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HotHouse invited our mailing list of human resources, IT and marketing decision makers, along with website visitors, to partake in the first HotHouse Technology Survey.

Tired of reading and writing only about American or European surveys of technology use? HotHouse invited our mailing list of human resources, IT and marketing decision makers, along with website visitors, to partake in the first HotHouse Technology Survey. The survey sample may not hold up to scientific rigour, but the results provide useful insight into what Australian companies are doing and thinking in relation to technology today.

Here’s what we found out:

Knowledge workers: More than 41% of companies who participated in the HotHouse Technology Survey are concerned that a shortage of IT workers may again become a problem for Australian industry. Business analysts (58.3%) were the most often cited area, followed by ASP.NET programmers (33.3%), ERP/CRM Implementation experts, PHP programmers and web developers (all 25%), and programmers generally (17%).

Despite those concerns, less than 25% of respondents said they are actively considering offshore outsourcing or recommending offshore outsourcing to clients. Nearly 80% said costs and profitability were behind the decision, while 60% cited business model and 20% availability of human resources.

New technology: Less than 25% of the companies that responded to our survey are planning on spending money on voice over Internet protocols (VOIP). Of those planning on implementing VOIP, 71.4 % said they were doing it to save on telephone costs and leverage existing network infrastructure, while an equal number cited communications features that enhance productivity. Only 28.6% said the availability of new technology was driving their decision.

Government support: When asked about the Howard government’s IT strategy, more than 70% said they had no idea the Howard government even had an IT strategy, while less than 4% said it was far-sighted and would help the growth of the economy. Only one-third of respondents said they could name the minister responsible for IT in the government off the top of their head. (A confession: I had to look the name up on the government’s website.)

Less than 30% said they believed the Australian government was actively driving the development and uptake of online opportunities for the country, and only 24% said they thought the government’s tax reforms provided incentives to invest in Australia’s information economy.

Email marketing: According to the survey, 75% of Australian companies conduct email marketing campaigns. Those who don’t say a lack of data is the main reason (67%), half that number citing a lack of experience/resources and budgetary constraints.

The biggest email marketing challenges facing Australian companies are increasing open and click-through rates (59%), integrating with customer databases and enterprise marketing (53%), increasing the number of email addresses and establishing the right metrics (both 35%), creating and managing content and complying with relevant legislation (both 29.4%) and managing bounces, interpreting results and increasing delivery rates (23.5%). Less important were managing frequency and determining relevant content (17.6%) and coordinating with other marketing campaigns and acting on findings (11.8%).

Nearly two-thirds of companies are personalising their messages for recipients and more than half (59%) offer subscribers a choice between HTML and text email. Less than 30% actively encourage subscribers to add their company to their address book.

More than 80% include an opt-out link and immediately honour opt-out and unsubscribe requests, while 65% include their physical business address on emails. And 95% claim they ensure every piece of information in headers is accurate.

Personal communications: When asked about their own personal technology habits, 43.5% of those surveyed said they had sent an SMS within the last 24 hours and another 26% within the last 2-3 days. Only 13% said they had never sent an SMS.

Having anti-virus software is nearly universal today (96%), while personal firewalls are also widespread (87%). Nearly four out of five surveyed have used Internet banking within the last 24 hours, while only 13% have never banked online.

Broadband is also gaining in popularity, with more than 90% either using or planning to install a broadband connection at home within the next six months. More than half said they have or plan to have a portable email device such as a BlackBerry phone or handheld in the next six months.

Napster and Kazaa are not as popular with the HotHouse Technology Survey participants, with only 44% having downloaded music from the Internet in the last month.