app, Porsche broke the US record for electric vehicles with the new Porsche Taycan Turbo GT earlier this year. This data may also be a glimmer of a future for car racing fans. “At Porsche, we’ve always been driven by dreams, and Apple Vision Pro has enabled us to reimagine track experiences,” said Oliver Blume, Porsche’s CEO. 

Take to the skies

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is building an app it calls The Engine Shop. This is designed to teach aircraft maintenance to engineering technicians using real-life “digital twins” of the aircraft concerned. The idea is that technicians can learn about these machines without the cost of taking the plane offline for the hundreds of hours such training requires. 

“We see Apple Vision Pro as a tremendous value-add that will improve our fleet availability and operations,” said Bob Tulleken, KLM’s vice president of Operations Decision Support. “Training our employees with spatial computing will lead to fewer costly errors, because the most current information they need to do their job is there in front of them as they perform the task. This means we not only get vastly more efficient in our work, but also provide a better work environment for our employees to succeed.”  

NVIDIA gets spatial design

Every professional is aware that developing design and manufacturing processes is complex and requires large amounts of data from various sources. This has led many to ponder the use of digital twins. This is realized in Vision Pro, with NVIDIA Omniverse Cloud APIs enabling developers to stream massive 3D engineering and simulation data sets from the cloud to the device, which can then run highly detailed visuals and renderings that can also be manipulated in real time. This really matters to many industries and could help them optimize product and process design.

“The world’s industries are racing to build digital twins of products, facilities, and processes to better test and optimize designs well before constructing them in the physical world,” said Rev Lebaredian, NVIDIA’s vice president of Omniverse and Simulation Technology. “Enterprises can now combine the power and capabilities of Apple Vision Pro and the physically accurate renderings of OpenUSD content with NVIDIA accelerated computing to power the next generation of immersive digital experiences.”

What Apple said

“There’s tremendous opportunity for businesses to reimagine what’s possible using Apple Vision Pro at work,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations and Enterprise Marketing. “Combined with enterprise-grade capabilities like mobile device management built into visionOS, we believe spatial computing has the potential to revolutionize industries around the world.”

While there’s evidently some build-up of hype, the proof of any dessert is in its eating, and Apple today published first-hand insights from an array of business users already exploring the potential of Vision OS in scenarios as diverse as business management, training, engineering and beyond.

So, what else are enterprises devising?

Apple has published an extensive list that pretty much proves the claim that many enterprises are exploring use of Vision Pro to get things done. The activity is similar in the healthcare industry which seems to be rapidly embracing Apple’s product for use during surgery — including use in a shoulder operation. 

Webex by Cisco, Zoom, and Box are all visionOS savvy. Video conferencing gains support for Personas and Spatial Audio, while Box makes it easy for users to collaborate and securely manage files and content, including 3D objects, allowing them to intuitively bring this content into the world around them.

There’s also a new and extensive family of emergency response apps for the device. These combine real time with historical and location data to help improve incident management. For example, the FireOps app, developed by About Objects and DigitalCM, provides a unified operational view of Incident Action Plans (IAPs) to improve decisions made in life or death situations.

The list of apps is growing

Additional enterprise-focused apps that show what’s available include:

• Lowe’s Style Studio, which lets customers visualize and design kitchens using Vision Pro.
• JigSpace, which brings intuitive, hands-on inspection and effortless collaboration to help users communicate complex ideas, products, and processes with spatial context.
• EnBW Energie, which enables visualization of renewable energy infrastructure projects.
• Taqtile Manifest, which makes digital work instructions actionable with gesture or glance.
• TeamViewer Spatial Support, which enables remote experts and service technicians to troubleshoot repair and maintenance processes.
• BILT, which provides 3D interactive instructions with voice, text, and animated guidance for training and more.
• Guided Work, a tool for architects, builders, and maintenance workers that provides contextual location based information, such as building schematics, work orders, and the position (if known) of plumbing, wiring and more.

Let me know as new solutions appear; I’m watching this space with interest.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Apple, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Vendors and Providers

In early April, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)  delivered a blistering report excoriating Microsoft’s lax security practices, which allowed Chinese spies to hack into the accounts of high-level government officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). (All are in charge of the country’s relationship with China.)

Typically, government investigations like this are staid affairs, ending in pallid reports offering wishy-washy critiques and even weaker recommendations. But this 29-page DHS report pulled no punches. It laced into Microsoft, calling out its security failures and pointing to “the cascade of Microsoft’s avoidable errors that allowed this intrusion to succeed.” Microsoft’s security infrastructure is so weak, the DHS said, that the company failed “to detect the compromise of its cryptographic crown jewels on its own, relying instead on a customer to reach out to identify anomalies the customer had observed.”

It added that Microsoft had purposely issued misleading statements about the attack, with the company claiming last fall it had found the root cause of the intrusion, when even today it still doesn’t know how it happened.

The report concluded the company’s security is “inadequate and requires an overhaul.”

There’s a long history of foreign governments targeting Microsoft security holes to hack top government officials and private companies. (In January, for example, I wrote about a  breach in which Russians hacked into the corporate accounts of Microsoft’s top executive team and staff and stole email and documents.)

Nothing seems to have changed since then, and it’s not clear whether the company’s security practices will change. To get a better sense of what the company might (or might not) do, let’s look at the Chinese hack.

What Microsoft did wrong

The DHS Cyber Safety Review Board’s report lays out the Chinese hack and Microsoft’s response in exquisite detail, revealing what the Washington Post calls Microsoft’s “shoddy cybersecurity practices, lax corporate culture and a deliberate lack of transparency.”

The attack was engineered by the Storm-0558 hacking group — doing the bidding of China’s most powerful spy service, the Ministry of State Security. Storm-0558 has a history of carrying out espionage-related hacks of government agencies and private companies dating back to 2000. Until now, the best-known one was Operation Aurora, brought to light by Google in 2010. The Council on Foreign Relations called that attack “a milestone in the recent history of cyber operations because it raised the profile of cyber operations as a tool for industrial espionage.”

According to the DHS report, the most recent hack took place after Storm-0558 got its hands on a “Microsoft Services Account (MSA)17 cryptographic key that Microsoft had issued in 2016.” Using the key, Storm-0558 forged user credentials and used them to log into government accounts and steal emails of Raimondo, Burns, Bacon, and others. 

There are other unsolved mysteries. The key should only have been able to create credentials for the consumer version of Outlook Web Access (OWA), yet Storm-0558 used it to create credentials for Enterprise Exchange Online, which the government uses. Microsoft can’t explain how that can be done.

There’s worse. That 2016 key should have been retired in 2021, but Microsoft never did so because the company had problems with making its consumer keys more secure. So the key, and presumably many others like it, remained as powerful as ever. And Storm-0558 did its dirty work with it.

This series of events — a key that should have been retired was allowed to stay active, the theft of the key by Storm-0558 stole the key, and then Storm-0558’s ability to use it to forge credentials to get access to enterprise email accounts used by top government officials, even though the key shouldn’t have allowed them to do so — represents the “cascade of errors” the DHS said Microsoft committed.

Making it all worse was the claim by Microsoft that it knew how the hack had been done, which was untrue. 

Will Microsoft really change its security culture?

Microsoft has been criticized for years for these kinds of attacks, and yet they continue. Will this time around be different?

Microsoft’s public response sounds as if it’s going to be business as usual. The company didn’t even take direct responsibility for the hacks. It told the Washington Post, “recent events have demonstrated a need to adopt a new culture of engineering security in our own networks. While no organization is immune to cyberattack from well-resourced adversaries, we have mobilized our engineering teams to identify and mitigate legacy infrastructure, improve processes, and enforce security benchmarks.”

That’s about as mealy-mouthed a statement you can make. And it’s especially mealy-mouthed because this hack required no feats of legendary hacking — just the use of an old encryption key that should have been deleted years ago. If Microsoft had followed basic security practices and taken that one simple step, none of this would have happened.

More disturbing is that the Russian hack of Microsoft officials in January was caused by a similar oversight: Microsoft forgot to delete an old test account, and hackers used basic techniques to break into it. Once they did that, they used the account’s permissions to steal emails and documents from Microsoft’s senior management and people who worked on its cybersecurity and legal teams, among other functions.

The Biden administration released a new National Cybersecurity Strategy more than a year ago. A fact sheet that went along with it warns, “Poor software security greatly increases systemic risk across the digital ecosystem and leave American citizens bearing the ultimate cost. We must begin to shift liability onto those entities that fail to take reasonable precautions to secure their software.” 

In the Russian and Chinese hacks, by no stretch of the imagination can you say Microsoft has taken “reasonable precautions” when it comes to cybersecurity — very much the opposite. But Congress has yet to take action against the company, for example, by taking away some of the many billions of dollars a year the government pays the company for software, the cloud, and other services.

There’s no way to know whether this time Microsoft will clean up its cybersecurity oversight. But if it doesn’t, the company isn’t the only one to blame. The federal government will share the fault as well, because so far it hasn’t even bothered to slap the company on the wrist.

Email Security, Government IT, Industry, Microsoft, Security

Great news: Nominations are now open for Computerworld’s 2025 Best Places to Work in IT list. Nominate your organization today!

About the Best Places to Work in IT program

Computerworld conducts an annual survey to identify the best places to work for IT professionals. We invite readers, PR professionals and other interested parties to nominate companies they consider great employers for IT workers. You may nominate your own company. We then ask those nominated companies that meet our basic criteria to participate in our survey.

Once again, we are excited to extend this program, which has a 31-year history in the United States, to companies worldwide.

The employers in the Best Places list are evaluated by company size: Large companies have 5,000 or more employees; midsize have between 1,001 and 4,999 employees; and small companies employ from 100 to 1,000.

For a list of the 2024 honorees and more, please see our Best Places to Work in IT 2024 special report.

To be eligible, companies must have a minimum of 5 IT employees and a minimum of 100 total employees. We consider IT employees to be those IT workers who provide technology support and services to their own company — or to multiple companies through their work at an IT service provider. Workers who would *not* be included are administrative support staff for the IT department, staff who work in communications or PR for the technology department, IT contractors, or those staff whose primary role is in product development for outside sales.

Best Places to Work in IT is a global program. We ask that companies submit no more than one survey within any one country. If your company operates in multiple countries and you would like to submit a survey for your location only, please note this in the company name field (e.g., “Foundry North America” or “Foundry Germany”). If no location is specified in the company name, we will assume that the entry represents all locations worldwide.

In most cases, we prefer to have the parent company, rather than subsidiaries or affiliates, apply for the Best Places to Work in IT list. However, a subsidiary or affiliate may be eligible, providing that it stands out as a separate entity from the parent company, with separate business functions, IT leadership and so on. A subsidiary may also be eligible to apply separately if its parent company is a holding company. In those cases, the parent company and subsidiary may be able to apply separately. We encourage companies to complete the nomination form or contact us at [email protected], and our Best Places research team will evaluate the submissions on a case-by-case basis.

Questions about the Best Places to Work in IT program can be emailed to [email protected].

Frequently asked questions Survey requirements and eligibility Does my company have to be nominated to complete the survey?

No. Companies may participate even if they were not nominated. In lieu of a nomination, please send an email to [email protected] with the name and contact information (including email address) of the individual who should receive the company survey and other information; we’ll take care of the rest.

Does the Best Places to Work in IT list include public companies only?

No. The survey includes private as well as public companies.

What criteria must my company meet to participate?

To be considered for our Best Places to Work in IT list:

• Companies must have a minimum of 5 IT employees.
• Companies must have a minimum of 100 total employees worldwide.
• In most cases, we prefer to have the parent company, rather than subsidiaries or affiliates, apply for the Best Places to Work in IT list. However, a subsidiary or affiliate may be eligible, providing that it stands out as a separate entity from the parent company, with separate business functions, IT leadership and so on. A subsidiary may also be eligible to apply separately if its parent company is a holding company. In those cases, the parent company and subsidiary may be able to apply separately. We encourage companies to complete the nomination form or contact us at [email protected], and our Best Places research team will evaluate the submissions on a case-by-case basis.

Who should complete the survey?

An individual familiar with employment statistics, benefits, policies and programs of your IT department and your company should complete the survey. This could be a human resources representative, a CIO or corporate PR representative — or a team of all the above.

Survey contents and procedures What does the company survey ask?

Our online survey includes questions about companies’ benefits, training and development, IT salary changes, percent of IT employees promoted, IT turnover rates, and the percentage of women employees in management in IT departments. In addition, we will collect information about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, remote/hybrid working, and company growth.

Which employees are considered “IT workers” in this survey?

Answers to the survey should be based on those IT workers who provide technology support and services to their own company — or to multiple companies through their work at an IT service provider. Workers who wouldn’t be included are administrative support staff for the IT department, staff who work in communications or PR for the technology department, IT contractors, or those staff whose primary role is in product development for outside sales.

What happens if I leave a question blank on the survey?

You can’t leave a question blank if it is required. Many of the questions on the survey are required; the survey can’t be processed if they aren’t answered. Please answer to the best of your ability for questions with lists or options included. If any open-ended/text based questions aren’t applicable to your company, please indicate “NA” for “not applicable.” If there is a question you can’t answer fully given the format of the survey, you may briefly explain your answers in an addendum field that follows each survey section.

Companies that withhold information used to rank the finalists will have points deducted from their ranking. Answers that are left blank or have unexplained N/As will be assumed to be 0 (zero).

Companies must provide answers to questions related to data we run in our feature story and graphics in order to be considered. Please see below for the types of required information that are typically shared publicly.

Can I save my survey and come back to it at a later date?

Yes. You will be able to save your partially completed survey and can save a partially completed survey as many times as necessary. Please save your unique URL to re-enter the survey. When you return to the survey, you will be able to review/modify questions that you have already answered. However, we will continue to provide a printer-friendly version of the survey, and we recommend that you complete this survey, then enter your answers online.

How should I send my company’s information to Computerworld?

We accept company information from the online survey only. Please enter all data as accurately as possible. Provide company name, location, web address and other information, as you would like it to appear in print.

Can I get a copy of the survey to review before I go to the online survey and submit my company’s information?

Yes. A printer-friendly version of the 2025 Best Places company survey can be downloaded for reference. We encourage participants to complete the printer-friendly version offline before filling out the online survey.

Download: 2025 Best Places to Work in IT Company Survey
Printer-friendly copy of the 2025 Best Places to Work in IT company survey. Will Computerworld provide us with a copy of our submitted survey?

Upon request, Computerworld will email you a PDF of your company’s survey responses.

Is there an employee portion to the survey?

There is no longer an employee survey portion to the survey. Computerworld decided to make this change in the 2023 program to streamline the process for global participation and to enable companies with smaller IT departments to participate. In lieu of the employee survey portion of the program, Computerworld will be inviting a panel of judges consisting of industry experts to evaluate entries and confirm this year’s honorees.

List publication and notification When will the list of honorees be published?

The Best Places to Work in IT honorees will be announced in December 2024 on Computerworld.com.

When can I find out if my company is on the list?

Computerworld will notify companies that will be honored as a 2025 Best Place to Work in IT several weeks in advance of publication. Computerworld’s marketing group contacts honorees to offer assistance with press releases.

Is there a timeline to which I can refer for survey action items?

Below is the 2025 Best Places to Work in IT timeline.

Week of April 8, 2024

Nominations open for the 2025 Best Places to Work in IT. Nominated companies receive an email with a unique link to the Best Places company survey from Computerworld by the second week of April. Thereafter, company surveys will be sent on a rolling basis.

Monday, July 1, 2024

DEADLINE: Completed Best Places company survey is due to Computerworld.

November 2024

Best Places to Work in IT honorees are notified of their status.

December 2024

List of Best Places to Work in IT honorees is available online.

What information will be shared publicly?

Computerworld tries to avoid printing information that a company may consider competitive. The following information may appear publicly:

• Company name
• Location
• Industry
• Website
• Total number of employees
• Total number of IT employees
• Percentage of IT employee turnover
• Percentage of IT employee promotions
• Number of training days offered per IT employee
• Information from a 300-word essay outlining what’s special about your company and IT department

Please note that revenue, overall IT budget and other sensitive information will not be reported. Such information will be used only in aggregate format or for ranking purposes.

What if I have a question that was not answered in this FAQ?

Please email your questions to the following address: [email protected].

In the subject line, please include your company name and be as descriptive as possible in the subject line as to the nature of your inquiry.

Careers, IT Leadership

Like many global organizations, German logistics company DHL had career sites for almost every country in which the company operates — nearly 200 of them. Most of the sites, however, lacked brand consistency and none of them were leveraged to attract new hires. They were merely a place to fill out a job application.

DHL’s country-centric career sites also had limited integrations across a multitude of applicant tracking systems — this at a time when skills-based hiring had been growing to meet digitization and other business transformation efforts.

That prompted DHL to turn to generative artificial intelligence (genAI) to fix its talent recruitment problem by consolidating its 200 disparate sites into one site that parsed job seekers into ranked lists to match the company’s needed skillsets, and to which recruiters could quickly respond.

To create its unified site, DHL put together its own internal AI team and partnered with Phenom, a Philadelphia-based HR tech startup that sells a SaaS-based platform offering genAI and automation tools.

Though the company now has just one career site, each of its national locations can maintain their own identities with real-time customization capabilities. For example, in Prague, DHL created a site specifically to attract frontline workers for the peak holiday shopping season. (The low unemployment rate in the Czech Republic had made finding talent a challenge.)

Since the revamped site went live, the number of job seekers per job increased by 25%, 800,000 job searches found a relevant job within 5 milliseconds using AI-enabled features, and more than 200,000 job seekers became applicants in less than 14 minutes of the site’s launch.

Meredith Wellard, vice president of Group Talent Acquisition, Learning and Growth at DHL

DHL

Meredith Wellard, vice president of Group Talent Acquisition, Learning and Growth at DHL, oversaw the AI project from the HR side. DHL’s Express division had recently launched the Phenom Intelligent Talent Experience platform and saw early wins, piquing Wellard’s interest. So, she decided to expand it to the entire company. The results were almost immediate. Wellard said the new AI-based career site produced a spike in candidate traffic, greater overall engagement, and faster hires. The shift to a more engaging career site was particularly good at attracting frontline workers, especially truck drivers, delivery people, and warehouse workers.

Wellard spoke with Computerworld about the genAI HR project, and offered insights into how the project rolled out and what other companies should look out for when executing their own genAI-based tech plans. The following are excerpts from that interview:

Tell me about your job at DHL. “I’ve been with DHL for 18 years. Over the last five years, I’ve been working in our corporate center, looking after the group topics when it comes to everything from employer, brand, the way we position ourselves in the markets, attracting and recruiting team members, building their skills, building them into internal talents and then, in principle, also offboarding them in a respectful way. Although we don’t do a whole lot of that.”

When did you start the project and what hurdles were you facing? “We started the project around 2019. That’s when all of this tech was quite new. We were only just starting to hear about this cool thing called Machine Learning or AI. They were trying to get their heads around what it meant and whether it would really be useful. So probably for the first 12 months, it was about us learning.

“I think that’s an important part for any team venturing out on new technology — learn before you get distracted by the shiny things, you know, that great sales pitch that many companies can do. So, we did a lot of learning, and we were cleaning up our applicant tracking system landscape at that same time — that’s the sort of back end of the recruiting process. Then at one of our divisions — our Express Division — they had actually done quite a lot of work and found Phenom and they had decided to try using Phenom and see if it worked for them. That was quite successful. So, off the back of their success, we thought, ‘You know what? I think this could work for the whole globe.’

“AI is not going to get rid of our jobs. Our jobs are not going to be taken by AI. Our jobs are going to be taken by people who know how to use AI.”

Meredith Wellard

“We set up what we called our Skydiver project. The reason we called it Skydiver was because it was fast, and it was like a jump out of a plane — kind of risky. It worked. We partnered with Phenom and over a six-month period we got the career site up and running. After six months, I think we had like maybe five languages on the site and 70 career sites [consolidated on it]. After about 18 months, we were down to about 11 career sites [that weren’t on it] and up to 21 languages. As of today, which is three years on, we’re on about 40 languages and we’ve got one career site.”

DHL had 200 career sites. First of all, can you explain that? Why did you have 200 career sites? “So, as you know, we have [about] 600,000 employees, and we’re in basically every country in the world — so, 220 countries. We do operate in a decentralized model, so the power is in the hands of the countries. They need to be really relevant to the local markets. We’re in a service industry, so it’s super important that you know the local environment is reflecting who they are very well when it comes to our recruiting activities.

“We also have a ‘global as necessary, as local as possible’ mindset, and we probably we missed a bit of the global part when we allowed whichever country that wanted to to set up a career site. And a lot of them did. By the time we started to think about partnering with some [of] these great career site tech companies or talent experience platform companies, we realized that we had quite some work to harmonize the landscape and bring together all of those career sites. Some of those sites had a lot of love and care put into creating them on a local level, but they had no [click-throughs] because they were turning up on page 17 of a Google search.

“And so it was quite important for us at the beginning to take those 200 or so career sites and figure out how to bring those together so that the local environments don’t lose what they need in terms of the localization. And it’s way more than language. It’s also things like the way the visuals appear, the way the jobs are presented, how users can click on them.

“We did a lot of research in the early days, looking at what would someone in Denmark expect from a career site versus someone in Japan, and from a user experience point of view those two are so different…culture-wise — even the visuals like the real estate usage expectations in a country like Japan versus Denmark, where it’s rather more sparse, and you know, spacious. It’s a cultural preference.

“So, we had to take care of all of those things and at the same time really take care to communicate and educate our business around how it wouldn’t be a natural thing for an HR professional — who knows everything about HR, legal aspects, recruiting, what a good interview looks like — it wouldn’t naturally be that they should know what it means to create a good SEO. Or how they could become more transparent on Google search. Or what would it take to have the right words, or the right visuals, or the right number of interactions in order to bring yourself up higher on a search result. This is not something that HR people know necessarily. Some do for sure, but not all of them do.”

What other issues were you facing? “I think the biggest one was definitely, because of those disconnected sites, it was definitely our visibility. The second one is around our brand. We have an amazing consumer brand. Everyone knows DHL — the red and the yellow. It’s bright. It’s engaging. It means a lot to every employee, and…our customers and the partners that we work with.

“Unfortunately, whilst the consumer brand is still is incredibly powerful, our employer brand was somewhat ad hoc. You know, people were creating things that they thought look nice that they thought represented. But there was no standardization and if you looked at one brand in in Germany, it might not look the same as one in South America. It just didn’t work. So that was the second big thing. We needed to align our brand to be more visible. As an employer, we want to be this great place to work for everyone. We’re this great company to work for, but how can you ensure everyone knows that if you can’t even tell a coherent story out into the market?

“A third thing is we wanted to take care that we minimized the likelihood of things like the fraudulent use of our brands. You hear these things in the market where companies had fraudsters say, ‘Pay me $50 and I’ll get you a job interview here or there.’ We just wanted to make sure that we weren’t exposed to that, because when you’ve got so many different sites, it does increase the risk of that type of activity. So, with that sort of compliance topic, as a company that really values good business practices like compliance, it is important to us. So that was the other thing that we had to address.

“The fourth thing we had to address was just bringing the recruiting audience together. When we have all of us looking together at our talents and saying, ‘OK, well you know if I’m recruiting out of our supply chain division and I’ve picked my gold medalist, but geez, there was three really strong silver medalists.’ We were just letting them go back into the market. We needed to be directing them go into other potential jobs in our company, not back into the market — especially nowadays.”

What are some of the talent challenges you’re facing, particularly with some of the digital technologies that you’re rolling out. “I don’t think we’re unique in this. There is obviously a huge demand for tech talent across the globe at the moment. And, the demand changes, I feel like it’s changing every six months. We started with everyone wanting blockchain specialists. Then there’s this whole push on project managers and some cloud architects. And they have moved on to the cybersecurity space. Now, most recently, we’ve got the whole generative AI and AI technicians and data analysts and so forth. It’s a constant churn of changing demand, and it’s sort of pulsing.

“I think the initial mode, because it’s what our go-to always has been, is we go to market and say we need this type of person. Of course, because we’re DHL and we’re a logistics company, you [as a job applicant] may wonder why would we need technical people. We realized that our reputation as an employer of technical people — IT-type people — wasn’t that it was a bad reputation. There was literally no reputation. Technical people were not thinking, ‘I can’t wait to get my degree and work for DHL.’

“So we had to really get the story out there why we are a good match for someone who wants to work in that space. We really have that type of technology that is cutting edge in terms of what you do as a technical contributor, it manifests in our business immediately. Whether it’s a proof of concept or a pilot, whether you’re working on Google glasses or Internet of Things, you can actually see how your work impacts customers and the business — and quite quickly. And, I think there are a lot of technical people who want to see the impact of their coding or their design or their project management or whatever on the customer or the business.”

You partnered with Phenom to help you roll out the genAI for your career site, but did you also build an internal team to roll out this technology? What kind of people were on that? “We have a really good internal team. Phenom became our partner, and we learned a lot from them. They had a lot of expertise about this very new technology. Internally, though, we have a really great coherent team working in a sort of agile working mode. That was also new to us, a working mode being in a scrum-based environment. That team’s made up of a set of HR professionals who know recruiting and who know what it means to bring and attract people onto our business but who also had the ability to translate those HR needs into technical language, if you like. They could talk then to another group of people who we worked with internally, IT professionals who were willing to talk to HR and ask them, ‘What does it mean to transform HR into this technical world?’

HR was one of the late adopters of technology. And I think that we found a really great group of IT professionals who were fascinated at how technology manifests to enable our people in a way very different from, say, the operations of finance.”

Did you also include folks from legal, finance, and compliance and others? “We call them our product owners. They’re the ones from the HR and from the business side. They describe what’s needed. They work with our actual operators out in the field, the recruiters and so forth. And they understand what’s required. They talk to IT in the language of IT, and IT says, ‘Here’s what we can provide as a solution.’ Then we say that’s an interesting solution — now let’s talk to compliance about how this will work from a compliance perspective? You know, we can’t be a company that says you can trust us completely unless that trust extends to candidates, applicants and so forth.

“We also talked to the compliance people. Then we have our procurement partners. They’re  talking about how our relationships are set up and how we can get the most out of these really powerful contracts that we have in place across the globe. And then of course there’s finance, which is looking after all those financial things. And then the managers. And the employees — everyone providing some insights from a personal perspective on how it should work for them. What would they want from your product like this? It’s really the whole company coming together.”

So how far down did you go on the management rung to get input? “All the way to our frontline supervisors in terms of testing it, trying it out, and giving us some feedback on how it looks and feels. We involved everyone…who is actually someone who needs to click the buttons to say, ‘Yes, I approve of this.’

“At the same time…, we spent a lot of time on our employer brand. Looking at what our brand looks like if we want consistency. It’s not just having the technology to do it, but you’ve got to have the right attributes. It’s a reflection of who we are internally. So, we talked, interviewed, surveyed, and ran workshops with literally 3,000 or 4,000 employees — maybe even more — to understand what their experience was working for us. What do they love about us? What should we talk about and not talk about? And through that we created this story around where we are as a company, and about how we’re a great team. And, once you’re in here, you bleed red and yellow. That’s the truth.”

Can you explain how your new, consolidated jobs site works to direct job seekers to the right open positions? “The nice thing about some of these new technologies is that AI is part of the experience, but it doesn’t feel somehow tricky. [Employees] will say I use ChatGPT to do this or that, and I’m like, it’s OK that you used it for that, just as long as you didn’t present it as your own work. On the career side, AI makes the whole thing super easy. It’s much simpler as part of the search experience. If I want to search for a job in Vietnam, I start to write ‘Vietnam,’ and the AI immediately recognizes where you’re located. It then triggers a set of jobs that start to come to you in the language that you’re writing in. This is very simple algorithm in the end, but it feels very personalized, very relevant.

“The second thing that happens is that you get the job recommendations. We have a Phenom-branded chatbot called Larry that allows customers to personalize it. He pops up and says, ‘Do you want more information?’ You start to enter in things and Larry will say things like, ‘Would you like to apply for a job or are you just browsing?’ He’ll tackle some of the first compliance questions like ‘Would you give permission for us to record some of your data?’ And as it does this, it starts to understand what sort of jobs the applicant or interested person might be a match for through one answer-type questions.

“Then once you get into the platform and start looking at the jobs, of course, it gets a little more intense — not so much for the candidate themselves, but more so for the recruiter who will immediately start to see people recommended for specific roles if they’ve given their consent for that. The [job seeker] didn’t apply for that, but let’s see if he’s interested, because this could be suitable for him.

“This type of matching AI is very useful for helping us bring to the surface the right people for the right jobs. In the past, it would have required recruiters to go through lists and lists and lists of [resumes] to try and find the right people for the right jobs. So, for me, that’s a super powerful use of the machine learning technology that we just didn’t have access to before.

“And then there’s about a million other things that it does. For example, once you find someone, you can send them an e-mail and the recruiter can click on a little AI helper in that email and choose to send an e-mail to the [job seeker] asking if they’re interested in talking about another opportunity we might have. So, it really makes the job easier.”

So give me an example like before and after, since rolling out the new AI-powered site. So back when you had 200 sites as opposed to now. “Let’s say I’m in South Africa on DHL’s career site. I’m hoping like crazy that someone’s going to find the career site and click on it. Maybe they go there and maybe they see some nice pictures and a statement from some of our employees on how they like the company. Then they might click on a job, and then that might get to a recruiter that information along with all the other people that have clicked on that job. But mostly what happened is that people would put [resumes] in there and probably not hear back, if I’m being honest.

“Now what happens on our career site is South Africa is in bold, and so they still have a very localized site, but it’s fully integrated with the global site. It’s the same global URL; it’s just that the page would have some local references, probably some local visuals, maybe some of the local employees talking about their experience working at some in South Africa with our company. The real difference is that as a candidate, now I go in and I get guided to the right sort of jobs based on my [resume]. The system parses the [resume], finds my skills and tells me there’s some jobs that might suit me. And then the recruiter who’s looking for someone with those skills doesn’t have to search through hundreds and hundreds of [resumes]. They get presented the ones that have the matching skills to the top of the list.

“So recruiters still have the list of 100 [applicants] if they want to look at them, but the ones that are matching what they’re looking for are at the top of the list. And that list [of applicants] could come not just from my unit…, but also includes DHL’s Express supply chain and our Freight Forwarding units in different parts of the country. They get to see it all now, not just that singular entry point.”

What’s the most unexpected benefit from the genAI-assisted, unified career site? “The unexpected things? This last couple of weeks, we’ve discovered that we are the most visible career platform in Germany. That means if you go searching for a job in Germany, you will find DHL before any other site, and we’re very close to being the number one job site in a lot of other countries as well. That is because it takes a good [career] site platform and it takes a good understanding of how you use that platform. We’ve reached the point where those two things have become really congruent. So we have some great people doing wonderful things with the content, continually updating our tags and the language alignment.

“But we also, of course, have a platform that allows us to do that fast and efficiently and we’ve set up a really nice process where we have people who are responsible for administering the content. In Costa Rica, in Malaysia, and in the Netherlands, it’s 24 hours a day those updates are made. So, for example, if the administrator in a particular company comes to us today and says something like, ‘We’ve just heard that XYZ company is closing down and we immediately want to get something onto the career site so that we can bring their employees to our site,’ we have someone somewhere in the world that can get that content on to the system. We didn’t realize that this would even be possible when we brought the product on.

“The expected things? Our reputation is improving, particularly with technical talent and young talent. Our ability to customize and really target content to appeal to certain [talent] audiences…has been quite rewarding.”

In what other ways has DHL used generative AI technology other than the career site? “We have what we call our Career Marketplace, which is an internal marketplace recommending people not only for jobs, but also learning networks and mentoring and these types of experiences. We’re in the middle of rolling that out at the moment. That will also include some very nice AI capabilities.

“We use a generative AI chatbot specifically for creating some of our internal marketing content, so, short videos and…training videos and things like that. The chatbot is called GAIA, which stands for Generative AI & Intelligent Automation.

“Internally, it has been super for those things also, because it doesn’t have to be done by a specialist, it can be done by people who have the right tools now. The company has been very wise and very fast, but at the same time cautious in setting up an internal generative AI tool that our employees can use, and that’s safe, and that’s compliant, and that’s able to be accessed by…everyone. Anyone who is the least bit interested in accessing it can. That has had two benefits: one, it gives people an awareness of what generative AI is and that it’s an actually something valuable if you use it well. And two, it also helps those who may have some fear or concerns understand that it’s not a monster. It is just a tool.

In what ways did DHL train its full-time employees in the use of AI? “We have a group within our company that took a more proactive role in informing and educating [employees], running workshops and webinars and inviting people to information sessions that were a bit more formal than our previous sort of soft rollout. And, there also people who are responsible for using AI or creating algorithms or machine learning or data analysts, who have had very formal education, and they’re using some of our learning partners to provide them with proper education on AI.”

Who are your learning partners? Are they universities in the various countries you’re located or online course providers? “We use Coursera a lot, for example. Also, Skillsoft Percipio. We also do have partnerships with universities…and other places that provide us with super advanced levels of education.”

Can you offer any tips for other organizations who are considering rolling out AI? What should they avoid? “I think they should avoid hysteria. I think what our company has done super well is I have never felt scared of AI. It was explained to us that this technology was just something that’s coming. It’s going to help us. It’s not going to cause problems if you get on board. There’s a quote that we’ve kind of thrown around in our business a bit. I can’t remember who it comes from, but it says something like, ‘AI is not going to get rid of our jobs. Our jobs are not going to be taken by AI. Our jobs are going to be taken by people who know how to use AI.’

“It’s not about replacing your job or being something you should be afraid of. It’s about getting your arms around it and learning how it’s going to help you be better at what you do.”

Careers, Emerging Technology, IT Jobs

After a lengthy spat of layoffs spiked unemployment rates in recent months, the tech industry is poised to return to growth, according to analyses of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report released today.

Employers accelerated their hiring of technology workers and expanded their search for new tech talent in March, according to CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

Tech companies added an estimated 6,000 workers last month, according to CompTIA’s analysis of BLS data. Job growth was led by new hiring in technology services, software development, cloud infrastructure and related positions.

Technology occupations throughout the economy rose by 203,000 for the month. That pushed the unemployment rate for tech occupations in March back down a full half a point from 3.5% in February to 3.0%, according to CompTIA.

CompTIA

Employers added 191,000 new job postings for tech positions, an increase of 8,000 from the previous month and the highest volume since August 2023. In total, there were an estimated 438,000 active tech job postings in March.

“With all four key tracking metrics in the positive for the month, it’s a welcome return to stability in the tech employment data,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA.

By occupation category, software developers and IT support specialists saw the largest increases in openings from February to March. The job posting data also affirms that there are a variety of paths to a job in technology. CompTIA’s report shows that 46% of all tech jobs postings in March did not specify that candidates have a four-year degree.

Percentages were higher in certain job categories, such as IT support specialists (78%), network support specialists (66%) and web UI/UX designers (62%). Jobs in artificial intelligence (AI) or for occupations that require AI skills accounted for 41% of March postings in the emerging technologies sub-category.

Becky Frankiewicz, president of Manpower Group North America, took a more subdued view of the current tech market. “Our real-time data shows signs of a goldilocks labor market — hiring is slightly hotter than last year at this time, cooler than last month and warmer than pre-pandemic,” she said “This demonstrates remarkable resilience given the economic uncertainty we’re experiencing right now.”

Both the overall US unemployment rate, at 3.8%, and the number of unemployed people, at 6.4 million, changed little in March. The unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of a percent from February’s 3.9%.

Overall US unemployment has remained in a narrow range of 3.7% to 3.9% since August 2023, according to BLS data. While the unemployment rate changed little, the U.S. labor market added 303,000 jobs in March, which far exceeding the roughly 200,000 economists had predicted.

According to Janco Associates, a management consulting firm for the IT industry, the number of unfilled IT jobs fell from 202,000 in January to 117,000 in February — a drop of more than 42%.

CompTIA

Tech demand remains stronger than last year at this time and was stronger in Q1 2024 than during the final three months of 2023.

“Demand for AI and machine learning engineers has continued to grow for the last few years, and we’re recognizing that with increased tech demand comes increased training and upskilling,” said Ger Doyle, senior vice president at ManpowerGroup and Head of Experis North America — a ManpowerGroup focused on recruitment of US tech talent.

“Humanizing tech roles is the key to continuing this growth, making the ladder for tech roles in reach and bringing attainable skills to employers and employees alike,” Doyle said.

In its “State of the Tech Workforce 2024,” CompTIA forecasts tech employment growth of 3.1% this year — a net gain of more than 300,000 new jobs. That compares to the 1.2% growth rate of 2023, which yielded about 117,000 net new hires.

Top projected occupations for this year, and their growth rates, include: data scientists and data analysts, up 5.5%; cybersecurity analysts and engineers, up 5.1%; software developers and engineers up 4.8%; software QA and testers, up 4.3%; computer and information research scientists, also up 4.3%; CIOs and IT Directors, up 3.6%; web developers, also up 3.6%; and web and digital interface designers, up 3.6%.

According to projections from the BLS statistics and job market analytics firm Lightcast, the tech workforce will grow twice as fast in the next 10 years as the overall US workforce. The replacement rate for tech occupations during the 2024-2034 period is expected to average about 6% annually, or approximately 350,000 workers each year, totaling several million through 2034.

Growth in so-called “driver occupations” will expand even faster. Positions in the data science and data analyst, cybersecurity, software development, UI/UX and emerging tech categories, including artificial intelligence, will grow at the fastest rates on a percentage basis, according to CompTIA. “On a volume basis, core infrastructure positions in networking and cloud engineering, along with tech support positions, will continue to serve as the on ramp for many starting a career in technology,” the report stated.

Projections from CompTIA’s report indicate that 20 states and 14 metropolitan areas will exceed the average growth rate this year. Twenty-six metro markets are expected to at least double last year’s job growth rate, reflecting the diversity of tech hub concentrations across the US.

February 2024

US unemployment in the technology sector increased by 0.2% to 3.5% last month, following an upward trend in joblessness in all sectors.

Technology occupations across the economy declined by an estimated 133,000 positions, according to a new report from IT industry group CompTIA.

Overall, the US unemployment rate among all job markets rose by 0.2% to 3.9% in February, and the number of unemployed people increased by 334,000 to 6.5 million. A year earlier, the jobless rate was 3.6%, and the number of unemployed people was 6 million. While unemployment did tick up, February’s rate continued the longest stretch of unemployment below 4% in decades.

There were 275,000 jobs added to the US market last month, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report today. The data shows a significant uptick over January’s 229,000 jobs added to the workforce, but lower than December’s numbers, when 290,000 jobs were added.

“New hiring of tech services and software development personnel is the lone bright spot in February’s lackluster technology employment data,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at IT industry group CompTIA.

Overall tech industry employment increased modestly, employer job postings for future tech hiring were flat, tech occupations throughout the economy declined, according to CompTIA’s latest jobs report.

“We continue to see the lag effect of market developments working their way into government employment data,” Hebert said. “While employers across every sector of the economy demand tech talent spanning the continuum of tech job roles, there are pockets of employers recalibrating their staffing levels.”

IT business consultancy Janco Associates had a similar take on the lackluster IT job market performance in February. It said in its report today that hiring of IT Pros is hindered by the lack of qualified individuals and a slowing economic picture, which “will have a dampening impact on the growth of the IT job market size.

According to Janco’s data, there are currently 4.18 million US workers employed as IT professionals. The rate of growth in the number of new IT jobs has slowed, the firm said.

“There now are just over 121,000 unemployed IT professionals. The IT job market shrank by over 48,600 jobs in calendar year 2023, Janco’s report stated. “Overall that is a flattening of the long term growth rate pattern of IT job market,” the firm said.

One of the more surprising results of the BLS report, however, was that the agency drastically revised its January job gains, which had previously been reported as a leap of 353,000 new jobs. The revised numbers dropped that by more 124,000 jobs.

Tech employers added 185,000 new job postings for positions in February, raising the total number of active tech job postings to more than 436,000, according to CompTIA’s data. California, Texas and Virginia had the largest volumes of tech job postings among the states. At the metro level, Washington, New York, Dallas, Chicago and Boston were the most active markets. 

Open positions in artificial intelligence or jobs requiring AI skills continue to hover near the 10% threshold, while positions offering hybrid, remote or work from home options account for about 20% of all tech job postings, CompTIA’s report showed.

Technology companies added an estimated 2,340 workers last month, CompTIA’s analysis of BLS data showed. The technology services and software development sub-sector saw employment increase by 4,200 positions, but those gains were offset by staffing reductions in telecommunications and manufacturing.

Net tech employment spanning tech industry and tech occupation employment totaled more than 9.6 million workers, according to CompTIA’s data.

Over the next quarter — from April through June — the US is expected to lead all other nations in IT hiring, according to IT staffing firm Experis, a subsidiary of ManpowerGroup.

Ger Doyle, head of IT staffing at Experis North America, said while hiring data shows worker demand will remain strong, it will be “more balanced and concentrated.”

Nurses, software developers and front-line retail workers are the three most sought after roles in the U.S. today, according to Doyle.

“In the tech space, AI and machine learning engineers are seeing good growth since last year, with finance and consulting companies as some of the top employers of this specialist tech talent,” Doyle said.

While tech sector layoffs have made headlines over the past year Experis’s data shows the same companies laying people off are also hiring, including top tech companies such as Google, META, Amazon and Apple. However, consuntancies and financial services companies are also hiring – firms such as KPMG, Booz Allen Hamilton, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Slalom Consulting, according to Doyle.

While artificial intelligence and machine learning engineer hiring decreased by 1% in February, the demand for the roles has been trending upward since May 2023, Doyle said.

Wages are following suit, and have remained steady overall, with month-over-month increases in some sectors where remote and hybrid roles have increased, such as IT and business operations.

Hybrid job roles are strongest in the IT (38%) and finance (40%) sectors, according to Experis data.

January 2024

The US added twice as many jobs in January as analysts had expected, though the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7% and tech layoffs continued to plague the IT industry.

In January, the US added 353,000 jobs, according to data published today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). And for tech workers, the latest employment data suggests 2024 is off to a promising start, according to an analysis by IT trade association CompTIA.

Tech companies added nearly 18,000 workers last month, the second consecutive month of job growth. The unemployment rate for tech occupations remained at 3.3%, well below the overall national rate, according to CompTIA. Yet, overall, tech occupations, which span all industries, were down in January.

Tech companies added jobs in several primary sub-sectors:

• Technology services and software development (+14,500)
• Cloud infrastructure (+2,100)
• Tech manufacturing (most notably semiconductors) (+1,400)

Also, on the rise – job openings in artificial intelligence (AI) and positions that offer hybrid, remote, or work from home options. AI job postings or jobs requiring AI skills increased by about 2,000 positions from December to 17,479 last month, CompTIA said.

Tech occupations across all markets and the broader economy, however, declined by an estimated 117,000 positions. “This month’s data is a helpful reminder of the many moving parts in assessing tech workforce gains or losses,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “The expansive tech workforce will simultaneously experience gains and losses reflecting employer short-term and longer-term staffing needs.”

Employers listed more than 392,000 active tech job postings, with nearly 178,000 added last month alone. January’s total of active postings was 33,727 more than the December 2023 figure, the largest month-to-month increase in a year.

There was significant employer interest in filling positions in software development, IT project management, data analysis and science, IT support and systems analysis and engineering. And after several months of decline, the number of job postings offering hybrid, remote or work-from-home options exceeded 30,000 in January, up about 5,000 from December.

“Looking at the bigger picture, we continue to see a post-pandemic rebalancing,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of staffing firm ManpowerGroup NA. “While hiring isn’t as strong as a year ago, it is better than pre-pandemic and has improved month-over-month.

“We’re also seeing an expected post-holiday hangover in retail and logistics, balanced by increases in IT, finance, accounting and engineering,” she continued. “Overall, more jobs are available now for each unemployed worker than there were before the pandemic, creating a stable environment for employers and employees.” 

Layoffs in the tech sector have been a thorn in the side of an otherwise healthy industry. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft collectively laid off tens of thousands of workers last year and were among a number of companies that announced planned layoffs for this year. Meta and Google and AWS are cutting back on more ambitious “moonshot” projects, as enterprises are still hesitant to spend big on large software buildouts, etc.

This week, iRobot announced it would lay off about 31% of its 1,250 employees after a deal to be acquired by Amazon fell through.

The number of employees laid off at tech companies more than tripled between December and January, according to industry tracker Layoff.fyi. So far this year, 115 tech firms have laid off 30,375 employees, according to the site.

Though layoffs remain below pre-pandemic levels, the number of US employees filing for jobless benefits last week reached an 11-week high. And while the stock market continues to soar, tech companies appear worried.

Many segments of the market remain soft, according to Jack Gold, principal analyst with business consultancy J. Gold Associates. That is likely to continue for at least the next two quarters, he said.

“Tech layoffs might make the headlines, but our real-time data shows a more nuanced story. In many cases, the same companies that are laying people off are also still hiring — they’re just laser focused on hiring to meet demand,” said Ger Doyle, senior vice president of tech employment service Experis.

As an example, Microsoft and Amazon, which recently cut jobs in gaming and streaming, respectively, are simultaneously planning huge investments in AI, according to Doyle. 

Experis’s data shows tech demand rebounded in January (up 26% compared to  December), with demand for AI/ML engineers growing 19% last month.

“AI hiring is through the roof due to betting on the future next big thing,” Gold said. “But that leaves many more mature industries vulnerable to scaling back. The thinking in many companies is, let’s cut back on ‘fringe’ stuff until we can determine if we’re going to be OK.”

Doyle said it’s important for employess to keep a focus on internal mobility. “We’re also seeing small and mid-size companies have their moment, scooping up tech talent that may have let go by the big hitters. It’s also important to remember that today every company is a tech company — Capital One, Doordash and Reddit are among the top hirers of AI and machine learning talent in the country today.

“Those with tech skills will still find themselves in high demand and able to call the shots on remote working, too…,” Doyle said.

December 2023

Unemployment in the IT industry ticked up from 2% in November to 2.3% in December, according to an analysis of the latest jobs data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Tech occupations throughout the US economy declined by 79,000 positions last month, though the unemployment rate for tech occupations was still well below the overall national unemployment rate of 3.7%.

The up-and-down pattern in tech employment seen over the past few months continued in December, according to CompTIA, an IT trade association.

Tech companies added the largest number of workers since April, but tech occupations throughout the economy declined, according to CompTIA’s analysis of data from the BLS.

Job postings for tech occupations also fell. Active postings totaled nearly 364,000, including 142,295 newly added by employers in December, according to CompTIA.

There’s still strong demand for tech workers; US employers advertised 3.13 million IT job postings during 2023 for a wide range of positions including support, infrastructure, software, data, cybersecurity, and technology enablement.

In December, the top tech job postings by job openings in the US were:

• Software Developers and Engineers — 40,490;
• IT Project Management, Data Analysts, Emerging, Other — 27,853;
• IT Support Specialists — 16,526;
• Systems Analysts and Engineers — 12,513;
• Data Scientists — 10,293.

(Not every “help wanted” ad results in a new hire; generally, the ratio is one new hire for every eight job postings, according to CompTIA.)

One area that saw marked hiring involved artificial intelligence (AI) roles. Employer hiring for AI and other specialized skills continued to exceed 10% of all tech job postings, CompTIA said.

The push for AI and generative AI hires might be having an adverse effect on entry-level IT positions, especially in customer service, telecommunications, and hosting automation, according to Victor Janulaitis, CEO of IT consultancy Janco Associates, Inc.

“CIOs and CFOs are looking to improve the productivity of IT by automating processes and reporting where possible,” Janulaitis said. “They are focusing on eliminating ‘non-essential’ managers, staff, and services. Experienced coders and developers still have opportunities.”

The highest demand continues to be for AI specialists, security professionals, programmers, and blockchain processing experts, according to Janulaitis.

Ger Doyle, senior vice president of IT staffing firm Experis, said he still sees “very strong demand” for full stack developers, data scientists, and AI experts. “Seventy-six percent of IT employers say they are facing difficulty finding the talent they need,” Doyle said.

“Supporting people to gain experience and develop new skills will be key to alleviating talent shortages and helping people build employability for the long term,” IT staffing firm ManpowerGroup said in a statement.

Overall, US employers anticipate measured hiring in the first quarter of 2024, while persistent talent shortages continue to impede hiring, according to the latest Employment Outlook Survey from staffing firm ManpowerGroup. With seasonal variations removed from the data, the Net Employment Outlook (NEO) for the U.S. is +35%. 

(The NEO is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting the percentage of employers who expect a decrease in employment at their location in the next quarter.)

Globally, the US ties for second place in the world (+35%), outpaced by first-place ties, India and The Netherlands (+37%).

“Tech employment remains on solid footing,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in a statement. “Despite the ongoing pattern of mixed signals in the labor market tracking data, the optimistic outlook continues to hold.”

Janulaitis saw it differently, however: “Layoffs at big tech companies continued to hurt overall IT hiring in 2023. CIOs are looking at a troubling economic climate and are evaluating the need for increased headcounts based on the technological requirements of their specific business operations. At the same time, with a mean total compensation of $100,000 for ITpPros, IT will continue to be a target for budget cutting.”

Talent mobility is set to be the key trend of the new year — employers need to look for potential vs past performance and help people make lateral moves within their organization, according to ManpowerGroup.

In December, overall US employment rose by 216,000 people, according to the BLS . The overall unemployment rate remained unchanged from the previous month, with the number of unemployed workers was essentially unchanged at 6.3 million.

Employment in professional, scientific, and technical services continued to trend up, adding 25,000 jobs; the industry added an average of 22,000 jobs per month in 2023, about half the average monthly gain of 41,000 in 2022, according to the BLS report.

For all of 2023, the US added 2.7 million jobs. While the overall unemployment rate has remained under 4% over the past two years, last year ended with a higher unemployment rate (3.7%) than in 2022 (3.5%). Employment continued to trend up in government, healthcare, social assistance, and construction, while transportation and warehousing lost jobs.

“The 2024 labor market is all about balance and moderation — restoring equilibrium after four years of pandemic related swings,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of the North America Region for staffing firm ManpowerGroup. “Today’s report…shows continued stabilization and an optimistic start to the New Year for employers and workers. Employers are holding onto their people and hiring where the demand exists.”  

Average hourly wage growth accelerated slightly in December, rising by 4.1% over the previous 12 months to $34.27 an hour and continued to beat inflation, boosting workers’ spending power, according to BLS data.

November 2023

The number of new IT jobs being added to the US economy has continued to shrink over the past three months, even as the unemployment rate for tech workers has remained near historical lows.

The unemployment rate for tech workers dropped from 2.2% in October to about 2% in November, according to new data based on US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Overall, US employment increased by 199,000 in November, and the national unemployment rate edged down to 3.7%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. That tracks with October, when employment increased by about 150,000 jobs and the unemployment rate was 3.9%.

While there have been a plethora of big employers announcing tech layoffs, there has also been a redistribution of tech talent to midsize and small companies that “finally got their shot at hiring talent post-pandemic,” according to Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup, North America.

“This talent was scooped up almost in real time by smaller size businesses, so it remains quite difficult to fill tech roles in the country,” Frankiewicz said. “Now that every company is a tech company, we also saw tech talent absorbed into other sectors outside of tech — like retail and hospitality.

“We continue to see strong demand in business analyst roles and software developers as companies continue to work on readying projects for the new year and building out their apps for more clicks this season,” she added.

According to a report from business consultancy Janco Associates, the IT job market shrank by 12,000 open positions in the last three months, leaving 101,000 unemployed IT professionals. At the same time, close to the same number of tech positions remain unfilled.

“CIOs have started to halt hiring IT pros. Demand for contractors and consultants is slow due to economic uncertainty,” Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis said in the report. “On a bright side, there are still over 120K unfilled jobs for IT professionals.”

Year to date, the IT job market has shrunk by 24,900 positions, according to Janco’s report. Currently, about 4.18 million people are employed as IT professionals in the US, according to Janco.

Janco’s figures show a year-to-date loss of nearly 25,000 IT jobs.

In the past 18 months, the number of IT pros hired each month has moved from 105,00 to 57,000 in October 2023.

“2023 was not a good year for the size of the IT job market,” Janulaitis said. “We currently do not see any change in that trend. In our professional opinion, in 2024 the size of the IT job market will remain at about the same levels as the fourth quarter of 2023, with growth in size limited to minimal levels.”

The number of unfilled positions for IT pros has fallen from 148,000 to 101,000 in the past 18 months. “There still is demand; however, not at the peak of the post-pandemic hiring frenzy,” Janulaitis said.

Not all IT job reports were doom and gloom, however. CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and its workers, echoed ManpowerGroup’s findings, saying that hiring among SMBs is up — way up. And employer demand for AI talent boosted the share of job postings to 12%, the company stated.

Meanwhile, CompTIA’s numbers showed tech unemployment to be at 1.7%, well below ManpowerGroup’s figures, even as it estimated that tech occupations throughout the economy declined by 210,000 last month.

Tech occupations across the economy increased by an estimated 483,000 jobs, according to CompTIA. Tech firms added an estimated 2,159 workers, mainly in IT services and custom software development, CompTIA’s Tech Jobs Report showed.

“With the gains in employer hiring intent for AI talent, the job posting data is finally catching up to the hype,” said Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s chief research officer. “As an enabling technology, companies hiring for AI skills inevitably need to boost adjacencies in areas such as data infrastructure, cybersecurity, and business process automation.” 

Employer hiring activity as measured by job postings for tech positions totaled 155,621 for November. Jobs associated with artificial intelligence (AI) made up 12% of the total, more than 18,000 postings. It’s the first time AI positions have surpassed the 10% threshold. Positions in emerging technologies or jobs that require emerging tech skills accounted for 26% of tech job postings last month.

Tech job postings continue to fall. (Click image to enlarge it.)

ManpowerGroup’s Frankiewicz said her company’s analysts anticipated a stabilization of the IT job market with real-time data showing impacts to all sectors, including “always-hot healthcare” and retail.

“In real time, we’re seeing double-digit declines in job postings month over month and year over year that we haven’t seen since 2020. This moderation is welcome for many employers — who are finding it easier to fill vacancies,” Frankiewicz said.

“Time to fill roles has dropped to 49 days in November, from an average of 122 days in 2023 to date. For highly skilled roles like software developer, the time to fill has dropped by more than half, from 106 days to 29,” she added.

“We’re also seeing signs of the heavy hitter big companies taking a back seat and midsize employers with 50-249 employees having their moment — a trend that began with tech talent and is now impacting across the board,” Frankiewicz said.

October 2023

The national job rate for technology workers remained little changed in October, according to an analysis of data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The unemployment rate for tech workers in October dropped from 2.2% in September to 2.1% last month, even as there has been a cooling in the broader US job market. Technology companies and employers throughout the economy added workers to their payrolls in October, according to CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and its workers.

Tech occupations across the economy increased by an estimated 483,000 jobs, according to CompTIA. Tech firms added an estimated 2,159 workers, mainly in IT services and custom software development, CompTIA’s Tech Jobs Report showed.

It was the second consecutive month of job growth in the sector — albeit at a modest pace.

“It’s fair to say tech employment gains for the month exceeded expectations, given the recent labor market swings,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in a statement. “Companies continue to focus on the technologies and skills that deliver meaningful business value.”

California, Texas, Virginia, Florida and New York had the highest volumes of tech job postings among the states, CompTIA indicated. The Charlotte, Boston, San Diego, Cleveland and Phoenix markets were also active in October, with month-over-month increases in employer postings for tech jobs.

While the US market added 150,000 jobs in October, the overall unemployment rate rose from 3.8% to 3.9%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of unemployed persons — 6.5 million — changed little in October. However, since their recent lows in April, those numbers are up by 0.5% and 849,000, respectively.

The uptick in unemployment and the slower pace of hiring pointed to a cooling of the employment market. In September, for example, 279,000 jobs were added to the US economy.

Becky Frankiewicz, president of staffing firm ManpowerGroup’s North America region, credited the slowdown for employees being less likely to leave for new roles than they were at the height of the pandemic. Hiring, she said, is solid but settling down.

“Our real-time data shows that in many sectors, especially blue-collar and tech, the market is finding balance,” she said. “The post-pandemic hiring frenzy and summer hiring warmth has cooled and companies are now holding onto employees.”

The tech sector is also cooling from its torrid growth over the past two or more years, but there’s still demand for highly skilled positions including app developers, cyber security experts and data analysts, Frankiewicz said.

“The most in-demand functions remain steady — with most new roles posted in medical and healthcare, sales and IT,” she said.

After a spike in the number of openings for IT professionals in the early summer, the number of unfilled openings for IT professionals fell from 201,000 in August to 160,000 in September. That reflects a pullback from the peak of 254,000 opening in July, according to Frankiewicz.

About 20% of job postings offered work from home or remote work as an option, according to CompTIA. One-quarter were for positions in emerging technologies or jobs that require emerging tech skills, including 16,000 associated with artificial intelligence (AI) jobs and skills. Employer hiring for AI positions and skills continues to trend upward, although it’s still a relatively small share of overall tech hiring activity.

Along with AI-skilled workers, software developers, IT support specialists, systems analysts, and data scientists are among the job roles in greatest demand, according to CompTIA.

Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Utah-based research firm Janco Associates, agreed AI and machine learning skills are in demand, though the number of coder openings is falling. At the same time, hiring of IT professionals is hindered by the lack of qualified individuals and a slowing economic picture.

“This will have a dampening impact on the growth of the IT Job Market size,” Janco stated in its latest tech market jobs report.

September 2023

The US unemployment rate remained at 3.8% in September, but the market added 336,000 jobs, far surpassing analyst expectations, according to today’s Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers.

Tech employment, however, was a laggard in the generally upbeat US employment report released today, according to analysis by the nonprofit trade association CompTIA. Key metrics of tech hiring activity all slipped in September, its report showed.

Tech jobs among all sectors across the economy fell by an estimated 20,000. The technology sector unemployment rate ticked up from 2.1% in August to 2.2% in September, but it remains well below the national rate of 3.8%, according to CompTIA.

Tech salaries also appeared to be on a downslope, according to an analysis by job matching site Hired, which notes that US inflation-adjusted salaries have plummeted to a five-year low.

Meanwhile, tech sector companies reduced staffing by a net 2,632 positions last month, according to CompTIA’s analysis of BLS data.

Employer job postings for future tech hiring also fell to 184,077 in September, down from nearly 208,000 in August. (Future tech hiring is defined by CompTIA as expected open requisitions.)

“Demand for software positions continues to drive the largest volume of hiring activity. In the aggregate, volumes are equally large in positions spanning IT project management, IT support, data analytics, and systems/cloud infrastructure,” CompTIA’s report stated.

Positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills accounted for 26.5% of all tech jobs postings last month, up from 22% in August. Within emerging tech job postings, 36% were associated with artificial intelligence (AI).

“There is no sugar-coating the off month of tech employment data,” Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s chief research officer, said in a statement. “Despite the persistently high demand for tech skills on many fronts and positive forward-looking projections, there is a lag in hiring at the moment.”

Jim McCoy, senior vice president of staffing firm ManpowerGroup, echoed Hebert’s sentiments on tech employment, but he said one bright sector has been smaller firms that are still dealing with a skills gap.

“To be sure, large companies have pulled back hiring and even cut workers, especially in technology, as borrowing costs have spiraled higher,” McCoy said. “But many small and midsized businesses that struggled to attract workers are snapping up those laid off and drawing from a more plentiful labor supply as Americans sidelined by COVID return to the workforce.”

The BLS jobs report showed the average hourly earnings for all employees rose by 7 cents, or 0.2%, to $33.88. Over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings  have increased by 4.2%, the report stated. In September, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees rose by 6 cents, or 0.2%, to $29.06.

While hiring may be up overall, real wages in the technology sector appeared to be declining, according to a recent report from job matching site Hired.

In its annual State of Tech Salaries Report, released in late September, Hired said the tech talent market has seen dramatic shifts from 2022 to the first half of 2023, fueling tension and misalignment between recruiter and job candidate expectations.

Following a year of record-breaking inflation and market turbulence, local salaries in the US, including those for fully in-person or hybrid roles, have experienced their most significant year-over-year decline, dropping by 3% from $161,000 to $156,000. In contrast, salaries in the UK have seen a 4% increase, rising from £82,000 to £86,000, according to Hired.

When adjusted for inflation, local salaries decreased 9% from $141K in 2022 to $129K by mid-2023, while remote salaries decreased 6% from $143K in 2022 to $134K by mid-2023.

Amid the rise of generative AI and a tightening of corporate budgets, junior talent (workers with less than four years of experience) have experienced the most significant decrease in salaries — nearly 5% year-over-year — and demand, with posted roles on the platform lowering from 45% in 2019 to 25% in the first half of 2023, according to Hired’s report.

“Compared to last year, we are witnessing a seismic shift in tech employee and employer preferences. The surging demand for experienced tech talent on our platform and employers’ increasing reliance on AI tools point to an ever-growing skills gap. This challenge will only heighten as companies reduce their hiring locations amid their return to the office and limit their access to qualified talent,” said Josh Brenner, CEO at Hired.

“With the future talent pipeline at risk of a deficit, companies cannot afford to disregard high-quality talent at any level. Instead, they must embrace diverse candidates with transferable skills who can adeptly address industry challenges, especially amid rapid advancements driven by emerging technologies like AI,” Brenner added.

The highest paid tech workers were engineering managers, particularly with the introduction of AI tools and increased cybersecurity challenges. Engineering managers earn on average $202,000 in the US and £118,000 in the UK — a notable 10% increase from £107,000 at the end of 2022. 

Specialized engineers are the most in demand in 2023: Employers on Hired’s marketplace have a higher demand for specialized engineers, especially for AI applications such as ML, as well as cybersecurity, data, and back-end engineers.

AI isn’t an immediate threat to job security, but it could present challenges for job seekers in the coming years: While the majority of surveyed candidates (87%) currently do not view AI as the primary threat to their roles, a significant portion of employers (47%) project they will leverage AI to reduce headcounts by 2029.

Overall, there were job gains in leisure and hospitality, government, healthcare, professional services, scientific and technical services, and social assistance.

Employment in professional, scientific, and technical services increased by 29,000 jobs in September, in line with the average monthly gain of 27,000 over the prior 12 months, BLS data showed.

Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco Associates, identified the 10 AI skills listed most often on client open job requisitions for IT professionals. The one AI skill that was included in more than 60% of those requisitions: ChatGPT.

“Since its launch in November of 2022, ChatGPT has been implemented by the greatest number of organizations,” Janulaitis said in a blog post. “As a result, companies are recruiting IT professionals who have the skills to help them with using ChatGPT for content generation, task automation and scripting… and more.”

Other skills listed in open IT job requisitions: Natural Language Processing, TensorFlow, Image Processing, PyTorch, Generative AI content creation, Midjourney, AI Chatbot, Model Tuning, and Stable Diffusion.

PricewaterhouseCooper’s Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey found sizeable pockets of the global workforce eager to learn new skills, embrace artificial intelligence (AI), and tackle new challenges — even as many companies fail to tolerate debate and dissenting ideas, or even small-scale failures. Meanwhile, many workers are restless: fully 26% say they plan to quit their job in the next 12 months, up from 19% last year.

August 2023

Though they remain low, unemployment figures have seesawed over the past six months, a phenomenon that has some tech industry experts scratching their heads trying to make sense of what may be the new norm.

Last month, unemployment in technology fields increased along with the overall US unemployment rate, which rose from 3.5% in July to 3.8% in August, according to new data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, total nonfarm employment across all markets increased by 187,000 jobs in August.

The mixed messages in last Friday’s employment report carried over to the tech industry and workforce, according an analysis by industry group CompTIA.

Tech unemployment had dropped from 2.3% in June to 1.8% in July, as tech firms and employers in other industries added workers after a spate of high-profile layoffs in the tech industry.

The latest BLS report, however, found that employers across the US economy reduced tech occupations by an estimated 189,000 positions, pushing the unemployment rate for tech jobs up to 2.1% — almost where it was in June, CompTIA said.

“The usual caveats of monthly fluctuations in labor market data apply,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “The seesawing between strong and lagging tech jobs reports is undoubtedly confusing, but the overall macro trend of growth in the depth and breadth of the tech workforce remains steady.”

Employer job postings for future tech hiring (a separate category tracked by CompTIA) totaled nearly 208,000 in August, a slight decline of 1.4% from the previous month. But job postings for information security analysts increased 19% from July to August to more than 12,000 postings. Other in-demand occupations include software developers, tech support specialists, computer systems analysts, and data scientists.

“With ‘pandemic paranoia’ about hiring lingering, companies are continuing to hold onto their workers, remembering how hard it was to rehire,” said Becky Frankiewicz, president of global staffing firm ManpowerGroup’s North America Region. “Essential workers we valued through the pandemic may not be feeling so essential, as real-time job postings for blue collar roles like operations and logistics/maintenance and repair are down 43% month over month” based on ManpowerGroup’s real-time data.

“This Labor Day is a great occasion to celebrate the resilience of the American worker,” she said. “Although we are seeing a slowdown, the labor market remains healthy, and we are optimistic about the future.”

Positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data science, accounted for 23% of all tech jobs postings in August. Among emerging tech job postings, 37% were associated with AI, with California, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, and Virginia showing the highest numbers of AI-related job postings.

New data from IT staffing firm Experis found that an increasing number of companies surveyed are either adopting or planning to adopt emerging technologies in their recruiting processes. That comes as more than three quarters (78%) of IT organizations report difficulty finding talent with the right skills — a 17-year high.

According to Experis, 58% of employers believe AI and virtual reality will create jobs, not kill them. Additionally, cybersecurity, technical support, and customer experience remain high-priority IT staffing areas. Half of employers say they are training and upskilling their current workforce to address staffing challenges.

“The integration of AI, machine learning, VR/AR, and other emerging technologies is rapidly transforming industries and driving the need for an adaptable workforce,” said Experis Senior Vice President Ger Doyle. “We are seeing companies embrace these new technologies with many seeking to hire or upskill existing talent to take advantage of potential productivity gains. Smart employers know that embracing digitization and nurturing human talent will enhance their readiness to succeed in this era of rapid technological advancement.”

July 2023

The unemployment rate for tech jobs dropped from 2.3% to 1.8% in July, as technology companies and employers in other industry sectors added workers, according to analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.

It was the lowest tech-sector unemployment rate since January, according to CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

The overall US unemployment rate also dropped slightly last month from 3.6% in June to 3.5%, according to BLS data. About 187,000 non-farm jobs were added, less than the average monthly gain of 312,000 over the prior 12 months. In July, jobs grew in healthcare, social assistance, financial activities, and wholesale trade, according to the BLS.

The overall unemployment rate has ranged from 3.4% to 3.7% since March 2022.

According to BLS data, employment in professional, scientific, and technical services continued to trend up in July with 24,000 positions filled.

Tech sector companies increased their staffing by 5,432 employees, according to CompTIA’s analysis of BLS data. Leading the way in new IT hires were custom software services and systems design;and PC, semiconductor and components manufacturing.

IT salaries were on the rise, too, according to a mid-year analysis by business consultancy Janco Associates, as more companies invested in IT. The emphasis in recent years has been on both e-commerce and mobile computing. And with growing numbers of cyberattacks and data breaches, CIOs are looking to harden their sites and lock down data access to protect all of their electronic assets, according to Janco Associates.

The lone drag on the July data was in employer job postings for tech occupations, which slipped to from 236,000 in June to 204,400 for the month of July.

“Given the pace of tech hiring, it remains a fairly tight market for tech talent,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer for CompTIA, said in a statement. “It continues to be an environment where employers must supplement recruiting efforts with proactive talent development strategies.”

While the drop in tech sector unemployment is notable, it’s not uncommon for rates to fluctuate, according to Herbert. Over the past 5.5 years dating back t0 January 2018, the tech unemployment rate saw a 1/2-point or higher rise or fall from the previous month 27 times, which translates to 40% of the time, he said in an email to Computerworld.

In comparison, the national unemployment saw the same kind of variation 22 times, or 33% of the time. Herbert said.

“Unfortunately, the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not provide data at a granular enough level to pinpoint the exact tech occupation categories driving changes in the unemployment rate,” Herbert said. “The employer job posting data indicates hiring activity is broad-based spanning all the major job families within tech.”

The way the BLS tracks job seekers also matters; it only keeps tabs on people actively looking for employment, Herbert noted.

“There could be scenarios whereby certain segments of workers go uncounted in the unemployment rate because they put their job search on pause — perhaps to re-evaluate their job search strategy, to pursue additional training, to recharge their batteries, etc.,” he said. “This could have the effect of artificially lowering the unemployment rate.”

There is a difference, however, between the long-term unemployed who might lack skills demanded in the labor market and those who voluntarily put a job search on hold. “My sense is tech workers in this position tend to fall in the latter category given most have in demand skills,” Herbert added.

Janco Associates painted a somewhat gloomier picture of the IT jobs landscape: it said that year to date, IT jobs shrank by 5,500 positions. That’s in contrast to 125,900 jobs created during the same period of 2022.

The number of unfilled jobs for IT pros shrank from more than 200,000 in December to just over 120,000 at the end of July, Janco’s latest report showed. It argued that the growth of the IT job market stopped in January, with a loss of 2,600 positions, with other losses piling up in succeeding months.

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals are poor at best,” Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis said in a statement.

In the second quarter of 2023, the “big losers” were computer system design jobs (down 10,500); telecommunications (down 5,500);  content providers (down 4,700); and other information service providers (down 6,600). Janulaitis said.

Many roles, especially in telecommunications and cloud providers are being automated and eliminated, he said. CIOs and CFOs are looking to improve the productivity of IT by automating processes and reporting where possible and focusing on eliminating “non-essential” managers, staff, and services.

“Experienced coders and developers still have opportunities. The highest demand continues to be for security professionals, programmers, and blockchain processing IT Pros,” Janulaitis said.

As part of an effort to boost return on investment, CIOs are looking to consolidate the cloud service providers they support.

“This will impact the job prospects at those providers,” Janulaitis said. “There continues to be a general belief there will be an economic downturn by many CIOs and CFOs. This is impacting all decisions around hiring new IT pros and increasing technology-related expenditures. This has impacted the salaries of IT pros with a major impact on the compensation of IT executives.”

Meanwhile, according to CompTIA, the strongest demand was for software developers and engineers, IT project managers, data analysts, IT support specialists and emerging technologies. Positions in emerging technologies or jobs that require emerging tech skills accounted for about 23% of all tech job postings in July.

Within the emerging tech category, 35% of job postings referenced artificial intelligence (AI) work and skills, CompTIA said. 

June 2023

IT workers are well positioned to not only keep their jobs but to get big bumps in pay when looking for new opportunities, according to analysis of jobs data released today by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Overall, the US unemployment rate dropped slightly from 3.7% in May to 3.6% in June, with about 206,000 jobs added, according to the BLS. The number of jobs added last month was down 100,000 from May.

Wages also increased as employers continued to struggle to find workers. Average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsupervisory employees grew 4.4% in June over the same period last year to $28.83, according to the BLS.

Tech sector companies increased headcount by 5,348 jobs last month, according to an analysis of BLS data by industry group CompTIA. Among the six top tech occupation categories, three have shown positive gains through the first half of 2023: IT and custom software services and systems design; PC, semiconductor and components manufacturing; and cloud infrastructure, data processing and hosting.

Overall, however, tech occupations throughout the economy declined by an estimated 171,000, according to CompTIA. The unemployment rate for tech jobs edged up from 2% to 2.3%, still well below the national unemployment figure.

Software developers were in particularly in high demand, according to CompTIA. Job openings had dropped by more than 2,700 positions in May, but in June software development positions rose by more than 15,700 openings. Job openings for IT project managers and data scientists also lept in June, up by 8,633 and 3,929, respectively.

Other IT positions that saw marked increases included system analysts, IT support specialists, web developers, cybersecurity analysts and engineers, and database adminitrators, according to CompTIA.

Overall, tech-related employment mirrored June’s overall easing of the labor market nationally, CompTIA said. Tech occupations throughout the economy fell back and job postings for future hiring were down modestly, with jobs offering remote/hybrid work arrangements falling off even as opportunities to work with artificial intelligence rose in the emerging job market.

“The latest tech employment figures do lag some, but the underlying fundamentals remain unchanged. All signs point to a continuation of the growth trajectory for the tech workforce,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA, said in a statement.

Ahead of the BLS jobs report, HR software provider ADP released its own jobs report Thursday saying private sector jobs surged by 497,000 in June, well ahead of the 267,000 gain in May and much higher than the 220,000 analysts had estimated.

“According to the Department of Labor, [ADP’s] numbers were way off,” said Jamie Kohn, senior director of human resources research at Gartner. “I do think we’re seeing a slight slowdown in jobs at the moment, but there’s such a shortage of talent, companies are trying to keep up.”

Employment rates for prime age workers — 18- to 54-year-olds — is back to pre-Covid numbers and companies are reticent to make further cuts even as economists continue to chirp about a possible recession.

“We have data that shows on median, people are getting a 15% increase when they move from one job to another,” Kohn said. “They’re actually getting higher pay bumps than they thought they would.” On average, most job seekers expect an 8% increase in pay in a new job, according to a new Gartner survey.

Another trend putting pressure on the job market is an increasing number of Baby Boomer retirements, leaving management positions and other senior jobs unfilled.

“We’re about half way through Baby Boomer [generation] retirement. The market is likely to get tighter as the latter half of the Baby Boomer generation retires over the next decade or so. Some people also retired early during and coming out of the pandemic,” Kohn said. “I’m hearing from a lot of HR leaders who are trying to figure out how to convince people to delay retirement because they’re finding it hard to find people.”

IT workers in particular are in demand, Kohn said. The Gartner survey showed 78% of job market candidates have multiple offers on the table. That compares to overall job seekers, 72% of whom had multiple job offers.

While organizations across all US industries are expected to boost hiring in the third quarter, employers in the IT market have the most aggressive hiring plans, according to global staffing firm ManpowerGroup.

Unmet demand for talent is highest in IT-related fields, with 78% of employers in IT reporting challenges in hiring, according to an earlier report from ManpowerGroup. This suggests that tech workers who find themselves laid off will soon be reabsorbed into the market.

ManpowerGroup’s real-time data is showing plentiful opportunities in logistics, job openings grew 25% this quarter, sales and business development were up 10%, medical (up 9%) and finance (up 8%).

“We’re seeing the relationship between employers and workers continue to evolve, particularly for workers with in-demand skills,” Becky Frankiewicz, ManpowerGroup’s regional president and chief commercial officer, said. “As ‘pandemic paranoia’ about hiring lingers, companies are holding on to their workers as layoffs calm and permanent roles are more in demand than temporary.”

Hybrid work is also on the uptick, with all industries offering more remote/hybrid roles month-over-month and tech remote work up 34%-40% in June, according to ManpowerGroup. And as the relentless advance of AI continues, employers are betting on people. Companies are investing in the talent and skills they have in house, with organizations re-skilling and up-skilling more than ever.

After some high-profile layoffs by tech companies this year and last, many IT workers are seeking employment in industries they consider more stable, such as financial services, according to Kohn.

Workforce participation by women remains lower than for men. A key reason for that is US employers are not as generous with flexible work, paid maternal leave and childcare assistance as their European counterparts.

“If you have to spend half or more of your income for childcare, no reason to go back to work,” Kohn said, adding that what’s needed is an overhaul of worker benefits rights by the federal government. Another wrinkle: US immigration has seen steep declines — even before the pandemic — further reducing the chance for a glut in job openings.

May 2023

Like April before it, the month of May showed mixed results for tech employment in the US.

Technology companies shed an estimated 4,725 jobs — a figure that includes nontechnical workers — in May, according to an analysis of the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures by IT industry group CompTIA. Job postings for open technology positions also eased off, down to about 234,000 from April’s 300,000, according to a new report from CompTIA.

At the same time, however, the number of technology jobs throughout the economy rose by 45,000, according to the report.

Those mixed results for the tech workforce reflect the unpredictability of the overall labor market. US employers added a stronger-than-expected 339,000 jobs in May, but the overall US unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percentage points to hit 3.7%, while the number of unemployed people rose by 440,000 to reach 6.1 million, according to BLS data released today.

Responding to the BLS data, global staffing firm ManpowerGroup also commented on the mixed results for tech pros: “Our data shows cooling in IT, with posted roles down 12% compared to last month. Yet those let go are being quickly reabsorbed, often into midsize companies.”

Indeed, while the national unemployment rate has ranged between 3.4% and 3.7% since March 2022, the unemployment rate for tech occupations has hovered near 2% throughout that time frame. In fact, tech unemployment decreased slightly in May, from 2.1% to 2.0%, according to CompTIA’s analysis of the BLS data.

“Reassuringly, the positives for the month outweigh the negatives, confirming the tech workforce remains on solid footing,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA.

The most in-demand roles among tech job postings include software developers and engineers; IT project managers, data analysts, and other emerging tech roles; IT support specialists; systems analysts and engineers; and data scientists. Approximately 20% of job postings are in emerging tech fields or require emerging tech skills, including nearly 15,000 postings that mention AI skills, according to CompTIA.

April 2023

Technology companies added 18,795 workers in April, the largest number since August 2022, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) figures and an industry analysis of that information.

The data revealed a mixed bag of results for tech workers last month. Technology jobs throughout the economy declined by 99,000 positions even as employer job postingspassed 300,000 — a level last reached in October, according to a report from CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

Both the overall US unemployment rate, at 3.4%, and the number of unemployed, at 5.7 million, changed little in April, according to BLS data released today. The national unemployment rate has ranged between 3.4% and 3.7% since March 2022.

The unemployment rate for tech occupations inched up to 2.3% in April from 2.2% in March, still well below the national unemployment rate, according to CompTIA’s evaluation.

“It was another all-too-familiar month of mixed labor market signals,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “The surprisingly strong tech sector employment gains were offset by the pause in tech hiring across the economy.”

Still, IT executives and managers are among the most highly paid workers in US corporations, according to a new report based on the latest data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

A BLS report published last last month — the Occupational Employment and Wages Summary for 2022 — showed computer and information research scientists earn on average about $155,880 a year. Database architects are the second-highest earners with just over $136,540 in annual compensation. Software developers followed at $132,000 a year.

Putting upward pressure on wages has been a combination of scarce tech talent and low unemployement rates.

Computer and IT managers are among the most highly paid positions in the US, earning an average $173,670 across all industries and occupations; that’s even more than the top executives in all industries and occupations ($129,050), according to business consultancy Janco Associate.

In terms of employment in the tech industry, software developers held just over 1.5 million positions in the US, more than double the 700,000 positions held by computer user support specialists. Computer systems analysts, with 500,000 jobs, were in third place, according to Janco’s report.

Late last month, job search website Lensa published a research study showing “computer occupations” are among the most in-demand jobs in the US, second only to “health diagnostic and treatment practitioners.” More than 3.1 million potential applicants clicked on open job positions in the IT arena, according to Lensa.

Overall, the number of workers not in the labor force who currently want a job increased by 346,000 over the month to 5.3 million, according to the BLS. “These individuals were not counted as unemployed because they were not actively looking for work during the four weeks preceding the survey or were unavailable to take a job,” the BLS said.

Both the labor force participation rate, at 62.6%, and the employment-population ratio, at 60.4%, were unchanged in April. These measures remain below their pre-pandemic February 2020 levels, 63.3%and 61.1%, respectively.

Global Staffing firm ManpowerGroup viewed the BLS data from April as a “promise of spring” for the job market, with a higher-than-expected 253,000 jobs added.

Employers continue to hire for in-demand skills while pulling back on non-essential headcount, the company said in a statement to Computerworld. The company also noted some negative trends that emerged with the BLS’s revisions to its March data showing 100,000 fewer jobs, “and the three-month average is tracking down.”

“Today, we’re seeing very concentrated demand with medical, IT, and sales representing 44% of all open positions,” Becky Frankiewicz. president of ManpowerGroup North America said. “That data includes all real-time available jobs across the country. [Job] openings are the lowest they’ve been in two years.”

Employers listed more than 300,000 job postings for tech positions in April, signaling demand for tech talent continues to hold up, according to CompTIA. In March, there were 316,000 tech job openings.

Within the tech sector, three occupation categories paced April hiring, led by IT services and custom software development (+12,700 additional jobs). Job gains were also reported in cloud infrastructure, data processing and hosting (+7,300 additional jobs) and PC, semiconductor and components manufacturing (+3,200 additional jobs).

Employer job postings for tech positions were widely dispersed geographically and by industry. Employers in administrative and support (32,861), finance and insurance (32,820) and manufacturing (31,959) were among the most active last month.

The number of tech job postings that specify remote work or hybrid work arrangements as an option continued to trend upward in April, with more than 65,000 positions across the country; software developers, IT project managers, data analysts and jobs in emerging technologies topped the list

Among metropolitan markets, Washington, DC, New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Chicago had the highest volumes of tech job postings. And Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Boston and Seattle saw the largest month-over-month increases in postings, according to CompTIA.

March 2023

Tech sector employment, which includes all workers on the payrolls of tech companies, declined in March by an estimated 839 jobs, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and IT industry group CompTIA.

Employer job postings for tech positions for March, however, increased by 76,546 month-over-month, for a total of 316,000 openings; the tech unemployment rate remained unchanged from February at 2.2%.

Technology employment across all industry sectors increased by an estimated 197,000 positions for the month, according to CompTIA’s analysis of BLS data. “This represents the highest level of employer hiring activity as measured by job postings in seven months,” CompTIA said in its Tech Jobs Report.

More than 4.18 million people are now employed as IT professionals in the US, according to industry research firm Janco Associates.

“As a forward-looking indicator, the rebound in employer tech job postings is a notable positive,” said Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s chief research officer. “While caution is in order given the state of uncertainty, the data suggests segments of employers may be stepping back into the tech talent market.”

Overall, the US economy added 236,000 jobs in March, according to the BLS, a slight slowdown compared to recent months; that could mean the jobs market may be responding to recent interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve.

At the same time the number of jobs being added to the economy dropped slightly, the overall unemployment rate dipped a tenth of a point to 3.5%, remaining near 50-year historic lows.

IT industry advocacy group CompTIA’s March Tech Jobs Report.

The total number of unemployed US workers, at 5.8 million, changed little in March; that measure has shown little net movement since early 2022, according to BLS data.

“The labor market posted solid if not spectacular gains,” Diane Swonk, chief economist and managing director at KPMG LLP, wrote in a blog post. “Hiring in both the public and the private sectors slowed. Hiring by firms with less than 250 workers continues to drive gains in the private sector. Those firms are the most vulnerable to the recent tightening of credit conditions,”

Even as unemployment remains low, there have been a number of high-profile layoffs in the technology industry and elsewhere during the past six or so months; industry experts have said many organizations over-hired during the COVID-19 pandemic and are now having to trim their workforces, a so-called “course correction.”

This year, more than 168,000 workers have been laid off at tech firms, according to industry tracker Layoffs.fyi.

Last month, job search site Indeed fired 15% of its workforce, or about 2,200 employees. The layoffs came from nearly every team and function within the company, CEO Chris Hyams said, and were in response to a job market that has cooled “after the recent post-COVID boom,” he said.

“US total job openings were down 3.5% year-over-year, while sponsored job volumes were down 33%,” Hyams said. “In the US, we are expecting job openings will likely decrease to pre-pandemic levels of about 7.5 million, or even lower over the next two to three years.”

While big tech firms such as Google and Microsoft may be letting workers go, the layoffs aren’t dominated by IT talent. Most of the layoffs are occurring on the business side of the corporate world. In fact, there are fewer IT workers than job openings — a lot fewer.

Positions for software developers and engineers accounted for the largest share of job postings in March, according to CompTIA. Employers are also in the market for IT support specialists, systems engineers and analysts, IT project managers, cybersecurity analysts, and engineers. About one in five tech job postings offer remote or hybrid work arrangements as an option.

A new report from global staffing firm ManpowerGroup found that 77% of employers report difficultly filling job roles, representing a 17-year talent shortage high.

James Neave, head of data science at job search site Adzuna, said despite the latest spate of layoffs, which include Apple and Walmart, job growth has exceeded expectations for 12 consecutive months, “the longest streak since 1998.

“Today’s closely watched jobs report gives another healthy reading on the job market and the strength of hiring,” he said invia email to Computerworld.

On Adzuna, advertised job vacancies in the U.S. totalled 8.3 million in March. As a result, organizations need to continue working to attract and retain highly qualified talent amid shortages and skills gaps, Neave said.

“To win workers, organizations are improving their benefits and providing care for the whole person in such a stressful economic time,” he said. “Boosting benefit offerings also helps to slow staff turnover and reduce the risk of burnout, improving morale as well as the bottom line.” 

February 2023

Tech sector employment fell by 11,184 positions in February, a modest reduction of 0.2% of the total tech industry workforce of more than 5.5 million.

Unemployment in the tech sector also jumped from 1.5% in January to 2.2%, in February, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

The unemployment rate for tech occupations is still below the national rate of 3.6%, which saw a .1% increase from January.

The number of technology occupations in all industries declined by .6% or 38,000 positions, according to CompTIA’s report. Tech occupations in the US economy still total more than 6.4 million workers. Among all tech industries, tech manufacturing added a net new 2,800 jobs, the fifth consecutive month of positive gains.

Employer job postings for tech positions also declined by about 40,000, to just over 229,000 in February. Most metropolitan markets experienced fallbacks from January to February, with a few exceptions, according to CompTIA.

“As expected, the lag in labor market data means prior layoffs announcements are now appearing in BLS reporting,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer for  CompTIA. “Context is critical. The recent pullback represents a relatively small fraction of the massive tech workforce. The long-term outlook remains unchanged with demand for tech talent powering employment gains across the economy.”

While there have been hundreds of highly publicized layoffs among tech companies, the vast majority of employees being fired are not in IT positions, according to industry analysts. In fact, there remains a dearth in tech talent to fill more than 145,000 IT job openings. 

IT consultancy Janco Associates offered a somewhat more pessimistic view of the IT job market.

“Layoffs, for the most part, did not hit developers. Rather they were focused on data center operations, administrative and HR roles related to recruiting, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion). Some roles, especially in telecommunications and data center operations are being automated and eliminated,” Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis said in a statement. “Driving this is CIOs and CFOs who are looking to improve the productivity of IT by automating processes and reporting where possible. They are focusing on eliminating non-essential managers and staff. They will continue to hire coders and developers.”

The highest demand, Janulaitis said, continues to be for security professionals, programmers, and blockchain processing IT professionals. Other industry research shows data analysts and AI professionals are also in high demand. 

“The general belief there will be an economic downturn is high for many CIOs and CFOs. This is impacting all decisions around hiring new IP pros and increasing technology-related expenditures,” Janulaitis said.

In 2022, 267,000 new jobs were added to the IT market. Those new jobs were in addition to the 213,000 jobs created in 2021.

In 2023, while there are more jobs being added, that number is declining. In January, for example, for the first time in 25 months, there was a net loss in the number of jobs in the IT Job Market. That trend is continuing, Janco said. In the first two months of 2023, the IT job market shrank by 44,900 jobs.

“CIOs and CFOs have started to slow the rate of creating new IT jobs and hiring IT professionals,” Janco said in its report. “The three month moving average for IT job market growth trend for IT professionals shows a significant downward trend. Inflation and recessionary trends are driving this.”

Layoffs and economic uncertainty drove CIOs and CFOs to slow IT hiring in February, according to Janulaitis.

“Layoffs at big tech companies are having an adverse on overall IT hiring. More CIOs are looking at a troubling economic climate and are evaluating the need for increased headcounts based on the technological requirements of their specific business operations,”Janulaitis said.

The growth of the IT job market stopped with a decline of 10,000 jobs in January and 13,400 jobs in February, according to Janco. That was the first loss in the number of IT Pros employed in over 27 months. The three-month moving average of IT job market growth went negative with a trend line that shows a further decay in IT job market growth.”

Overall US employment rose by 311,000 jobs in February, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said. That was vastly higher than the 225,000 jobs predicted by economists polled by the Wall Street Journal. In January, about half a million jobs were added, according to BLS data.

The number of people quitting jobs (3.9 million) decreased, in February, while layoffs and other firings (1.7 million) increased. Even with the unemployment rate ticking up slightly, are still nearly two jobs (10.8 million) for every unemployed worker (5.9 million), according to a BLS data. In 2022, the annual average number of job openings was 11.2 million.

Last month, U.S. consumer spending also rose to its highest level in over nearly two years.

Across all industries, the number of people who were without jobs for a short period of time (less than 5 weeks) increased by 343,000 to 2.3 million in February, offsetting a decrease in the prior month. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), changed little in February and accounted for 17.6% of the total unemployed or 1.1 million people.

Job postings for technology positions rose the most in scientific and tech services industry sector (35,257), finance and insurance (24,735) and manufacturing (20,246).

Overall, in the US job market, the average hourly earnings grew 4.6% year-over-year, which was down from last year but above the pre-pandemic pace, BLS data showed.

The ongoing tech talent shortage also lifted IT salaries, but future pay increases will be less than expected, according to Janco Associates.

On average, IT salaries rose by 5.61% in 2022 and were expected to increase by as much as 8% this year, according to earlier reports by Janco. 

“Many CIOs’ 2023 IT budgets planned to increase salaries for IT pros to address the inflationary pressures faced by employees are now being reviewed,” Janulaitis said. “Given these facts, we believe that median salaries for IT pros in 2023 will be 3% to 4% salary above 2022 levels, not the 7% to 8% that was budgeted.” 

The mean compensation for all IT pros in 2023 is now $101,323; for IT pros in large enterprises it tops $102,000; and for executives it averages $180,000.

“Companies that do not live up to employees’ expectations may find that even if they are able to get candidates in the door, those candidates leave as soon as a better offer comes along,” Gartner Research analyst Mbula Schoen wrote in a Q&A post this week.. “Additionally, there are increasingly opportunities for IT jobs outside traditional tech companies, so it’s important to look beyond just the tech provider community to truly grasp the state of the tech talent crunch.”

January 2023

The unemployment rate in the technology job market decreased for the second month in a row, dropping to 1.5% in January from 1.8% in December.

Even with the marked drop in unemployment, it was a mixed bag for the technology marketplace, after the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) issued its January jobs report on Friday. There was a decline in current employment and an increase in employer job postings for potential future hiring, according to CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

While the overall US unemployment rate dropped to a figure not seen since 1969 (to 3.4%, from 3.5% a month earlier), the number of technology workers hired in January fell into negative territory for the first time in more than two years. Technology occupations throughout the economy declined by 32,000 for the month, representing a reduction of -0.5%, according to CompTIA. Technology companies also shed 2,489 positions in January, according to CompTIA.

Overall, however, the US added 517,000 jobs in January, according to BLS numbers.

The BLS also said on Friday it had significantly revised its November data, describing it as a “major revision reflecting content and coding changes.”

In November 2022, the BLS indicated U.S. technology companies added approximately 2,500 net new jobs versus the mistakenly reported decrease of 151,900 jobs in earlier reporting.

“The change materially affects the sub-sector of tech companies providing search and platform services, while the revisions were a net positive for sub-sectors such as IT services and data,” CompTIA said.

ComTIA also uses employer online job posting data to predict the number of job postings for future tech hiring, and that number reversed last month’s dip and increased by 22,408 to 268,898 for 2023.

The fact that the unemployment rate in the tech market still dropped in January indicates many laid off workers were re-hired and absorbed back into the labor market, according to CompTIA. The tech unemployment rate is also an indication that many of the layoffs occurring within technology organizations are non-technical workers, such as sales, marketing or related business support positions.

Among industries, the highest volumes of job postings for tech positions were reported in the professional, scientific and technical services (40,712), finance and insurance (30,576) and manufacturing (24,269) sectors.

“Despite the unusual backward revision by the BLS and the routine fluctuations in monthly labor market data, much of the big picture tech employment picture remains the same,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA said in a statement. “Undoubtedly, some companies over- hired and are now scaling back. The low tech unemployment rate and steady hiring activity by employers confirms the long-term demand for tech talent across many sectors of the economy.”

While tech companies shed employees over the past few months in highly publicized reports, overall, 2022 saw an increase of about 264,500 new jobs to the IT job Market, according to IT industry consultancy Janco Associates.  Those new jobs were in addition to the 213,000 jobs created in 2021. 

In January, the growth of the IT job market stopped with a decline of 4,700 jobs.  That was the first loss in over 27 months, according to Janco. The three-month moving average of IT job market growth went negative with a trend line that shows a further decay in IT job market growth. At the same time, there is an excess of 109,000 unfilled jobs for IT Pros due to a lack of qualified candidates.

A lack of qualified candidates has lead to increased demand for tech workers raising overall salaries for all IT positions by 5.6%, with small-and-medium-sized businesses seeing an average increase of 7.74% increase, with their median compensation increasing to $100,434 as reported in Janco’s 2023 IT Salary Survey.

U.S.-based employers announced 102,943 cuts in January, a 136% increase from the 43,651 cuts announced in December, according to global outplacement and business and executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. That’s 440% higher than the 19,064 cuts announced in the same month in 2022, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas’s report. Forty-one percent of January’s job cuts were in tech.

Yet demand for those to fill jobs requiring tech skills is rising.

“That’s a ton of expertise missing from an industry that needs the brightest to get brighter,” said Vince Padua, CTO at Axway, a tech company that sells an API management platform.

And it’s going to get worse, he added, as 86% IT leaders expect an expertise gap increase in coming years.

“As cloud computing, AI and microservices are developed and adopted, the skills required to support them constantly evolve,” Padua said. “Companies need more employees with the right skills and experience – plus IT infrastructure and enterprise software experts with specialized skills in cybersecurity, data analytics and cloud architecture.”

IT jobs took the top spot in a list of the 25 best jobs in the US, according to online job site Indeed. The top job slot went to full stack developer, which offers a median annual salary of $130,000 and allows for a mostly remote or hybrid workplace..

Eight tech jobs were among the top 10 positions on Indeed’s list this year; that compares with just two tech jobs in the top 10 on last year’s list. In 2022, tech jobs were moving down the top jobs list; now, a year later, tech jobs are surging upward. This year, 11 of the top 25 jobs, or 44%, were tech positions. By comparison, in 2022, just 25% of the top 25 jobs were tech-related.

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals are there but not in as broad in scope as in 2022. Layoffs, for the most part, did not hit developers.  Rather they were focused on data center operations, administrative and HR roles related to recruiting, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion),” said Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis.

Some roles, especially in telecommunications and data center operations are being automated and eliminated, Janulaitis noted, but those operations will continue to hire coders and developers.

The highest demand continues to be for security professionals, programmers, and blockchain processing IT professionals, according to Janco. Currently, there are over 109,000 unfilled jobs in the IT job market — a drop from 216,000 in November.

Janulaitis blamed continued concern over a possible recession as one reason organizations are eliminating jobs.

“More CIOs are looking at a troubling economic climate and are evaluating the need for increased headcounts based on the technological requirements of their specific business operations,” Janulaitis said.

According to the latest BLS data analyzed by Janco, there are now just over 4.2 million jobs for IT Professionals in the US., and layoffs at big tech companies are having an adverse on overall IT hiring.

“The possibility of the economic downturn is very likely and is impacting all decisions that increase technology-related expenditures. Work from home is being minimized as companies are requiring employees to be in the office at least 3 to 4 days a week,” Janulaitis said. “Mid-level managers are now having to justify most positions where the IT Pro is not working in the office.  Companies that are forced to hire replacements, do so with the caveat that payroll costs remain flat. “

The 2023 IT budgets increased salaries for IT pros to address inflationary pressures faced by employees.  Those are now being reviewed. Given those facts, Janco believes that median salaries for IT Pros in 2023 will be 3-4% salary above 2022 levels, not the 7% to 8% that was budgeted at the end of 2022.

“With this as a background, Janco has just revised downward its forecast for the growth of the IT Job Market in 2023 to just over 160,000 from 174,000 new jobs,” Janulaitis said. “That will be less growth than in 2021 and 2022 but still at high levels.”

December 2022

Even as some high-profile layoffs have lead the news over the past few months, the US added 223,000 jobs in December, including 17,600 positions at tech companies, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and other research.

Technology job gains were recorded in four of five sector categories. It’s the 25th straight month of net employment growth in the tech industry, according to a report by CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

The overall US unemployment rate dropped from 3.7% in November 2022 to 3.5% in December, according to BLS data. In the technology sector, the unemployment rate dropped from 2% in November to 1.8% in December, according to CompTIA.

“Another wave of positive tech employment data speaks to the many moving parts of a complex labor market,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in a statement. “Despite the layoffs there continues to be more employers hiring tech talent than shedding it.”

CompTIA’s analysis also showed that 30% of all tech jobs postings are for positions in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, or in roles requiring emerging tech skills.

Within the tech sector, three occupation categories lead December hiring: IT services and custom software development (+7,200 jobs), other information services, including search engines (+6,600 jobs) and data processing, hosting and related services (+5,600 jobs).

CompTIA

The positive news was countered by a second consecutive month of lower employer job postings for future tech hiring. Future tech hiring is one metric CompTIA uses to predict how many job openings will be available over the next year. Future tech hiring declined for the second consecutive month, but still totaled more than 246,000 in December, down from 270,000 in November, 2022.

Also, the organization cautioned, recent layoff announcements by technology companies may not show up immediately in government reports, such as today’s BLS “employment situation” report, a CompTIA spokesperson said.

In spite of that, in the first quarter of 2023, the IT industry will lead all others in hirings, according to a new report from global staffing firm ManpowerGroup.

While companies are expected to hire fewer technology workers this quarter than the previous one (6% less) or even Q1, 2022 (14% less), ManpowerGroup’s survey of just under 39,000 employers in 41 countries revealed overall there will be a 23% increase in hiring.

ManpowerGroup

When considering how staffing levels will change during the first quarter, employers in 39 of 41 countries and territories surveyed anticipate a net positive hiring outlook, the report stated.

Organizations in the IT industry reported the most optimistic outlook for Q1, 2023 with an expected 35% increase in hiring; that was followed by Financials & Real Estate (28%), and Energy & Utilities (+26%).​

Geographically, North American organizations expect to increase hiring by 31%; US organizations expect a 29% increase in hiring and Canadian organizations expect at 34% increase. Large organizations with more than 250 are more than twice as optimistic as small businesses (with less than 10 employees) to hire in the coming quarter with outlooks of 29% and 13%, respectively.

Wanting to hire is one thing and actually being able to find tech talent is another. Currently, there is a dearth of tech talent available.

Despite strong optimism to hire, the industry faces a talent shortage where 76% of IT industry employers report difficulty finding the hard and soft skills needed, according to ManpowerGroup’s survey.

“This recovery is unlike any we have ever seen [and] demand for skills is at record highs in many markets, and unemployment levels remain high while workforce participation stagnates,” the report said.

ManpowerGroup

Because of the lack of available talent, the lead time for filling an open IT position is now several months, according to a new report by business consultancy Janco Associates.

“If the position to be filled is a replacement for some who has left the enterprise, training time has to be factored in. This is just one of the issues faced by CIOs,” Janco stated in its 2023 IT Salary Survey, which included interviews more than 142 CIOs, CFOs, and HR professionals to identify key CIO staffing Issues

Organizations have addressed hiring challenges by removing college degree requirements from job postings and by creating apprenticeship programs to train new candidates.

“With the limited labor supply of IT professionals, every hiring mistake is magnified,” Janco’s report stated.

Janco Associates

In Janco’s review of hiring failures based on survey responses, it found two factors that stood out over others. Interpersonal issues associated with these failures (29%) and poor corporate culture fit (28%) with the others. Those issues, Janco argued, can mostly be filtered out during the recruiting and interviewing process.

November 2022

For two straight years, the technology sector has added jobs every month.

In November, US tech companies added 14,400 workers, and tech jobs in all industry sectors grew by 137,000 positions, according to a new report from CompTIA

While the needle on overall US unemployment remained unchanged in November at 3.7%, for the technology sector it dropped to 2% from 2.2% in October, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures compiled by CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

CompTIA

So far this year, tech industry jobs grew by 207,000 positions, according to BLS data.

“The hotter-than-anticipated tech jobs report confirms there are still many more employers hiring tech talent than shedding it,” said Tim Herbert, CompTIA’s chief research officer. “It’s certainly premature to dismiss concerns over the health of the economy, but this should be a reassuring sign for the tech workforce.”

The growth in the tech sector belies an economy beset by high inflation and what many still believe is an impending recession. And although inflation slowed to 7.7%, it is still well over the 2% target set by policymakers at the Federal Reserve Bank.

In November, nearly a dozen big name companies announced layoffs — some in the thousands, including Amazon, Cisco and HP. But experts believe the targeted layoffs, which have been ongoing over the past three months, are mostly a result of poor hiring strategies.

Due to a dearth of tech talent over the past two years, companies rushed to hire, bringing in a raft of tech workers with seven to 10 years’ experience and highly specialized skills.

On top of that, the companies tended to pay two to three times more than what they would have for someone with less experience but with the right education, aptitude, and attitude to be part of a sustainable workforce, according to Tony Lysak, CEO of The Software Institute, which offers IT consulting and education services.

“We need them, and can’t get them, so let’s pay more,” said Lysak, summing up how many companies have approached hiring during the past two years.

According to IT employment consultancy Janco Associates, the latest BLS data shows there are now just shy of four million jobs for IT professionals in the US. Janco sees this trend of IT jobs increases continuing but at a slower pace in the future. Layoffs will continue as companies seek to improve productivity levels.

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals will continue to be positive but not as broad in scope as in the first three quarters of this calendar year,” Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis said in a statement. “CIOs and CFOs are looking to improve the productivity of IT. They are focusing on eliminating ‘non-essential’ managers and staff. They will continue to hire coders and developers. The highest demand continues to be for programmers, blockchain processing, and security professionals. There still are over 200K unfilled jobs in the IT job market.”

IT salaries for existing IT staff and middle managers increased by just under 3% while new hires were paid 5% to 6% more than existing staff, according to Janco’s Mid Year 2022 IT Salary Survey. “In conversation with several CIOs, we observed that starting pay rates for new hires were in the 8% to 10% range a few months back, but this is not the case currently,” Janulaitis said.

November hiring by technology companies was broad-based across occupation categories, led by IT services and custom software development (+8,100). Employment growth also occurred in data processing, hosting and related services (+4,100), other information services, including search engines (+2,100), and computer and electronic products manufacturing (+1,900).

CompTIA

Employer job postings for future tech hiring fell back in November, but still totaled nearly 270,000. Openings for software developers and engineers accounted for about 28% of all tech jobs postings. Demand for IT support specialists, systems engineers, IT project managers, and network engineers was also solid.

While major tech hubs recorded the largest numbers of job postings for tech positions, ‘under the radar’ markets showed notable increases in employment opportunities, including Topeka, Kan.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Worcester, Mass.; and Riverside, Calif. Among industries, the professional, scientific, and technical services sector had the most tech job postings (41,188), followed by finance and insurance (35,132) and manufacturing (31,036).

CompTIA

CompTIA’s analysis also showed 30% of all tech jobs postings are for positions in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, or in roles that require emerging tech skills.

Janco’s report also shows corporate executives are challenged by inflation and the economic downturn. Those executives are reluctant to hire replacement employees at salaries that are significantly higher than those who left as part of the Great Resignation. In their 2023 salary budgets for IT pros, “CIOs are trying to address the inflationary pressures faced by employees. We believe that starting salaries for IT Pros in 2023 will be 6% to 7% salary above existing levels,” Janulaitis said.

October 2022

Tech firms in October hired between 15,300 and 20,700 workers (depending on who’s doing the counting), marking roughly two straight years of hiring growth in the industry, according to two new employment reports.

So far this year, tech industry employment has increased by 193,900 jobs, 28% higher than the same period in 2021, according to a jobs report from CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce. 

In contrast, technology job postings by tech and non-tech companies had been on a five-month downward slide until last month. Tech workers employed throughout the economy, regardless of industry, declined by 116,000 last month, according to CompTIA. CompTIA’s report is based on the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data.

“The data is roughly in line with expectations,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in a statement. “Tech hiring activity remains steady, but there are undoubtedly concerns of a slowing economy.”

CompTIA

In October, the number of tech workers employed throughout all industries grew by 10,000 over the previous month, according to CompTIA.

Most of the issues affecting the economy are due to supply chain problems, according to Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco Associates, which also released its IT jobs report on Friday.

“If China opens up and supply chains will improve, that should lessen the recessionary pressures that are driving the tech giants to reduce staff,” Janulaitis said in a statement. “Also, the results of the election in the US will provide an opportunity to improve the economic climate.”

Tech job postings reflect the total of “help wanted” ads companies listed last month. There were 317,000 such postings in October, according to CompTIA. It was the first time since April 2022 that the number of job postings increased over the prior month.

CompTIA also noted that tech manufacturing employment is up 43% compared to the same period last year.

CompTIA

While the tech industry unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 2.2% in October from 2.1% in September, it remained well below the overall US unemployment rate, according to CompTIA’s report. The overall US unemployment rate also ticked up to 3.7% in October.

CompTIA’s jobs report differs somewhat from Janco Associates’s figures. Janco reported 15,300 new hires by tech companies in October; that compares to 13,700 job listings added by the tech industry the previous month.

There are now a total of 3.98 million jobs for IT professionals in the US, according to the BLS data analyzed by Janco.

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals will continue to be positive, but not as broad in scope as in the first three quarters of 2022,” Janulaitis said in a statement. “CIOs and CFOs are looking to improve the productivity of IT.  That means they are focusing on eliminating “non-essential” managers and staff. They will continue to hire coders and developers.”

CompTIA

The highest demand in IT will be for programmers, blockchain processing, and security professionals, according to Janulaitis. Much of the hiring will be limited to filling positions that have been approved and are unfilled — not staff expansion.

Within the tech industry, the bulk of new hiring occurred in three sector categories, according to CompTIA:

• IT services and custom software development (+8,800)
• Other information services, including search engines (+6,800)
• Computer and electronic products manufacturing (+5,400)

In Janco’s mid-year 2022 IT Salary Survey, it found IT salaries for existing IT staff and middle managers increased by just under 3%, while new hires were paid 5% to 6% more than existing staff.  “In conversation with several CIOs, we observed that starting pay rates for new hires were in the 8%-10% range a few months back, but this is not the case currently,” Janulaitis said.

The disparity in pay between veteran IT workers and new hires is a point of contention and has likely led to some problems in worker motivation, according to Sinem Buber, lead economist with ZipRecruiter. When new employees are hired, they often come in with pay and benefits equal to or better than veteran employees. Even as companies have raised wages, it’s often across the board, ignoring seniority.

“So, the link between hard work and raises is broken,” Buber said.

CompTIA Remote work hiring trends on the upswing

Remote work shows no signs of slowing down, according to CompTIA. Employer job postings for tech positions that specify remote work or work-from-home options continue to increase, with a year-to-date rate of 34% compared to 27% in 2021, and 22% in 2020.

Major tech hubs saw significant month-over-month increases in tech jobs postings, including Boston (+2,732), New York City (+1,459), San Francisco (+884) and San Jose (+864). The top industries for tech job postings were professional, scientific, and technical services (50,688); finance and insurance (35,500); and manufacturing (34,488), according to CompTIA.

Positions for software developers and engineers led the October job postings (85,796). “There is also strong demand for IT support specialists, IT project managers, systems engineers and network engineers,” CompTIA said.

September 2022: Janco analysis

IT job growth has continued each month for over a year, and in the last 12 months 202,800 jobs have been added, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor data, which was analyzed by IT consultancy Janco Associates.

At the same time, CIOs and CFOs have started to slow the rate at which they’re creating new IT jobs and hiring due to inflation and recession fears, according to Janco’s latest report.

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals will continue to be positive, but not as broad in scope as in the first nine months of 2022,” said M. Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco Associates. “CIOs are still posturing to hire staff and expand technologies to address blockchain processing and security applications based on market conditions. However, most hiring will be limited to filling positions open due to attrition, not staff expansion.”

U.S. tech firms added workers for the 22nd consecutive month, and companies across the economy hired an estimated 84,000 new tech workers in September, according to the latest Tech Jobs Report from CompTIA.

Job postings for new hiring were down 12% from August, but still totaled just over 300,000. Positions in software development and engineering, tech support, tech project management, systems engineering, and network engineering were in highest demand, according to CompTIA.

CompTIA

About 30% of all postings were for positions in emerging technologies or in jobs that require emerging tech skills. Positions that offer remote work or work from home as an option surpassed 109,000.

Another new report by UK-based job search engine Hired showed that, unlike 2021, when companies were hiring faster than in years prior, the overall time to hire job seekers in 2022 slowed across the US, UK, and Canada. UK companies are now taking 68 days on average to fill open positions. US companies aren’t moving much faster, taking 60 days (up from 52 days in 2021). In Canada, it’s now 54 days. (Remote roles took 40 days to fill – that’s slower than in 2021, but the shortest time to hire overall, Hired said.

“Why? It’s not clear yet,” Hired said in its report. “Are jobseekers taking longer to evaluate opportunities? Or are employers moving candidates through the funnel more carefully? While this indicates an increase in the time to fill roles, it doesn’t equal an overall slowdown in tech hiring.”

Data from Hired indicates employers offering remote roles have a hiring edge over those requiring hybrid or on-site jobs. Since June 2021, candidates showed a preference for remote-only roles.

In January, 18% of active jobseekers indicated they only wanted remote roles. By May, preference for “only remote” roles climbed to 31% of all active jobseekers on Hired’s platform, and rose another percentage point to 32% in June. By June, 93% of candidates showed a preference for remote or hybrid jobs.

Janco Associates

Throughout the year, IT salaries in the US and Canada (except for junior candidates with less than two years of experience) saw significant growth. Mid-level US candidates with four to six years of experience saw the biggest jump from $146,000 to $154,000 between 2021 and 2022. Remote salaries for all candidates, except the most junior, also saw significant growth; on average they jumped by $7,000 to $8,000 from 2021 to 2022.

CompTIA September 2022: CompTIA analysis

Tech companies added 25,500 workers last month, one of the strongest hiring months so far this year, according to new data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and industry analysts.

So far this year, employment in the tech industry has increased by 175,700 jobs, 46% ahead of 2021 — and 92% ahead of 2019, according to CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce. (The total includes all employees —technical and non-technical — on the payrolls of tech companies.)

“Stability in tech hiring continues to be an over-arching theme this year,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “Despite all the economic noise and pockets of layoffs, aggregate tech hiring remains consistently positive.”

According to the latest BLS data, analyzed by IT consultancy Janco Associates, there are now 3.97 million jobs for IT Professionals in the US. For 24 months in a row, there has been an increase in the number of jobs added to the IT job market. Janco sees this trend continuing, according to its latest report released Friday.

CompTIA

The unemployment rate for tech occupations rose to 2.3% in August from 1.7% in July, according to CompTIA. There are likely two reasons for it jump: the overall US unemployment rate increased, as well, and some large tech firms announced layoffs, Herbert noted.

“The other component is we’ve seen a rebound in consumer confidence and worker confidence,” Herbert said. “So, it can also be attributed to tech workers feeling a renewed sense of confidence, and so they’ve quit their job and they’re looking for new opportunities. That was far more prominent earlier this year and last year with the ‘Great Resignation.’”

The number of workers quitting their jobs remained above 4 million in August, according to BLS data. Since June 2021, more than 4 million people have quit every month, according to BLS data, giving rise to the trend known as the Great Resignation. The trend reflects a deep dissatisfaction by many workers with their employment situations. The ongoing global pandemic pushed workers to rethink their careers, work/life balance, long-term goals, and working conditions.

Overall employer job postings for tech positions eased in August to just under 320,000 from 372,000 in July, with 31% of jobs posted last month for positions in emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and IoT, or in roles that require emerging tech skills, such as data analytics and automation software.

“A lot of the technology is mature enough now that a lot of positions are implementing automation solutions, robotic process automation,” Herbert said. “Next-generation roles include cybersecurity, and broad categories of automation, so, marketing automation and HR automation.”

From January through August 2022, tech job postings where employers specify remote work or work from home as an option were up 56% over last year —and up 281% from the pre-pandemic year of 2019, according to CompTIA.

“The one thing that jumped out at me, to no surprise, was the trend toward remote work that I think is now in a semi-permanent state,” Herbert said.

The increase in remote employment was highlighted by the leap in tech job postings in states such as Wyoming, Montana and Alaska, Herbert said.

CompTIA

Even as hiring was up, the number of job openings dropped, indicating the pace of new job vacancies could be slowing, according to Janco Associates. Its data is based on the latest BLS statistics.

There is some slowing in hiring as fears of a significant downturn or recession are on the horizon, Janco’s report stated.

“CIOs and CFOs now are more cautious than they were in the first quarter.  CIOs do not have a clear understanding of how a downturn will impact their bottom line.  Most still are hiring but at a slower pace,”Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis wrote in the report. “Some companies have stopped hiring and started laying off employees.”

“With all that, the IT job market remains tight with an average of 200,000 IT professionals jobs that are not filled due to a lack of qualified candidates,” Janulaitis continued. “The number of unfilled IT jobs has peaked from over 260,000 in April to 210,000 in July. That should still be enough of a buffer to keep hiring of IT pros on a positive track.”

Janco Associates

Janulaitis also said new IT hires are on average receiving salaries that are 5% to 6% above pay for existing positions — and in some cases as much as 10% higher; The higher starting pay is needed to attract the best IT candidates. That salary disparity, however, is driving dissatisfaction and an increase in attrition rate among existing employees, according to Janulaitis.

“The challenge CIOs face will be how to keep the balance between the existing budget, providing salary increases to existing employees that address inflation and higher commuting costs, and having sufficient resources available to achieve the enterprise’s technology and bottom line objectives,” Janulaitis said.

The BLS doesn’t track tech industry jobs directly. Instead, the agency uses the “information sector” as a proxy for tech employment because there are tech jobs in most industries, and therefore technology is not an industry in and of itself.

The nation’s unemployment rate rose from 3.5% to 3.7% in August, with the number of unemployed rising by 344,000 to 6 million. 

Overall, the US economy added 315,000 jobs in August, which was more than economists had predicted, but still far less than the 526,000 positions added in July – a record month for jobs.

Professional and business services added 68,000 jobs in August, according to the BLS. Within the industry, computer systems design and related services added 14,000 positions; management and technical consulting services grew by 13,000; and scientific research and development services increased by 6,000. Over the past 12 months, professional and business services has added 1.1 million jobs, according to the BLS.

“CIOs and CFOs now are more cautious than they were in the first quarter. CIOs do not have a clear understanding of how a downturn will impact their bottom line,” Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco Associates said in a report last week. “Most still are hiring, but at a slower pace. Some companies have stopped hiring and started laying off employees.”

With all that, the IT job market remains tight, with an average of 200,000 IT professional jobs that are not filled due to a lack of qualified candidates, according to Janulaitis. If there is a major recession, many companies will choose not to fill those new open positions.

“That should be enough of a buffer to keep the hiring of IT pros on a positive track,” he said.

August 2022

Despite a number of sizeable layoffs at high-profile companies in recent months, the tech sector continued to lead all others in low unemployment rates in July, according to a new report from CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

Tech occupations across all industry sectors increased by an estimated 239,000 positions last month, according to an analysis of US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data by CompTIA.

Tech industry employment saw a net gain of 12,700 workers, the 20th consecutive month of growth. So far this year, the tech sector has gained 143,700 jobs, an increase of 55% year-over-year, according to CompTIA. The unemployment rate for tech jobs was just 1.7% in July (1.3% for women, 1.8% for men), roughly half the overall US unemployment rate of 3.5%.

Employer job postings for tech positions approached 484,000 in July, a slight decrease from the previous month but still at a near record level. Through the first seven months of 2022, US companies listed approximately 3.1 million jobs postings for tech positions, up 49% compared to 2021.

“The tech jobs market has repeatedly outperformed in the face of real and perceived economic weakness,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in a statement. “The data confirms that for every layoff announcement there are other employers stepping in to take advantage of tech talent hiring opportunities.”

CompTIA

Meanwhile, since June 2021, more than 4 million people have quit their jobs every month, according to BLS data, part of a trend known as the Great Resignation. The trend  reflects a deep dissatisfaction by many workers with their employment situations. The ongoing global pandemic has enabled workers to rethink their careers, work/life balance, long-term goals, and working conditions.

Some of the top reasons workers quit this year are unhappiness with how their employer treated them during the pandemic (19%), low pay or lack of benefits (17%), and a lack of work-life balance (13%), according to a survey by employment listing website Joblist.

The BLS doesn’t track tech industry jobs directly. Instead, the agency uses the “information sector” as a proxy for tech employment because there are tech jobs in most industries, and therefore technology is not an industry in of itself. 

CompTIA

Within the tech sector, three occupation categories recorded job growth in July – other information services, including search engines (+6,800); data processing, hosting and related services (+4,100); and computer and electronic products manufacturing (+3,300). Hiring in the IT services and custom software development category was flat, while telecom-related occupations declined (-1,400), according to CompTIA.

About one in five tech job postings in July were for positions requiring two years or less of experience. About half specified three to five years of experience, while 13% sought candidates with nine or more years of experience, CompTIA said.

Many employers, even those in tech industries, are ending college degree requirements for many job openings. Instead, organizations are focusing on the skills, experience, and personality traits of job candidates. The sea change opens up tech jobs to a more diverse pool of candidates.

CompTIA

Software developers and engineers are the most in-demand positions employers are looking to fill — accounting for nearly 148,000 job postings last month. There is also a strong job market for IT support specialists, IT project managers, systems engineers and architects, and network engineers and architects. Positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills accounted for one-third of all postings in July.

Faced with a dearth of workforce talent, many tech companies and others are hiring through non-traditional approaches that include coding bootcamps, low-code training, and a focus on population areas outside the norm.

July 2022

Over the past three months, IT job openings for entry-level positions have declined significantly, according to a new report.

Job openings for entry-level tech workers declined from 29,500 in April to 24,000 in May and to 18,400 in June, according to IT employment consultancy Janco Associates.

Janco’s report, which was compiled from US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and survey data, said the downward trend is the result of several factors — the most critical of which is an increasing belief among C-level executives that we are already or soon will be in a recession.

In creating its May forecast for future IT hiring, Janco found that almost all 217 CIOs it surveyed are planning on:

• Limiting the extension of existing contracts for contract workers and consultants beyond the 3rd quarter of the year.
• Managing the full-time employee headcount to budgeted levels through the end of this year.
• Not replacing departing employees who do not have critical IT skills and/or enterprise-specific operational knowledge.

“In our interviews, we have found that Wall Street has stopped hiring, and a number of job offers for recent IT college graduates have had offers that were extended pulled back,” Janco’s report stated. “The initial indicators from the monthly BLS data for June seem to be reinforcing those findings.”

Janco’s report noted that some organizations have already started the process of layoffs.

• Netflix, PayPal, Getir, Klarna, Bolt, and Carvana instituted layoffs in May.
• Coinbase will cut 1,100 jobs, about 18% of its global workforce.
• Microsoft is slowing down its hiring “to better align its resources.”
• Meta (Facebook) and Twitter have frozen hiring for some departments.

Gartner research shows that just 4% of US companies have started laying off employees, while 7% have frozen hiring and 15% have started to slow down hiring.

Janco Associates

Hiring is still robust for experienced IT pros —particularly for certain job titles, including security-related positions and in-demand technology, such as blockchain and e-commerce positions — but entry-level candidates are finding it more difficult to find new jobs, according to Janco.

Overall, the number of open jobs in the US at the end of May was 11.3 million, a drop from 11.7 million in April, according to the BLS’s May Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report. Despite the drop in open requisitions, the U.S. added 390,000 jobs in May; The unemployment rate also held at 3.6%, and there were almost two job openings for each unemployed American. The number and rate of workers quitting their jobs remained almost unchanged at 4.3 million and 2.8%, respectively.

The impact of inflation and the potential of a significant downturn is not reflected in the preliminary budgets for 2023. Most CIOs and CFOs are trying to determine what they will do if that downturn occurs, Janco reported.

Janco also publishes a biannual salary survey in January and July. The just-published survey results showed that IT salaries were on the rise in the first six months of 2022. For the first time, median salaries for all IT pros in large enterprises exceeded $100,000.

Midsized companies were offering the greatest salary increases, which averaged north of 4% for IT middle managers and staff. IT executives saw an average 3.04% salary increase this year.

Large enterprises were more miserly, with staff receiving a 3.27% average increase and executives and middle managers earning a 3.47% and 1.20% average boost, respectively.

The unemployment rate for tech occupations fell to a near-record low in May, and employer job postings for tech positions passed 443,000, according to an analysis of the latest labor market data by CompTIA, a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

“The already tight labor market just became even tighter as competition for tech talent reaches near-record levels,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “For any employer relying on the old hiring playbook, it’s time to rethink approaches to recruiting and retention.”

Employers throughout the US economy are stepping up their search for tech workers and tech companies continue to expand payrolls, according CompTIA. Specifically, tech firms added 75,200 workers through the first four months of 2022.

More than 190,000 new IT jobs will be created in 2022, according to IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. The IT job market now has more than 3.85 million positions in the US, with about 130,000 of those positions unfilled, Janco’s report stated.

Some of the top tech jobs in terms of hiring and pay include software developer/engineer, IT project manager, IT support specialist, systems engineer/architect, and network engineer/architect, according to CompTIA’s jobs report.

Tech workers employed in the cloud space saw some of the greatest salary increases over the past year, according to a new salary survey from O’Reilly Media, an online IT training provider. According to the report, cloud-focused workers are the most sought-after tech talent as a growing number of organizations of all sizes utilize cloud tools and services.

The survey revealed that cloud professionals are paid an average yearly salary of $182,000. Report findings also show the impact of the great reshuffle within the tech sector, with 20% reporting they’ve already changed employers over the last year, and 25% of respondents planning to find new employment with better compensation, raising a question of whether the great reshuffle will continue.

Janco Associates

The average salary increase over the past year for cloud workers was 4.3%. The average salary for women, unfortunately, is 7% lower than the average salary for men, the survey also found.

The highest-paid job titles include directors ($235,000) and executives ($231,000), followed by architects, “leads,” and managers ($196,000, $190,000, and $188,000, respectively).

“During the pandemic, we witnessed millions of workers resign from companies in an effort to reconfigure their careers and take deliberate steps toward new job opportunities with higher wages and better alignment between their work and life goals,” said O’Reilly President Laura Baldwin. “With these workers in such demand, we anticipate the great tech exodus to continue unless employers step up with competitive pay, substantial benefits, remote work flexibility, and on-the-job learning and development.”

June 2022

Technology companies added workers for the 18th consecutive month and employer job postings for tech occupations reached a new high in May, according to an analysis of the latest employment data by a nonprofit association for the IT industry and workforce.

Technology industry level companies added 22,800 net new workers in May. Through the first five months of 2022 employment increased by 106,700 positions and is 69% ahead of the same period versus 2021, according to an analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) jobs report by industry association CompTIA.

Employer hiring activity as measured by job postings for tech positions totaled 623,627 for the month of May and nearly 2.2 million year-to-date, which represents a 52% increase versus the same period of the previous year.

“The data speaks to the broad-based nature of the tech workforce,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA, said in a statement. “It also speaks to the many factors affecting employment and situations where sectors or companies easing up on hiring may be offset by sectors or companies increasing hiring.”

The unemployment rate for the IT sector did edge up slightly in May to 2.1% from 2.0% the previous month . The unemployment rate for tech occupations, however, remained remarkably low compared to the overall national unemployment rate of 3.6%.

“In an analysis of the latest BLS data we have found the number of jobs created for IT professionals continues to grow. However, there are some clouds for IT pros’ job prospects six to twelve months in the future.” said M. Victor Janulaitis, CEO of  IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. “The primary driver is inflation and high energy costs which is causing concerns that the economy will slow later in the year and potentially have an extended recession in 2023.”

Janco Associates, which did its own analysis of the BLS jobs report, found over the past year more than 20,000 new IT positions were added each month. That surge has begun to cool a bit with 17,000 new IT jobs created in May. 

Janco Associates

All signs point to that growth continuing but at a slower rate of 13,000 to 14,000 new jobs added per month through out the rest of the year. By the end of 2022, Janco forecasted that 191,000 new IT Jobs will be added.

Currently, there are more than 3.9 million unfilled IT job positions in the US, according to Janco.

“That is driven by the fact that qualified candidates can not be found,” Janulaitis said. “The first sign that the growth of the IT job market is slowing will be the reduction in that number as companies will just pull back on trying to recruit those unfilled positions.”

So far in 2022, the IT job market has grown by 93,400 jobs, which is 43,000 more  than the for the same period in 2021. If there is a downturn, as some predict, one of the reactions by CEOs will be to implement hiring freezes that will result in a decrease in the growth of the IT job market, according to Janulaitis.

CompTIA

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals will continue to be positive but not as broad in scope as last year. CIOs are still posturing to hire more staff and expand technologies to address blockchain processing and security applications based on market conditions,” Janulaitis said. “However recent events, increased energy cost, and the specter of high inflation will harm IT job market growth.”

Positions for software developers and engineers (204,084) accounted for nearly a third of all employer tech job postings in May, an increase of more than 77,000 from April, according to CompTIA. IT project managers, IT support specialists, systems engineers and architects and network engineers and architects also saw market increase in hiring.

One-third of all job postings were for positions in emerging technologies or jobs requiring emerging tech skills.

Industries that saw some of the hottest hiring trends includeded scientific and technical services, finance and insurance, manufacturing, information, retail trade, health care and social assistance, public administration and educational services. The search for tech talent was widely dispersed across geographies, as well. Four metro areas (New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles and Washington) recorded tech jobs postings totals that surpassed 31,000 positions.

Hiring in the IT services and custom software development category led May’s tech sector job growth with more than 13,100 new positions. Hiring in data processing, hosting and related services, computer and electronic products manufacturing and other information services, including search engines also increased. Conversely, jobs in telecommunications declined, according to CompTIA’s report.

April 2022

The IT job market size grew by 17,000 jobs in April, according to new data from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates.

Over the past three months, 43,200 Jobs have been added to IT Job Market, a pace of expansion exceeds 2021, the firm stated in its latest research post.

In 2021, 213,100 jobs were added to the IT Job Market. That not only replaced the jobs lost during the pandemic, but it also expanded the growth to a level that exceeded the pre-pandemic levels. (Janco bases its information on data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics — the BLS.) 

“In interviews with both CIOs and HR professionals, Janco has found that hiring IT professionals is at a record high level. This, even with inflation and the specter of a possible economic downturn,” Janco stated. “All signs point to that growth continuing.”

While all IT jobs lost during the pandemic have been recovered, the hiring of IT professionals is now being hindered by a lack of qualified individuals, according to the latest statistics.

The April monthly tech jobs report released by the CompTIA industry association showed the tech industry added 12,300 jobs from February to March, 2022. Software developers (3,613) and systems engineers/architects (3,126) led the pack in terms of new positions available.

Software developers and engineers are far and away the most sought-after positions companies need to fill, with more than 115,000 job postings across the US, according to CompTIA. IT support specialists, IT project managers, systems engineers and architects, and network engineers and architects are also in high demand.

“By all accounts this was an exceptionally strong start to the year for tech employment,” said Tim Herbert, chief research officer at CompTIA. “The arms race in recruiting and retaining tech talent undoubtedly challenges employers in direct and indirect ways.”

The unemployment rate for tech occupations fell to a near-record low, as tech firms added workers for the 16th consecutive month and employer job postings for tech positions surpassed 400,000 in March, according to an analysis of the latest labor market data by CompTIA.

“The already tight labor market just became even tighter as competition for tech talent reaches near-record levels,” Herbert said in a statement. “For any employer relying on the old hiring playbook, it’s time to rethink approaches to recruiting and retention.”

IT jobs across the US increased by 19,000 in March. The unemployment rate for tech occupations is 1.3%, its lowest level since June 2019 and about one-third the current national unemployment rate (3.6%).

Janco is forecasting more than 138,000 new IT jobs will be created in 2022. The IT job market now has more than 3.85 million positions in the US. As of December 2021, Janco reported 3.72 million IT positions in the US.

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals will continue to be positive, but not as broad in scope as in the last quarter of 2021,” Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis said in a statement. “CIOs are still posturing to hire more staff and expand technologies to address blockchain processing and security applications based on market conditions. However recent events, increased energy cost, and the specter of high inflation will harm IT job market growth.”

Janco

IT job growth in recent years.

According to the BLS, employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 13% from 2020 to 2030, faster than the average for all occupations. IT is projected to add about 667,600 new jobs, with demand for those workers stemming from a greater emphasis on cloud computing, the collection and storage of big data, and information security, according to the BLS.

The median annual wage for computer and information technology occupations was $94,729 in January 2021, which was higher than the median annual wage for all occupations ($45,760). In January 2022, the median wage for IT positions had increased to $96,667 – an uptick of about 2.05%.

Conversely, new IT hires in the last quarter of 2021 were paid 5% to 6% more than existing staff, according to Janco.

“In conversation with several CIOs, we learned that increases for new hires in the 9% to 12% range were not uncommon,” Janulaitis said. “ It is not uncommon for IT pros who are highly skilled and experienced (over 10 years) to be offered salaries at $125,000 and above. Salary disparity is a driver of dissatisfaction and an increase in attrition rate among existing employees.”

December 2021

Hiring of IT professionals is at record pace with 197,000 more IT jobs so far this year than at the same time last year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

There has been growth in the IT job market each of the past eight months, according to IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. 

“Information-Technology leaders say they are boosting compensation packages and flexible work options to widen the pool of prospective job candidates, as demand surges for tech talent,” M. Victor Janulaitis, Janco’s CEO, stated on the company’s website. 

To entice employees and retain existing tech staff, CIOs are offering flexible work options, such as a combination of in-office and remote work. The median salary for IT professionals is expected to grow to between $96,000 and $97,000, up from just over $94,600 in January and $95,600 in June, Janulaitis wrote.

“Most CIOs have not recruited at this rate before. Janco attributes the hiring push of some CIOs to meet their company’s goals to recruit talent related to security, compliance and cloud computing, Those IT jobs are difficult ones to fill,” he said.

In 2019, 90,200 new IT jobs were created. As a result of the global pandemic. By contrast, 33,200 were lost in 2020. In 2021, almost 150,000 jobs were added to the IT job market.

All job markets included, nearly 100 million working-age people were excluded from the labor force in November 2021, according to Janco Associates, which is based on BLS data. Most, of course, are still in school, retired ill or disabled and unable to work, according to the BLS data. But, those excluded from the labor force also include 471,000 “discouraged workers,” which represents an increase from 460,000 last month. Among the reasons cited for not re-joining the workforce were the continued impact of vaccine mandates, travel restrictions, and new virus variants.

Roughly 34.4 million people have quit their jobs this year as they reevaluate their work lives, according to job-search company Joblist. A survey of 26,000 employees recently published by Joblist showed nearly three-quarters of respondents said they were actively thinking about quitting. And, roughly 34.4 million people have quit their jobs this year during 2021 as they reevaluate their work lives.

About 46% of the remaining workforce is considering leaving work because they’re not being allowed to work remotely, according to the Work Trend Index study by Microsoft Corp.  

“There are 94.438 million who just do not want work at all. That is a increase of almost 612,000 individuals from the same month last year,” according to Janco Associates’s website.

Baby boomers retiring is another factor in the continued fall in the Labor Participation rate.

Overall, though, the IT job market in the U.S. has added an average of about 13,000 positions during each month of 2021, up from a typical monthly average of between 5,000 and 8,000 jobs.

Job growth in the US IT industry had slowed and took a dip in October, adding just 4,800 positions, according to the BLS data that were included in the figures from Janco Associates. That was down from 8,900 positions added in the revised September figures.

In October, the overall growth in IT positions was even as the highly infectious delta variant of COVID-19 continued to hinder overall job growth, mainly due to slowdowns in the restaurant, entertainment, and service sectors.

The IT industry’s bigger challenge is finding qualified candidates for those IT jobs, Janulaitis said in a statement at the time. And the challenge won’t end soon, he said:

From data that we have reviewed, shutdowns resulted in fewer computer science candidates graduating from universities and trade schools. Those in the pipeline for those degrees were reduced as well. One of the drivers of that trend was that the closing of borders limited the number of foreign nationals who could qualify for that training and education.

Many of the new positions that CIOs are trying to fill are in new technologies. There is a shortfall of individuals who have the training and skills necessary. There are open positions that cannot be filled. … At the same, time attrition rates are on the rise in many IT organizations.

US IT job growth was stronger earlier in the year, before the delta variant and the talent shortage: August saw a surge of 25,400 new jobs on the heels of about 18,500 in June and 9,900 in July (all are revised figures), reflecting continuing business recovery from the pandemic. In fact, IT job growth has occurred for 15 consecutive months, though it was uneven through May. I has averaged 13,000 new jobs each month so far in 2021.

The IT job situation in the US continues to look very much like the pre-pandemic state: more positions than candidates. In fact, businesses would have filled more IT positions in September had they found enough qualified candidates, Janulaitis said. Finding web developers and cybersecurity and compliance pros remains the toughest task for CIOs, he said — and is causing HR to focus more on IT staff retention.

That talent shortage has put even greater pressure on businesses to increase salaries, Janulaitis said — and US IT salaries had already been trending up in 2021.

Janco still expects 2021 to have greater IT job growth — there were 189,000 new positions in 2021 as of Oct. 31, with two more months of hiring left in the year — than in any previous year, more than making up for jobs lost due to the pandemic. The last high was 2015, when 112,500 new positions were created. In 2018, 104,600 new IT positions were added; in 2019, the increase was 90,200; and in 2020, the industry lost 33,200 positions.

There are now 3.72 million IT pro jobs in the US, Janco estimates.

The monthly tech jobs report released by the CompTIA industry association also showed slower hiring growth in October. CompTIA calculated that there were 8,300 new US tech-sector jobs last month, down from September’s 18,700, August’s 26,800, July’s 10,700, and June’s 10,500 jobs. The US tech sector’s job numbers remain above their March 2020 peak of 4.76 million positions, nudging just past 4.81 million in October 2021, according to CompTIA data.

CompTIA calculates both technical and nontechnical positions at tech vendors, with roughly 44% being technical and 56% being nontechnical; Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

CompTIA calculated the estimated unemployment rate for the tech sector at 2.1% in October, down from 2.2% in September but up from 1.5% in August and July. The current tech unemployment rate is within range of its 2018-19 lows, where it ranged from 1.2% to 2.4%. The national unemployment rate in October was 4.6%, down from 4.8% in September, according to the BLS.

October 2021

The job growth in the US IT industry slowed in September, adding 16,700 positions, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reported in the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. That’s down from 22,000 positions added in the revised August figures.

Overall growth in IT positions comes even as the highly infectious delta variant of COVID-19 continued to hinder overall job growth, mainly due to slowdowns in the restaurant, entertainment, and service sectors.

That August surge followed job growth of about 18,500 in June and 10,100 in July (both are revised figures), reflecting continuing business recovery from the pandemic in the US. In fact, IT job growth has occurred every month this year, though it was uneven through May, averaging 13,000 new jobs each month so far in 2021.

The IT job situation in the US continues to look very much like the pre-pandemic state: more positions than candidates. In fact, businesses would have filled more IT positions in September had they found enough qualified candidates for them, Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis said in a statement. Finding web developers and cybersecurity and compliance pros remains the toughest task for CIOs, he said — and is causing HR to focus more on IT staff retention.

That talent shortage has put even greater pressure on businesses to increase salaries, Janulaitis said — and US IT salaries had already been trending up in 2021.

Janco expects 2021 to have greater IT job growth — 145,000 to 152,000 new positions — than in any year since 2015, when 112,500 new positions were created. In 2018, 104,600 new IT positions were added; in 2019, the increase was 90,200; and in 2020, the industry lost 33,200 positions.

There are now 3.72 million IT pro jobs in the US, Janco estimates.

The monthly tech jobs report released by the CompTIA industry association also showed slower growth in September hiring. CompTIA calculated that there were 18,700 new US tech-sector jobs last month, down from August’s 26,800, but still a jump over both July’s gain of 10,700 and June’s gain of 10,500 jobs. The US tech sector’s job numbers remain above their March 2020 peak of 4.76 million positions, reaching 4.81 million in September 2021, according to CompTIA data.

CompTIA calculates both technical and nontechnical positions at tech vendors, with roughly 44% being technical and 56% being nontechnical, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

CompTIA calculated the estimated unemployment rate for the tech sector at 2.2% in September, up from 1.5% in August and July, and the same as in June. The current tech unemployment rate is within range of its 2018-19 lows, where it ranged from 1.2% to 2.4%. The national unemployment rate in September was 4.8%, according to the BLS.

September 2021

The job growth in the US IT industry accelerated in August, adding 25,400 positions, according to US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reported in the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. That growth in IT positions comes even as the highly infectious delta variant of COVID-19 slowed overall job growth, mainly due to slowdowns in the restaurant and entertainment sectors.

The August surge follows job growth of about 18,500 in June and 10,100 in July (both are revised figures), reflecting continuing business recovery from the pandemic in the US. In fact, IT job growth has occurred every month this year, though it was uneven through May.

The IT job situation in the US continues to look very much like the pre-pandemic state: more positions than candidates. In fact, businesses would have filled more IT positions in August had they found enough qualified candidates for them, Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis said in a statement. Finding web developers and cybersecurity and compliance pros remains the toughest task for CIOs, he said — and is causing HR to focus more on IT staff retention.

That talent shortage has put even greater pressure on businesses to increase salaries, Janulaitis said — and US IT salaries had already been trending up in 2021.

Janco expects 2021 to have greater IT job growth — 132,000 to 152,000 new positions — than in any year since 2015, when 112,500 new positions were created. In 2018, 104,600 new IT positions were added; in 2019, the increase was 90,200; and in 2020, the industry lost 33,200 positions.

There are now 3.7 million IT pro jobs in the US, Janco estimates.

The monthly tech jobs report released by the CompTIA industry association also showed a surge in August hiring. CompTIA calculated that there were 26,800 new US tech-sector jobs last month, a jump over both July’s gain of 10,700 and June’s gain of 10,500 jobs. The US tech sector’s job numbers have now exceeded their March 2020 peak of 4.76 million positions, reaching 4.79 million in August 2021, according to CompTIA data.

CompTIA calculates both technical and nontechnical positions at tech vendors, with roughly 44% being technical and 56% being nontechnical, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

CompTIA calculated the estimated unemployment rate for the tech sector at 1.5% in August, the same as in July and down from 2.2% in June. The current tech unemployment rate is approaching its 2018-19 lows, where it ranged from 1.2% to 2.4%. The national unemployment rate in August was 5.2%, according to the BLS.

August 2021

The job growth in the US IT industry continued at a steady pace in July, adding 11,200 positions, according to figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. June saw an increase of 11,400, reflecting continuing business recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic in the US. In fact, IT job growth has occurred every month this year, though it was uneven in the first five months of the year.

Today, the jobs situation looks very much like the pre-pandemic state: more positions than candidates. “With reopening, more organizations are actively recruiting,” Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis said in a statement. “In full-employment states, there are many positions for IT pros that remain unfilled due to the lack of qualified candidates.”

That’s put pressure on businesses to increase salaries.

Janco expects 2021 to have greater IT job growth — 108,000 new positions — than in any year since 2015, when 112,500 new positions were created. The year 2018 saw 104,600 new IT positions; 2019 saw 90,200; and 2020 saw a loss of 33,200 positions.

There are nearly 3.7 million IT pro jobs in the US, Janco estimates.

The monthly tech jobs report released by the CompTIA industry association calculated that there were 10,700 new US tech sector jobs in July, similar to June’s gain of 10,500 jobs and following gains the entire year. The US tech sector’s job numbers have now essentially matched their March 2020 peak of 4.76 million positions, according to the CompTIA data.

CompTIA calculates both technical and nontechnical positions at tech vendors, with roughly 44% being technical and 56% being nontechnical, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

CompTIA calculated the estimated unemployment rate for the tech sector as 1.5% in July, down from 2.2% in June. The current tech unemployment rate is approaching its 2018-19 lows, where it ranged from 1.2% to 2.4%. The national unemployment rate in July was 5.4%, according to the BLS.

July 2021

The US IT industry has seen strong job growth so far in 2021, according to revised figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as reported in the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates.

The BLS has adjusted its figures on job growth for all of 2021, bringing the total hires to 69,000 IT staffers through June. The agency had previously reported 47,700 jobs through May, a figure now revised upward to 57,100. June saw an additional 11,900 hires, and it’s possible the BLS could revise its figures again in future reports.

Janco also confirmed previously reported preliminary data on US IT salaries from its own surveys. As the jobs market remains steady in its post-COVID recovery, IT salaries have started to increase as organizations struggle to fill some positions.

That salary survey shows that IT execs in large enterprises are getting the largest salary boosts, with a median increase of 3.2%. Those in midsize enterprises are seeing median rises of 1.2%. For lower-level positions, IT pros do better at midsize enterprises than at large ones: Middle managers at large enterprises are seeing 0.6% boosts, while those at medium-sized firms are seeing 1.3% increases.

IT staffers are seeing the least improvement — an ongoing phenomemon across all company sizes, in which IT execs continue to be rewarded more. Staffers at large enterprises are realizing 0.4% gains; those at midsize enterprises are seeing 0.7% gains. 

At its worst, more than 100,000 IT jobs were lost during the depths of the pandemic in spring 2020, though two-thirds of those came back as the year progressed. Still, 2020 ended with 33,200 fewer IT jobs in the US compared to 2019. With the 69,000 estimated job gains so far in 2021, the US IT job market at the end of June is at 16,700 ahead of the 2020 peak in February — and nearly 140,000 jobs ahead of the 2020 nadir in July.

There are more than 3.6 million IT pro jobs in the US, Janco estimates.

The monthly tech jobs report released by the CompTIA industry association calculated that there were 10,500 new US tech sector jobs in June, following gains in each previous month of 2021. The US tech sector’s job numbers have now essentially matched their March 2020 peak of 4.76 million positions, according to the CompTIA data.

CompTIA calculates both technical and nontechnical positions at tech vendors, with roughly 44% being technical and 56% being nontechnical, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

CompTIA’s data does show a softening of hiring, with small reductions in job postings in several roles, such as for software developers and systems analysts, as well as in several cities, including Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and San Francisco. By contrast, postings grew for positions in San Jose, Calif. The data show more variability, indicating perhaps some settling of hiring activities.

CompTIA calculated the estimated unemployment rate for the tech sector as 2.2% in June, down from 2.4% in May. The current tech unemployment rate is approaching its 2018-19 lows, where it ranged from 1.2% to 2.4%.

June 2021

As the US IT jobs market remains steady in its post-COVID recovery, salaries have started to increase as organizations struggle to fill some positions. That’s based on a survey to be releasd June 15 by IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. Janco provided Computerworld a preview of that survey.

That salary survey shows that IT executives in large enterprises are getting the largest salary boosts, with a median rise of 3.2%. IT execs in midsize enterprises are seeing median rises of 1.2%. For lower-level positions, IT pros do better at midsize enterprises than at large ones: Middle managers at large enterprises are seeing 0.6% boosts, while those at midsize enterprises are seeing 1.3% rises.

IT staffers are seeing the least improvement — an ongoing phenomemon across all company sizes, in which IT execs continue to be rewarded more — with those at large enterprises registering 0.4% gains and those at midsize enterprises seeing 0.7% gains. 

The US IT employment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been very volatile in 2021, with the agency reducing its prior-month estimates several times this year. The agency, for example, reduced its 2021 job gain count by 14,100 from earlier estimates. The BLS data shows a May rise in IT hires of 7,700, and — even with the downward BLS revisions for prior months — the net growth for US IT jobs this year stands at about 47,700, according to Janco’s analysis.

At its worst, more than 100,000 IT jobs were lost during the depths of the pandemic in spring 2020, though two-thirds of those came back as the year progressed. Still, 2020 ended with 33,200 fewer IT jobs in the US compared to 2019. With the 47,700 estimated job gains so far in 2021, the US IT job market at the end of May is at 13,500 more than the 2020 peak in February — and nearly 150,000 ahead of the 2020 nadir in July.

There are more than 3.6 million IT pro jobs in the US, Janco estimates.

The monthly tech jobs report released by the CompTIA industry association calculated that there were 10,500 new US tech sector jobs in May, following gains in each previous month of 2021. CompTIA calculates both technical and nontechnical positions at tech vendors, with roughly 44% being technical and 56% being nontechnical, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

Still, the US tech sector’s job numbers have not yet matched their March 2020 peak of 4.76 million positions. As of last month, there were 4.74 million, a number that continues to grow.

CompTIA’s unemploment rate estimate for the tech sector stood at 2.4% in May, within its range over the last few months — versus 5.8% in May for the national rate for all industries. For previous months, CompTIA calculated a 2.5% tech unemployment rate in April, 1.9% in March, and 2.4% in February. The rise in the overall tech unemployment rate may reflect a loss of sales jobs in the tech sector, even as technologist jobs grew.

CompTIA also saw the number of tech-related job listings jump in May, to about 365,000 versus the 307,000 estimated for April. Job postings have grown by about 158,000 so far in 2021.

Software developers constituted the largest pool of listed openings at 112,200, with listings for IT support specialists coming in second at 28,200 and for system engineers and architects third at 27,200 — all represent significant increases from May.

The top sector for tech job postings in May was manufacturing, which had 70,970 positions open. Professional and technical services followed at 58,783, then finance and insurance at 31,054, and information services at 20,244.

The Washington, D.C. metro area had the most job postings, 21,611, followed by the New York metro area with 20,481; the Dallas metro area with 14,796; the Los Angeles metro area at 12,825; and the Atlanta metro area at 12,825. The San Francisco metro came in sixth at 11,918, just 117 more postings than in April. And the adjacent San Jose metro came in ninth at 8,746.

The Chicago metro had the greatest decline in postings, with 10,526 postings — down 1,025 from April. On the West Coast, slight declines in job postings were recorded in the Los Angeles area (205 fewer), the Seattle area (51 fewer, for 80,080 in May), and the San Jose metro area (466 fewer, wiping out the 117 gain in the adjacent San Francisco metro).

May 2021

Nearly all the US IT jobs lost in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic have come back, with IT employment enjoying eight straight months of growth. Of course, some of the replacement jobs were in IT specialties other than the jobs lost, as there has been a steady trend of declining data center and telecommunications positions in favor of software development jobs; that was true, even before the pandemic.

At its worst, more than 100,000 IT jobs were lost during the depths of the pandemic in spring 2020, though two-thirds of those came back as the year progressed. Still, 2020 ended with 33,200 fewer IT jobs in the US compared to 2019.

So far in 2021, 30,400 IT jobs have been added, nearly erasing the 2020 net losses.

And IT jobs in 2021 are set to continue to grow, according to the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. It expects another 70,000 IT jobs to be available this year. Janco’s numbers come from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly reports.

When adjusted for seasonality, March saw 6,500 new IT jobs, February saw 9,400, and January saw 14,400. The January and February numbers were revised up significantly from BLS’s original estimate of 8,500 and 6,000, respectively.

The Janco figures jibe with a report released by the CompTIA industry association. It calculated that there were 9,700 new US tech sector jobs in March, following a gain of 7,700 in February and 19,500 in January. CompTIA calculates both technical and nontechnical positions at tech vendors, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

Using a much broader definition of IT, including sales positions, CompTIA estimated that 50,000 IT-related jobs were added in March across all industries, following a 178,000-job gain in in February and a 78,000-job gain in January. That reflects an unemployment rate of 1.9%, down from 2.4% in February 2021 and the lowest rate since August 2019.

Nationally, for all jobs, the US unemployment rate fell from 6.2% in February to 6.1% in March, according to the BLS. But the national unemployment rate is closer to 9% if those who have given up looking are included, estimates Oxford Economics; the BLS reports the level of these discouraged workers has remained steady.

CompTIA also saw the number of IT-related job listings grow by about 30,000 in March, passing 307,000. That follows a rise of 44,300 listings in February and 26,000 in January.

Software developers constituted the largest pool of listed openings at 93,000, with listings for IT support specialists coming in second at 25,800 and for system engineeris and architects third at 23,200.

April 2021

Nearly all the US IT jobs lost in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic have come back, with IT employment enjoying eight straight months of growth. Of course, some of the replacement jobs were in IT specialties other than the jobs lost, as there has been a steady trend of declining data center and telecommunications positions in favor of software development jobs; that was true, even before the pandemic.

At its worst, more than 100,000 IT jobs were lost during the depths of the pandemic in spring 2020, though two-thirds of those came back as the year progressed. Still, 2020 ended with 33,200 fewer IT jobs in the US compared to 2019.

So far in 2021, 30,400 IT jobs have been added, nearly erasing the 2020 net losses.

And IT jobs in 2021 are set to continue to grow, according to the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. It expects another 70,000 IT jobs to be available this year. Janco’s numbers come from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly reports.

When adjusted for seasonality, March saw 6,500 new IT jobs, February saw 9,400, and January saw 14,400. The January and February numbers were revised up significantly from BLS’s original estimate of 8,500 and 6,000, respectively.

The Janco figures jibe with a report released by the CompTIA industry association. It calculated that there were 9,700 new US tech sector jobs in March, following a gain of 7,700 in February and 19,500 in January. CompTIA calculates both technical and nontechnical positions at tech vendors, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

Using a much broader definition of IT, including sales positions, CompTIA estimated that 50,000 IT-related jobs were added in March across all industries, following a 178,000-job gain in in February and a 78,000-job gain in January. That reflects an unemployment rate of 1.9%, down from 2.4% in February 2021 and the lowest rate since August 2019.

Nationally, for all jobs, the US unemployment rate fell from 6.2% in February to 6.1% in March, according to the BLS. But the national unemployment rate is closer to 9% if those who have given up looking are included, estimates Oxford Economics; the BLS reports the level of these discouraged workers has remained steady.

CompTIA also saw the number of IT-related job listings grow by about 30,000 in March, passing 307,000. That follows a rise of 44,300 listings in February and 26,000 in January.

Software developers constituted the largest pool of listed openings at 93,000, with listings for IT support specialists coming in second at 25,800 and for system engineeris and architects third at 23,200.

March 2021

As the overall US economy showed continued glimpses of recovery in February, the IT job market continued the rebound that began in the fall, though at a slower pace than in January.

Growth last month was 13,700, according to the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. January saw 8,600 new IT jobs. When adjusted for seasonality, February saw 6,000 new IT jobs, and January saw 10,900, down dramatically from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS’) original estimate of 18,200.

Still, the overall trend for IT — whose US jobs number 3.6 million — remains on an upward trajectory.

The Janco figures jibe with a report released by the CompTIA industry association. It calculated that there were 7,700 new US tech sector jobs in February, following a gain of 19,500 in January. CompTIA calculates both technical and  nontechnical positions at tech vendors, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

Using a much broader definition of IT, including sales positions, CompTIA estimated that 178,000 IT-related jobs were added in February across all industries, following a 78,000-job gain in January. That reflects an unemployment rate of 2.4%, down from 3.0% in December 2020.

Nationally, for all jobs, the US unemployment rate fell from an adjusted 6.3% in January to 6.2% in February, according to the BLS. But the national unemployment rate is closer to 9% if those who have given up looking are included, estimates Oxford Economics; the BLS reports the level of these discouraged workers has remained steady.

CompTIA also saw the number of IT-related job listings grow by about 44,300 in February, passing 277,000. That follows a rise of 26,000 listings in January. Software developers constituted the largest pool of listed openings at 88,000, with listings for systems engineers and architects coming in second at 22,700. But Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis expects that over the next several years, coders will find jobs scarcer as low-code development gains traction, even as demand for software developers overall increases.

February 2021

Even as the overall US economy struggled in January — adding just 6,000 private sector jobs and 49,000 jobs overall — the seasonally adjusted IT job growth last month was 18,200, according to the latest figures from IT employment consultancy Janco Associates. The past two months saw 55,000 new IT jobs, revised up from the 18,000 total reported a month earlier, based on revisions from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Still, compared to January 2020, US IT jobs have decreased by 35,800, a loss of about 1%. Last spring, more than 100,000 IT jobs were lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, representing about 3% of the IT workforce.

The Janco figures jibe with a report released by the CompTIA industry association. It calculated that there were 19,500 new US tech sector jobs in January. CompTIA calculates both technical and  nontechnical positions at tech vendors, whereas Janco looks at IT positions, including software developers, in all industries.

Using a much broader definition of IT, including sales positions, CompTIA estimated that 78,000 IT-related jobs were added in January across all industry sectors. That reflects an unemployment rate of 2.4%, down from 3.0% in December 2020. Nationally, for all jobs, the US unemployment rate fell to 6.3% from 6.7%. But the national unemployment rate is closer to 9% if those who have given up looking are included, estimates Oxford Economics.

CompTIA also saw the number of IT-related job listings grow by about 26,000 in January, passing 232,000.

Over the coming decade, Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis expects 11% growth in US IT jobs. “Most of the growth in the IT job market will be with software developers, quality assurance, and testers,” he said in a statement. “This will be driven by [work from home] as it is will be embraced by more enterprises in normal operations and internet-centric applications are developed and deployed.

“The projected growth for that sector alone will be almost 18%,” he said.

January 2021

For the first time since the dot-com bust of 2000-2002, US IT salaries were flat in 2020, rising a negligible 0.08% to an average of $94,609 per year, according to the most recent survey of IT executives by management consultancy Janco Associates. The year also ended with 55,900 fewer jobs than the US IT industry had on Jan. 1, 2020 — a drop of 1.5% for the year. (Last week, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] revised its figures for 2020, resulting in a revised drop of 55,900 versus the 81,100 reported previously.)

A separate survey by the industry association CompTIA, using BLS data, showed that the broad US tech industry showed job growth of 391,000 positions (22,000 of which were at tech vendors) in December 2020 — even as the US as a whole lost 140,000 jobs. About 44% of those tech sector jobs are for positions such as IT staff, software developers, and IT project managers; the rest are support positions such as sales, marketing, and management.

Janco’s survey focuses specifically on IT jobs, mainly people in a CIO’s organization, whereas the CompTIA survey looks at the entire tech sector.

The December growth in tech and IT jobs still left the broader tech sector below December 2019’s level, with 4.68 million jobs in December 2020, down from 4.73 million a year earlier. CompTIA’s survey shows a steady increase in tech jobs since July 2020, after a steep drop that began in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Janco survey showed that IT middle managers lost the most pay ground in 2020, with an average 0.08% salary reduction at large enterprises and 0.07% reduction at mid-sized enterprises. IT staff saw 0.03% average salary increases in large enterprises and 0.04% in medium enterprises. Executives did the best, of course: their salaries were up 0.59% in large enterprises and up 0.35% in medium ones.

April and May were the worst months for US IT jobs in 2020, Janco’s data shows. In those months, 116,000 IT pros lost their jobs due to COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. Hiring partially recovered in later months, but the total of 3.58 million US IT jobs in 2020 remained below 2019’s 3.64 million (but slightly above 2018’s 3.54 million).

Janco notes that IT consulting and contract positions meant to augment IT staff were all but eliminated in 2020 and hiring growth stalled in the second wave of lockdowns that began in the fall as COVID-19 infections resurged. Those infection rates continue to grow in early 2021; Janco’s interviews with 101 US CIOs reveal that they don’t expect IT job or salary growth in 2021.

Still, IT was fortunate in 2020 compared to many other industries. The COVID-19 pandemic devastated many industries, eliminating jobs at an unprecedented scale in the travel, hospitality, entertainment, and events businesses. Retailers with physical stores faced massive job losses as well, though manufacturing has largely bounced back. The US overall had 9.4% fewer jobs as of June 30 (the latest data available) compared to 2019, the BLS reported. The tech unemployment rate has been roghly half that of the national rate throughout the pandemic, ending at 3% in December 2020 versus 6.7% for the economy as a whole, CompTIA reported.

Despite those massive losses in multiple industries, the average US salary rose 2.6% in 2020, according to the PayScale salary survey, which was last updated on Oct. 12. The latest data from the BLS, which covers the first half of 2020, showed an 8.6% average salary increase from a year earlier. Some of the salary increases reflect higher pay for grocery workers, delivery drivers, and warehouse workers whose jobs became more critical during the lockdowns and who were at greater risk of contracting the virus in their work.

Of course, people who lost their jobs aren’t included in salary surveys, so those figures reflect the pay of the still-employed.

CompTIA reports that software developers had the largest employment gains (4,700 hires) in December, triple that of the next-largest group, systems analysts (1,400 hires).

December 2020

After three months of rebound, the US IT job market reversed course in November, shedding 8,300 jobs. That loss follows a 9,300-job gain in October, a 13,500 gain in September, and a 4,500 gain in August. For the year, the net loss of US IT jobs now stands at 81,100, still down from a peak high of 102,900 job losses this year as of August, according to the most recent survey of IT executives by management consultancy Janco Associates. 

In November, “the major loss of jobs for IT professions was in [small businesses] and consulting firms that service them; 7.5 million small to mid-size business are disproportionately impacted by shutdowns,” said Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis. He said many of these closures escape notice because they shut down before their debt levels require going through bankruptcy court.

Large companies have also shuttered or retrenched, he said.

Three quarters of the lost IT jobs in the US are concentrated in two segments, he said. One is data processing, hosting, and related services, the other is computer systems design and related services.

“Hiring of IT professionals has all but stopped due to the uncertainty about the recovery,” Janulaitis said. And the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic this fall, and the likelihood that vaccinations will be largely complete only in summer 2021, suggests that IT jobs will be at risk for the foreseeable future, he said, as many businesses continue to shrink and many others put off anchoring until there’s more economic certainty.

November 2020

IT jobs lost at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its lockdowns continue to recover slowly, with an additional 12,700 US jobs added in October — bringing the total recovered jobs since August to 27,800. Those autumn gains bring the loss of US IT jobs to 75,100 for the year, down from a high of 102,900 job losses as of August, according to the most recent survey of IT executives by management consultancy Janco Associates.

The IT job market continues to struggle with the closure of many small- and medium-sized businesses and of many retail operations, in addition to broad cutbacks in all industries meant to preserve cash, said Janco CEO M. Victor Janulaitis.

In addition, the percentage of data center jobs has dropped from 10% of the US IT workforce to 9% since the pandemic began, indicating more severe cutbacks in back-end IT services as part of a shift to the cloud.

A separate report by Foote Partners, which conducts salary surveys on IT jobs and certifications, shows a mixed bag for IT pros in 2020, with some skills increasing in compensation despite (or because of) the pandemic, and others losing value. On average, though, IT compensation has held steady.

Gainers include a variety of positions involving security, Apache ZooKeeper distributed configuration, the Hbase SQL database, the Ethereum blockchain, Oracle Coherence caching, Marketo marketing automation, the Apache Flink stream-processing framework, natural language processing, master data management, and the Keras deep learning API.

Decliners include BusinessObjects and Cognos application development, Google App Engine and JSON web development, Oracle Application Server, SAP Enterprise Business Applications, SNA networking, mobile device management, Cisco’s UCCX call center platform, big data analytics, Windows NT, Suse Linux, and Tibco Enterprise Messaging Service.

October 2020

Although the  IT and telecommunications job market in the US is still expected to shrink by 64,000 jobs this year compared to 2019, the recovery of IT jobs lost during the early days of the pandemic continued for a second month. The most recent survey of IT executives by management consultancy Janco Associates shows that about 12,200 IT jobs were added in September following a net gain of 6,900 in August. 

At the outset of the pandemic, more than 105,000 US IT jobs were lost as companies retrenched in the face of COVID-19, more than erasing the 90,200 jobs added in all of 2019. Those losses have been partially addressed since through rehiring and new hires. As a result, over the last nine months, IT jobs were down by 85,000.

However, Janco doesn’t forecast a recovery in the IT job marked until spring 2021, as the US economy suffers new waves of infections that slow or even reverse prior gains. In October, an additional wave of IT layoffs is expected as airlines furlough tens of thousands of workers now that federal job subsidies have ended for that industry.

Companies are leery about expanding during uncertainties around government action, particularly the stalled stimulus efforts, said Janco president Victor Janulaitis. The November presidential election is another cause for companies to wait and see. “Spending for IT products and services has all but stopped as companies reevaluate the state of the economy globally as new waves of selected shutdowns occur,” he said.

September 2020

By Ken Mingis, Executive Editor, Computerworld

Although the U.S. IT and telecommunications job market is still expected to shrink by 64,000 jobs in 2020 versus 2019, the worst may be over – and about a third of the IT jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to have come back by 2021. That’s according to the most recent survey of IT executives by management consultancy Janco Associates.

For the first time in six months, August saw a net gain in the number of IT jobs: up 6,900. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics also revised the number of IT jobs lost in July, showing 4,400 fewer jobs were lost than originally reported. Still, over the last 12 months, IT jobs fell by 81,800, nearly erasing the 90,200 jobs gained in 2019.

“IT hiring will remain soft but improving slightly. …Major many companies are resuming existing operations slowly, but are holding back on any expansion until after the [Nov. 3] election,” said Janco’s latest report.

But some sectors will continue to lose jobs, it noted, including the airline industry, which is poised to lay off tens of thousands of employees across all roles, not just IT, as federal COVID-related subsidies end on Sept. 30. Cities such as Portland, Ore. that have seen ongoing civil unrest due to protests over police killings of Black citizens will also see deferred hiring until the unrest subsides, Janco said.

IT organizations remain cautious on spending, with very few new initiatives or expansions of current efforts being funded beyond the initial rampup in work-from-home and social-distancing technology investments at the start of the crisis.

August 2020

Coronavirus spikes in parts of the U.S. in July have worsened hiring conditions for IT professionals, and management consulting firm Janco Associates now doesn’t expect any rebound in hiring until late this year or early in 2021.

Janco now estimates that just 25,000 new IT jobs will be created in 2020; there are now more than 163,000 fewer tech jobs than a year ago. In July alone, another 10,900 IT positions disappeared, the company said.

“We have found that a number of companies have already shuttered their doors or are expanding layoffs that impact the IT job market,” Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis said in a statement. “This includes oil and gas drillers like Whiting Petroleum and Diamond Offshore, retailers like J Crew, manufacturers like Briggs & Stratton, and grocers like Dean and DeLuca. As a result, IT professionals working for those companies are looking for new employment opportunities.

“Until after the election…, when the public feels [it] can go back to a normal life [and]  more companies open their doors, hiring for new positions in IT will be limited at best,” he said. “In addition, the continued civil unrest is slowing confidence by the public, which in turn, hinders corporate confidence.”

He noted the stalemate in Washington, D.C. over new efforts to prop up the U.S. economy, as several states deal with increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases.

“Spending for IT products and services has all but stopped as companies reevaluate the state of the economy globally as new waves of selected shutdowns occur,” Janulaitis said. “With more companies adopting [work from home] to address ‘social distancing’ and avoid in-office contacts, fewer companies are taking an aggressive approach to any additional spending for IT products and services. It does not help that the U.S. Congress and the president are at a stalemate on pandemic relief.”

July 2020

The wave of IT layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic did not end in May 2020 as expected, with June seeing 6,000 more layoffs as business uncertainties rose because of the increase in coronavirus infections in the U.S., according to new data from management consulting firm Janco Associates. The pandemic’s economic fallout had already led to about 117,000 job losses in U.S. IT positions in April and early May 2020.

The increase in COVID-19 infections across most U.S. states in June prompted the additional layoffs, and Janco’s June survey of U.S. IT organizations shows that further layoffs – though at the relatively small scale seen in June – are expected given business uncertainties. That survey also said that salary increases for IT staffers are “a thing of the past.”

The job losses were exacerbated by the extensive protests over the police killings of George Floyd and others, Janco said. That led to additional economic uncertainty, particularly in the retail industry hit by looting, leading to additional closings, deferred reopenings, and unexpected costs.

In addition, a Trump Administration decision last month to pause the use of H-1B visas, which are commonly used to fill IT positions, will not help U.S. IT pros in the near term, Janco noted. Because it applies to new hires it does little to free up existing positions.

IT organizations don’t expect to begin hiring again until late 2020 or early 2021, assuming that the infections are under control and the economic reopening interrupted in June can resume. Without a sustained reopening, companies won’t see demand for goods and services that provides the money for new and replacement hires.

Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis now expects the net number of new U.S. IT jobs in 2020 will be about 30,000, versus the 94,500 it had expected before the epidemic struck. In 2019, the U.S. IT job market grew by 90,200.

June 2020

The wave of IT layoffs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, according to new data from management consulting firm Janco Associates. The pandemic’s economic fallout resulted in about 117,000 job losses in U.S. IT positions in April and early May 2020.

But Janco’s May survey of U.S. IT organizations shows that further layoffs are largely not expected. But neither is much IT job growth. IT organizations don’t expect to begin hiring again until late 2020, assuming that the gradual economic reopening now in progress continues and demand for goods and services resumes, providing the money for new and replacement hires.

Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis expects that the net number of new U.S. IT jobs in 2020 will be about 35,000, versus the 94,500 it had expected before the epidemic struck. In 2019, the U.S. IT job market grew by 90,200.

May 2020

It’s not yet at the level of “Brother, can you spare a dime?” for IT workers, as it is for many workers in retail, entertainment, and hospitality. But as it becomes apparent the road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will be take several years, IT pros are seeing layoffs in the U.S. and diminished prospects for future work, both as staff and as contractors.

In April 2020, IT pros saw 102,300 layoffs in the U.S., according to management consulting firm Janco Associates. And Janco has now more than halved the expected IT job growth in 2020 that it predicted just a month ago – to 40,000 versus the earlier prediction of 95,400 IT jobs.

Janco’s current projection for U.S. IT jobs this year is now 3.6 million, down from 2019’s 3.7 million U.S. IT jobs.

Companies have essentially stopped filling IT positions and halted new contract work, Janco CEO Victor Janulaitis said, based on conversations with CIOs and CFOs. That means IT pros who lose their jobs will have little prospect of employment or contract work in 2020.

“Until the public begins to feel they can go back to a normal lifestyle and companies open their doors, IT hiring will be nonexistent,” he said.

Janulaitis noted that there had been a surge in IT contract work at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis to help set up work-at-home environments, from collabration tools to VPNs. “The demand for contractor help in this effort was high initially, but now is non-existent,” Janulaitis said. The tech startup sector is also in crisis.

Janulaitis does expect IT hiring to begin picking up at the end of the year. That’s in line with the current thinking for the economy as a whole; various U.S. Federal Reserve executives and economists have said they expect the current effective jobless rate of about 23% to fall back but still be about 10% in 2021. The official jobless rate stands at 14.7% – versus 3.5% in 2019 – but that count misses recent layoffs, laid-off people not looking for work during the crisis, and the self-employed.

Broadly, expectations of a V-shaped recovery have given way to expectations of a prolonged decline and then slow recovery, since there is no vaccine for COVID-19, treatments and testing are not available at meaningful levels to determine who can work safely, it’s not known whether infected people develop immunity, and the ramifications of the various efforts now under way to reopen parts of society and economy remains unknown.

The fate of IT positions is not immune from these general economic factors. “All of this has put IT professionals the same state as the rest of the labor market,”Janulaitis said.

5G, Careers, Financial Services Industry, Industry, IT Jobs, Remote Work, Salaries

It is thought that Android users will soon gain access to Apple’s Find My network, enabling users on both Apple and Android platforms to find lost and stolen devices and protect against unwanted stalkers.

Apple’s three-year old Find My network isn’t perfect, but it does make it easier for people to track devices, family members, and certain items equipped with Find My support.

There are some problems. It can fail if a device isn’t detectible; law enforcement doesn’t always act when told the location of a stolen device; and stalkers have been known to use these devices to track people who don’t want to be tracked. That last concern should be improved once it is supported by Apple and on Android.

What did Apple and Google promise?

Apple and Google announced plans to work together to deal with unwanted stalkers using tracking services almost a year ago, and agreed to team up on the Find My network.  They promised to develop a draft standard to prevent Bluetooth location-tracking devices from being used without authorization and a draft specification was filed with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) with support from other manufacturers, including Samsung and Tile.

What this means

There are two pillars to this news:

• People attempting to track others without permission using AirTags or other compatibled evices will find it harder to do so, as victims will be warned that tracking is taking place. There have been complaints about this kind of activity since Apple introduced AirTags.
• It also means Android users will be able to track their devices using the Find My network, which will now be able to gather signals from both Android and Apple devices. This should benefit users on both platforms since it means the Find My network itself will grow. At present, it relies only on Apple devices.

How this works

“With the new Find My Device network, you’ll be able to locate your devices even if they’re offline,” an email from the company states. That email also explains how the system can be used to track lots of different compatible devices, and how it works. Android users can opt out of the tracking system if they wish.

Piecing together online reports, the system works like this: If you’re using a compatible device and it detects you are being tracked, you will receive a notification warning you. You’ll also be able to disable the tracker from your device. iPhone users will get this message: “This item isn’t certified on the Apple Find My network. You can disable this item and stop it from sharing its location with the owner. To do this, follow the instructions provided on a website by the manufacturer of this item.”

What Google said about Find My

“With the new Find My Device network, you’ll be able to locate your devices even if they’re offline,” an email from Google explains. That email also explains how the system can be used to track lots of different compatible devices, and how it works. Android users can opt out of the tracking system if they wish.

What isn’t yet clear is whether this support will extend across all Android devices or across all devices from all manufacturers, though it seems likely it will be supported by current devices running current iterations of the OS. The feature has been spotted in the wild by Android users running Google Play Services beta 24.12.14.

What happens next?

With almost a year’s work now done, it appears Find My is finally ready for cross platform take-off, with Google contacting some Android users to tell them the network will launch in “days.”

The long wait between last year’s announcement of the system and it becoming a shipping product reflects the deliberate nature of the standard specification process. News of the decision to work together on Find My was followed by a three-month period of review, updates to the original specification, and once that was set, work on the relevant device operating systems.

When will it be available?

Introduction of Find My support on Android might also require Apple’s own devices be updated to support the new specification. That suggests either that Apple will accelerate introduction of iOS 17.5 (unlikely, given that it was only recently made available in beta and is expected in May), or that it may have found some other way to introduce cross-platform support; perhaps it’s already in the system. iOS 17.5 is significant for two more reasons: Not only will it allow EU developers to sell software to iPhone users directly from their websites, but for enterprise users it will make it possible to enforce a beta version during automated device enrolment.

Please follow me on Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.

Android, Apple, iOS, Mobile

Buried inside just about every smartphone is a capability that few people take advantage of but that I have come to rely on: the ability to turn my phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot. And since I got a 5G-capable phone — and 5G mobile networks have become reliably available in many places my day takes me — I can supercharge my hotspot with enough data and speed for my entire crew.

You don’t need to run out and buy a 5G phone to turn on a hotspot or even to access 5G networks. You only need a 5G phone to access the fast speeds of 5G. If you come to depend on hotspotting the way I have, though, those blazing 5G speeds are a great reason to upgrade as soon as a 5G network is available to you.

When I travel (or my office internet goes south), my phone provides more than enough data to keep me working. It has become my favorite way to stay on top of work wherever I am. I can read and send emails, move data back and forth on remote servers, and even get a taste of the latest office gossip from the comfort of my full-sized device — without compromising security or paying for a separate mobile data device or line.

A phone hotspot is a helpful collaboration tool for a group of businesspeople attempting to work together. I can imagine it being used for, say, colleagues on the way to the airport in a van who might finish a group presentation, or even an accounting team working in a conference room with an internet connection independent of the company they’re auditing. And when you add in 5G speeds, it becomes a serious business advantage.

The best news, though, is that you probably don’t need to buy anything to make this work. Most reasonably recent Android and iOS devices can do it. And using your phone as a hotspot is generally already included in your monthly plan. (With some service plans, though, after you use a specified amount of data, your service provider will slow your connection — sometimes to antediluvian 3G levels.) One big problem: using your phone as a hotspot chews through battery power very quickly.

After talking to representatives of phone makers and networks about their products and testing the speeds you can get on the three 5G networks in my area, I’m convinced that every mobile worker, and many office-bound ones, will want to have a 5G phone in hand that’s ready to dole out data at top speed as soon as there is a network available to them.

What follows are answers to 14 hotspotting questions you probably have, as well as some insight as to why this tool belongs in every worker’s pocket or bag.

14 burning questions about smartphone hotspots 1. What is a phone Wi-Fi hotspot? 2. How do hotspots work? 3. What is 5G? 4. How secure is a phone hotspot? 5. Which phones can be used as hotspots? 6. What is mobile hotspot data? 7. Which networks support Wi-Fi hotspotting? 8. What speed and range can I expect? 9. What kind of devices can connect to a phone hotspot? 10. Where can I use a hotspot? 11. Is the setup hard to do? 12. How does using a hotspot affect battery life? 13. How does using your phone as a hotspot compare to having a tablet or laptop with a data card built in? 14. How does using your phone as a hotspot compare to using a dedicated mobile hotspot?

Read on for the answers, along with step-by-step instructions for using phone hotspots.

1. What is a phone Wi-Fi hotspot?

Regardless of whether you have a 4G or 5G handset, at its essence, a hotspot is a blend of software, hardware, and back-end network data services that work together to transform your phone into the equivalent of a broadband modem and router. In other words, it can create a Wi-Fi network to distribute a web connection to nearby devices.

This not only lets me get my laptop and tablet online, but I can share it with co-workers if they are within range. All I have to do is give them the password.

Some phones also allow tethering via Bluetooth and USB cables, but as you might imagine, these techniques are less popular than Wi-Fi.

2. How do hotspots work?

A phone hotspot works just like a dedicated mobile hotspot device, but because it’s right inside the phone, there’s nothing extra to charge, carry, or try not to lose. The way it works is simple: When the phone is connected to the mobile data network, it converts a 4G or 5G data stream into a Wi-Fi signal that nearby devices can share.

More specifically, the device treats its online connection to the data network as a broadband data source. The newest handsets then transmit this data locally like a mini-Wi-Fi router using the 802.11ax protocol. The net result is that Wi-Fi devices within range can tap into the data signal as if it were a regular old Wi-Fi network — because that’s exactly what it is.

A phone hotspot uses a cellular network to connect to the internet, and typically shares that connection via Wi-Fi.

Computerworld / IDG / Getty Images

Think of it as a variation on the wireless theme. Forget about the traditional setup you might have at home or the office, where a wired broadband connection feeds data to a router that sends it out as a wireless signal. Here, the phone/hotspot grabs data from the mobile network and retransmits as a Wi-Fi signal to all in range — with the password — to use.

Happily, none of this affects how the phone works. While my phone is feeding data to laptops, it can still view web sites on its own screen, make calls, and respond to texts.

3. What is 5G?

As 4G/LTE networks begin to show their age, 5G is taking over the mobile data scene. Despite the catch-all name, it isn’t a single network. It is, rather, three networks of differing frequencies and capabilities. Each use different frequencies, with the higher frequencies transferring more data within a shorter range.

It is 5G’s ability to operate at super high frequencies that makes 5G’s ultra-fast speeds possible. Unfortunately, because they have a short range, these higher frequencies require service providers to build more base station towers to transmit the signal. Your experience will depend not only on how far you are from the tower but which frequency it is using.

Some ISPs compare the range of networks and their ability to move data to a tiered layer cake that gets smaller as it gets higher. Imagine that the small top layer has the fastest speed but a much shorter range, while the lower level has wider range but slower speeds. Your data speed depends on how high on the cake your slice was cut from.

• Low-Band: The cake’s base layer is the widest of the cake and uses spectrum between 600MHz and 850MHz. It has the greatest range and easily passes through obstructions and windows, so it is the one you will encounter most often. It often uses the same spectrum as 4G and will likely replace it over time. Speeds are slower than mid- and high-band 5G but can hit several hundred megabits per second, although it might lag to less than a megabit per second if the cell site is overloaded. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all have networks in this range, but T-Mobile has the largest buildout at this point.
• Mid-Band: With frequencies between 1GHz and 6GHz, mid-band networks are the middle layer of the cake. Sometimes called C-band, the bandwidth can reach as high as 900Mbps, but you pay for it in range that’s reduced to a few miles from the tower. This will limit its use to urban areas and along major roads. AT&T built this part of its network out early in the 5G race.
• High-Band: Also known as Millimeter Wave (mmWave), this band is the top and smallest tier of the cake. It’s also the most data-heavy layer. It primarily uses the 24GHz to 40GHz spectrum in the US and can move upward of 3Gbps of data, but it has trouble penetrating obstructions. Reaching a maximum one-mile radius, you will likely encounter it, for the most part, in public spaces like busy urban areas, sports arenas, and shopping malls. Verizon has been out in front with its Ultra-Wideband network in this range but is still in only limited areas.

4. How secure is a phone hotspot?

Using a phone hotspot can actually increase your security profile by helping you avoid insecure public hotspots in coffee shops and hotels. At the phone end of the equation, your connection is just as secure and private as making a phone call or web surfing with your phone. And the 5G networks take security to a new level with 256-bit AES encryption, the ability to block fake mobile network transmission sites (known as stingrays) and encrypting the phone’s ID during transmissions. This is only the case if the network implements these defenses, though.

Regardless of which generation phone and network you are using, a VPN can build a stronger wall around your communications by adding an extra layer of AES 256-bit encryption. But this security does often come at the cost of performance. Between the phone and the clients connecting through it, recent phone hotspots use the password-protected WPA3 standard.

5. Which phones can be used as hotspots?

It turns out that almost every Android or iOS phone on the market can be turned into at least a 4G Wi-Fi hotspot. Not only that, but many tablets that have built-in mobile data modems and can do this as well. If your phone supports 5G and is in range of a 5G network, that’s what it will use for hotspot connections. Otherwise, it will drop down to a 4G network, if that’s all it can find.

Look for the 5G logo.

5G phones will typically display a “5G” logo in the upper right near the signal strength bars, replacing the “LTE” or “4G” one. Every major phone maker has 5G models, and there are even budget-priced 5G phones that can help stretch your IT budget.

That said, a phone hotspot can’t compare to a traditional router in terms of range. Any devices that want to connect to it will have to stay pretty close to your phone. Still, you can expect to create a zone of connectivity that might reach 65 feet, which can be very handy. (A stationary router can usually blanket a roughly 100-foot range with Wi-Fi.) This should be plenty for your own use or even for a small group huddled around a conference table.

6. What is mobile hotspot data?

Mobile hotspot data is simply data that you transmit via a hotspot, whether that’s your phone or a dedicated hotspot device. You should look at your mobile plan before you start relying heavily on your phone as a hotspot, though. Most of the business plans — and many consumer plans — from the Big Three (AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon) include hotspot use, sometimes called tethering, in one way or another. But even when your talk-time and texting is unlimited, many networks limit your hotspot use to a set amount of data per month at full speed (anywhere from 3GB to 120GB, depending on your plan). After you hit the max, your service provider might drop your speed drastically.

Many cellular providers offer separate hotspot data plans for use with dedicated hotspot devices. If your hotspot data needs are high, a dedicated hotspot device and data plan might be the way to go.

7. Which networks support Wi-Fi hotspotting?

Because it is treated like other data, all mobile networks support the use of a phone as a hotspot. As mentioned above, though, it’s important to understand how much hotspot data you get with your plan — and upgrade to a better plan if needed. Here’s a rundown of what each of the Big Three national networks offers.

AT&T

Business customers have the choice of several plans, ranging from the Business Unlimited Standard subscription, which starts at $70 per month (for the first line) and includes 5GB of hotspot data per phone, to the Business Unlimited Premium plan, which starts $90 at per month with hotspot data topping out at 200GB.

For consumers, AT&T’s Unlimited Starter, Extra, and Premium plans come with 5G access for $66, $76, and $86 per line per month (for a single line), respectively. The plans include 5GB, 30GB, and 60GB of hotspot data per line per month.

When you reach your monthly allotment of hotspot data, all AT&T accounts drop the bandwidth to about 128Kbps for the rest of the month.

T-Mobile

With access to the network’s 4G and 5G infrastructure, T-Mobile’s business plans start with the Business Unlimited Select subscription at $60 per line (for the first line) with 5GB of high-speed hotspot data per phone. At the top end is the Business Unlimited Ultimate plan, which starts at $85 per line and offers 100GB of hotspot data per phone. Once you’ve reached the limit, data speed drops to 3G levels of around 100Kbps.

As for consumer plans, T-Mobile’s Essentials plan provides unlimited use of hotspotting at 3G speeds for $60 for one line a month. Getting 4G/5G data speeds starts with the $70 Magenta plan, which includes 5GB of hotspot data, while the $85 Magenta MAX plan ups that to 40GB of high-speed hotspot data with unlimited 3G speeds afterwards.

Verizon

The major business mobile phone plans with hotspot data at Verizon are Unlimited Start 5G, Unlimited Plus 5G, and Unlimited Pro 5G. All include unlimited mobile hotspot use and give you the best price if you sign up for paper-free billing and autopay.

• The entry-level Unlimited Start 5G plan costs $30 per line and includes 5GB of 4G/5G hotspot data. After that the speed drops to 600Kbps.
• The Unlimited Plus 5G plan costs $35 per line and includes 50GB per line of hotspot data before dropping to 600Kbps for 4G LTE & 5G connections; if you’re near a 5G Ultra-Wideband cell site, the speed is limited to 3Mbps.
• The Unlimited Pro 2.0 plan is the top tier and costs $45 per line. It includes 100GB of high-speed hotspot data and — like the Plus plan — drops to 600Kbps (4G LTE & 5G Nationwide) and 3Mbps (5G Ultra-Wideband) after that.

Consumers have the choice of the Unlimited Plus and Unlimited Ultimate plans. The Unlimited Plus plan comes with 30GB of hotspot data for $80 (for one line), and the Unlimited Ultimate subscription includes 60GB of hotspot use for $90. Hotspot speeds drop to 3Mbps of 5G Ultra-Wideband data and 600Kbps of 4G/5G data after your allotment has been used per month.

8. What speed and range can I expect?

As 5G replaces 4G LTE as the base speed, the actual results you’ll see depend on lots of factors, including how congested the internet is, how far you are from the closest cell tower, and how many other devices are using that same cell site. Most of all, though, it depends on the type of network you’re connected to, with the 5G high-band connection being the best. I’ve gotten nearly 500Mbps (plenty for 4K video, downloading a large presentation or supporting my small group of data hogs) or as low as 100Kbps (enough for individual email and web work but hardly enough to support a group).

By connecting three phones to a hotspot-connected iPad, I tested the 5G networks in the metro New York City area at four locations. For the AT&T network, I used a Samsung Galaxy A53. For the T-Mobile and Verizon networks, I used a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 5G Ultra and Google Pixel 6. I used Speedtest.net’s bandwidth meter to measure upload and download speeds. All the tests were within 10 minutes of each other for better comparisons.

My tests may be unscientific and anecdotal, but they still give a good indication of what you can expect. I found the results to be eye-opening. T-Mobile led the pack with an average download speed of 234.8Mbps, indicating its lead in building out 5G networks. Next was Verizon at 171.3Mbps and then AT&T at 100.9Mbps. It’s important to note that any of these speeds would satisfy a small group of users.

The surprise was that all three networks had upload speeds of over 25Mbps, with some breaking 60Mbps. This is more than enough to support high-quality hotspot videoconferencing. Hello, work from anywhere!

As far as the range I got from the phones, the Pixel 6 handset led at 75 feet before it lost contact with my iPad, followed by the Galaxy A53 at 70 feet. The Google Pixel 6 had a range of 65 feet. Any of this would serve to fill a conference room or bus with Wi-Fi data.

9. What kind of devices can connect to a phone hotspot?

A phone hotspot can work with any Wi-Fi-based device, including laptops, tablets, other phones, and even game consoles. (I don’t judge what you do in your off-hours.) Think of it as just another Wi-Fi source, only it comes from your phone.

Most Android phones can connect up to 10 devices at a time, while iPhones from the 4S model to the current iPhone 13 can accommodate up to five connections at once, although it’s possible your network will limit this to four clients. Because it’s a communal resource, the more users sharing the internet throughput, the lower the speed for each connected device.

10. Where can I use a hotspot?

Using a hotspot is not limited by where you are, as long as your phone is connected to your service provider’s data network. In fact, any place you have a signal strong enough to use the web on your phone, you can generally use it as a hotspot with good results. Over the years, I’ve used phone hotspots in my home, office, trains, hotel lobbies, and coffee shops throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. I’ve even used it while hiking to bring up a trail map on a tablet screen so the map would be large enough to read.

Your phone can be a lifesaver as well if your office’s data connection suddenly goes south. My office’s internet connection became unreliable last month, so I simply started using my Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G as a hotspot and kept everyone up and running until the problem was resolved. It wasn’t as fast as I’m used to, but it kept the emails and data exchanges flowing.

11. Is the setup hard to do?

It is very easy to set up a Wi-Fi hotspot from your phone. In fact, it’s one of the easiest configuration changes you can make. It’s different for iPhones and Androids but should take no more than a minute or two. A word of advice: For security purposes, be sure to change the network name and password.

Setting up an iPhone or iPad as a hotspot:

1. Start on the Home screen and tap the Settings icon.
2. Open the Personal Hotspot section.
3. Tap the slider switch to Allow Others to Join. (If you’re still using iOS 12 or earlier, the slider just says Personal Hotspot.)
4. Instructions now appear near the middle of the screen and the network’s password near the top; the network name is the same as the name of your device.
5. I suggest for security’s sake changing the password by tapping the Wi-Fi Password section and typing in a new one.

Turning on an iPad’s hotspot and changing the default password.

Brian Nadel / IDG

Setting up an Android phone or tablet as a hotspot:

Because of the variety of models, providing instructions for Android phones is a little trickier. I’ve included instructions for my Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G using Android 12, but depending on its software and network, your phone might be slightly different.

1. Swipe the Home screen up or down to bring up the apps and open Settings.
2. Tap Connections, then scroll down and tap Mobile Hotspot and Tethering, and then tap Mobile Hotspot to enable it. Depending on your software, your menu wording might be different (such as “Wireless & networks” instead of “Connections”), and you might need to tap More to find the tethering and hotspot option.
3. Open the Mobile Hotspot section to do everything from changing the network name and password to picking whether you want the hotspot to run on the 2.4GHz or 5GHz Wi-Fi network. You might need to tap Configure to make changes.
4. If you scroll down, at the bottom you can see how many devices are connected to your hotspot network.

Enabling a hotspot on my Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G.

Brian Nadel / Computerworld

Connecting a device to a mobile hotspot:

Once you’ve enabled the hotspot, devices discover it by scanning for Wi-Fi networks in the vicinity. Only users you’ve shared the password with can connect to it, though.

Start by opening the Wi-Fi settings for your laptop or tablet, look for new networks, and locate yours. Then enter the password. The system should link up in less than a minute.

Some Android devices offer a shortcut to hotspot connections with a QR code. To do this:

1. Tap the QR code icon in the hotspot phone screen’s upper right; it now displays a QR code.
2. Aim the camera of the phone or tablet you want to connect at it and snap a photo.
3. Tap to confirm you want to connect.

All told, it takes about 10 seconds to accomplish and get online.

Some Android devices let you scan a QR code to make the hotspot connection without a password.

Brian Nadel / IDG

Disconnecting from a mobile hotspot:

Disconnecting a device from a mobile hotspot is exactly the same as with a more stationary one: either turn the Wi-Fi data exchange off or switch to another network.

Important: To prevent trailing a Wi-Fi signal wherever you go, it’s a good idea to turn the hotspot off as soon as you’re done with it. Your battery will thank you.

12. How does using a phone hotspot affect battery life?

Unfortunately, turning on the hotspot abilities of your phone is like firing up a micro router, which seriously cuts into your phone’s battery life. So if there’s an AC outlet nearby, plug in. I can get about 36 hours of use with occasional calls, texts, emails, and web work on my Galaxy S20 Ultra phone, but when I also used it as a hotspot feeding data to a ThinkPad T470, which was playing videos, it lowered my battery life to about 12.5 hours. That’s a 65% decline, though it still left more than a full day of work and mobile internet.

13. How does using your phone as a hotspot compare to having a tablet or laptop with a data card built in?

The ultimate convenience on the road would be to have a data connection built into every piece of mobile gear, but that would be an expensive proposition. To add mobile a data card to a notebook or tablet generally costs $100 to $200 for the networking hardware and a monthly usage fee from the cell provider. This might make sense for those who travel constantly. But for occasional travelers, using a phone as a hotspot is more cost effective.

14. How does using your phone as a hotspot compare to using a dedicated mobile hotspot?

Another option is to buy a dedicated mobile hotspot device, along with a hotspot data plan. These can, typically, run for a full workday on a battery charge, and some can connect up to 15 clients, all while weighing just a few ounces. Most mobile hotspots fit easily into a shirt pocket or small briefcase compartment. But even this will cost an extra $100 to $200 for the hardware and add a line to your cell plan.

Note, though, that a dedicated mobile hotspot can do something else: deliver up to 2TB of common storage space for all connected users to share. That can hold anything from a group presentation to archived business records for collaboration sessions. If that suits your needs better than using your phone, it’s certainly an option.

Global hotspotter

In recent years, my travels have taken me to such far-flung places as Washington, DC, Maine, China, Korea, Central Europe, Great Britain, and the Caucasus mountains. In every place, I used my phone as a hotspot to connect my laptop, tablet, and often my travel companions’ devices to the internet, with wildly mixed results.

I connected at reasonable speeds in a hotel in The Hague, Netherlands, on the train from Shanghai to Beijing, and on the island of Malta. My worst Wi-Fi experience occurred recently near New York City’s Bryant Park, where I could barely get a megabit per second of throughput.

The best hotspot connection I got was just off the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, NYC, where I hit a peak of nearly 500Mbps. It was more than enough to make me feel like I was at my office with access to all my files and the ability to video chat. In other words, I felt like I owned the world, or at least the internet. 

The oddest place I used my phone as a hotspot was near Mount Shahdagh, Azerbaijan, close to the Dagestani border. Even though it felt like I was in the middle of nowhere, I got about 100Kbps of bandwidth, meager by most standards but lavish in such an isolated place. I fed the data into my iPad to check my email and look over a map.

The bottom line is that the connection and your hotspot speed is only as good as both your phone and the network it’s using. As 5G takes over, data speeds should increase for hotspot connections, but rural areas, because there are so few people there, will probably continue to be serviced with slower connection speeds. For those who take the road less traveled, this can be an annoyance.

When there’s no network to connect to, every phone is just a small box with a screen and buttons. My advice is to check the OpenSignal coverage maps (available via its mobile app) before going anyplace off the beaten track, so you’ll know ahead of time if you’ll be able to get online and share the connection with your phone’s hotspot. The addition of maps with the closest 5G towers is a big help.

This story was originally published in November 2011 and most recently updated in April 2024.

Mobile, Small and Medium Business, Smartphones, Wi-Fi