The technology industry is struggling in the current economic climate, yet every cloud has a silver lining, according to a leading authority online.

Siobhan Chapman, the deputy editor at IT management website ComputerworldUK.com, explained that redundancies can and will continue to happen in the sector, forcing many people from all levels of the workforce to be hit hard.

However, the government has now picked up on the areas of key growth in the coming years, with technology being a major facet of this, Ms Chapman continued.

She added: "Just as the government invested in the railways during the great depression, today they are investing in technology.

"The goal is to position the UK as a leader in the hi-tech industry."

While recent research by the IT Job Board claims that quarter two of 2009 shows negative growth in job vacancies, the industry overall will still see a significant shortage of IT professionals in the longer term.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.