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British IT Directors rate skills, security and government investment as key to UK competitiveness

The British Computer Society (BCS) has disclosed the results of a new survey that indicate that good professional skills, security technology and strong investment are essential factors for the UK to become more competitive within the global IT market.

Key findings of the survey include:

• Thirty eight percent of respondents believe the government is not investing in the British IT industry in an efficient way, while nearly the same number (36%) believes there is too little investment

• The top three qualities vital to competitiveness are viewed as: professional skill set (76%), employment of technology (37%) and strong investment (35%)

• Security technology is viewed as crucial to the UK industry's development. Approximately 75% of respondents believe that providing solutions for security, or adopting security technologies in their products, will be key to the UK's competitiveness in the global market. A further 53% believe that the adoption or supply of personal computing products will hold similar success, while 36% make the case for application software.

• IT Investment priorities in the next twelve months include: security products (26%); application software (20%) and personal (mobile) computing products (11%) such as laptops and PDAs.

• Meanwhile IT budgets for 2005 are largely expected to remain the same as last year (34%) or increase by up to 15% (32%). However, 17% of respondents report that their budgets will decrease in the next year.

The survey was conducted between June and August 2004 among 319 British IT managers and directors who are BCS members. The results are being announced in advance of the BCS IT Professional Awards 2004 which are being held on 19th October 2004.

"These findings underscore how important it is to recognise British companies who are setting standards in developing leading edge technology or encouraging the development of well honed technical and business skills," said David Clarke, CEO of the BCS. "It is clear that the industry itself believes these to be vital for its success. All of this brings even more weight and relevance to the upcoming IT Professional Awards.

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