More than 10 percent of all searches focused on contractors' skills in ERP and packaged software systems. "This isn't surprising since most companies are making a strong push to implement and enhance the ERP systems that continue to run the lion's share of corporate business infrastructures,"

CEO and founder Doug Berg- HotGigs

Everybody says, "Employees are our most important asset." But if you look at the valuation of a software company and compare it with the valuation of an automotive company, you will see that there are a lot of assets that are physical assets at the automotive firm. Like plants, like facilities, like production lines and so on. But if you look at a software company, we have some physical assets--we have some computer servers, we have facilities, we even have some company cars--but the major asset really is our employees.

Claus Heinrich- People chief at SAP

IT spending has experienced a healthy three years of budget increases since the beginning of 2004, giving many IT executives plenty of reasons to celebrate. Annual growth in 2006 is expected to top 6%, and although projections for 2007 show a more conservative trend, spending increases are likely to continue. IDC and Forrester Research have published consensus estimates for IT spending growth in 2007 of 5% to 6%. While that’s a far cry from the double-digit annual increases of the dot-com era, it’s still good news for IT stakeholders, even if it’s not time to party like its 1999.

Tom Pisello is the CEO and founder of Alinean Inc. and is a former managing vice president at Gartner Inc.

“I agree that ERP is evolving with the integration of supply chain and e-commerce technologies, but I disagree with the notion that ERP is dead. Small companies that are growing still need ERP software. Start-up companies need ERP software to manage their internal processes. Further, there are still millions of antiquated programs and homegrown ERP systems that need to be replaced with newer technology to facilitate e-commerce. ERP is not dead. ERP is the backbone for collaborative e-commerce.”

James S. Mallory – Tech Republic Member