Dive Brief:

• One-third of companies say they plan to cut 25% of IT workers by 2020, according to a new survey by Information Services Group.
• Increased automation of back-office IT services jobs will be the primary driver of such reductions, according to the survey.
• The survey included representatives from about 170 global sourcing firms.

Dive Insight:

Of the respondents, 23% predicted workforce cuts of 15% to 25% while 28% said the cuts would range from 5% to 15%. Only 5% of respondents predicted their current employment levels will grow.

Rob Brindley, a director at ISG, said improvements in automation are bringing higher reliability and stability to IT systems, reducing calls for support. "Automation is going to be working in the background, evaluating events and incidents and resolving them before there is a customer impact," he said.

In September, HP said it would lay off up to 30,000 as it looks to automate many tasks in order to remain competitive.