Midsize and small businesses make up more than 90 percent of the world's companies, and employ over 90 percent of the world's workforce. So their priorities when it comes to IT spending are worth paying attention to. Where they plan to invest can help you determine where your skills will be needed the most, and how much pay you can expect depending on demand. The Essential CIO - Midmarket CIO Study 2011, a report from IBM, gives a good indication of where you should be focusing. First on CIO minds is analytics. Over the next three to five years, some 83 percent will invest more in gleaning usable information from company data. Next comes the cloud. CIOs are 50 percent more likely to spend money on cloud computing than they were two years ago. They like the flexibility and cost effectiveness of using cloud-based hardware and software resources. Another key area: Mobile computing. Since they can't get around the spread of mobile devices, more CIOs are looking for better ways to use mobile apps that can drive sales, collaboration and workforce mobility. Seventy two percent plan to spend on mobile technology, up 11 percent from 2009. The complete study is here (pdf). Source: IBM