CARY, N.C., and NEW YORK  Global Knowledge, the world's leading IT and business skills training provider, and Windows IT Pro, the leading independent community for Microsoft Windows IT professionals covering tech industry trends, today announced the availability of the 2015 IT Skills and Salary Report. The report is based on input from more than 11,000 IT and business professionals in North America who responded to the eighth annual IT Skills and Salary Survey, one of the largest of its kind.

Among the key findings from this year's IT salary survey:

Skills in security, cloud computing and networking are in demand.
IT security tops the list of skills that IT decision-makers (ITDMs) said their teams need most, and one out of five ITDMs reported having difficulty finding skilled talent for cloud initiatives. ITDMs are also looking for professionals who have skills in network engineering, systems engineering, IT architecture and network operations.

Skills gaps are hampering organizational success.
Two-thirds of the ITDMs surveyed said that their organization has a skills shortage or will have one in the next 24 months. Respondents who reported skills gaps said the shortage results in increased employee stress levels, difficulty meeting quality objectives, delayed hardware and software deployments, and delays in new product or service development, among other issues.

Though salaries experienced slight growth since last year, more respondents received raises and bonuses.
This year's salaries range from $88,335 for IT professionals (up one percent from the 2014 study) to $101,790 for business professionals (up from $95,137 in 2014), with an overall average of $89,891. Although overall salary growth is slight year over year, other measures show some improvement. The percentage of respondents reporting a raise reached 75 percent - the highest since 80 percent in the study's inaugural year. Sixty-three percent reported receiving a bonus - the highest percentage ever reported.

Professional development is about more than increased compensation.
The opportunity for an increased salary is just one benefit of training. Respondents ranked staying up to date on technological changes, developing skills that will be useful for future positions, and gaining insight to be more effective in their current role higher than a salary increase.

"We're pleased to provide this business intelligence data and benchmarking each year that not only enables IT and business professionals to assess their skills, compensation and career path, but also arms them with information to carve a path forward and adapt to changing organizational needs," said Dave Knier, vice president of marketing at Global Knowledge. "This year's data reveals skills shortages that provide immense opportunities for those eager to transform their skill sets to accommodate the continuous evolution of technology and business."

The 2015 IT Skills and Salary Survey was conducted from September 15 to October 24, 2014. The online survey yielded more than 16,300 completed responses worldwide, with 11,024 from the United States and Canada.

About Global Knowledge

Global Knowledge is the world's leading IT and business skills training provider. Offering the most relevant and timely content delivered by the best instructors, we provide customers around the world with their choice of convenient class times, delivery methods and formats to accelerate their success. Our business skills solutions teach essential communications skills, business analysis, project management, ITIL service management, process improvement and leadership development. With thousands of courses spanning from foundational training to specialized certifications, our core IT training is focused on technology partners such as Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Citrix, IBM, Juniper, Microsoft, Red Hat and VMware. We offer comprehensive professional development for technologies like big data, cloud, cybersecurity and networking.

Founded in 1995, Global Knowledge employs more than 1,300 people worldwide and is headquartered in Cary, N.C.