With the continuing downturn in the economy everyday brings news about job cuts in the IT industry. Today Microsoft announced cuts to its workforce over the next eighteen months. It’s bad when large companies cut thousands of staff – after all these newly unemployed people have lives and families to worry about. What’s scary for me is when smaller companies cut their staffing levels. These are the ones that you don’t read about in the paper or out on the web but they have an impact just the same.

Why am I nervous? If they cut IT staff, who’s keeping up with the security, backup and continuity of services? Am I trusting my personal information to companies who are neglecting to protect me because IT tasks are given over to overworked staff or even under qualified staff after the caretakers are let go? This is not a willful neglect but borne out of necessity to reduce costs. But still makes me nervous. 

Dean