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BCS urges IT profession to upskill to meet challenges of globalisation

The inexorable growth of IT offshoring should be viewed both as a challenge and an opportunity by the UK's IT profession, advises a new report published today by the British Computer Society (BCS). The report says that key to confronting the globalisation of many traditional IT skills will be upskilling and visible adherence to professional standards through retraining and internationally recognised qualifications.

According to the report - Offshoring: A Challenge or Opportunity for British IT Professionals? - the growing trend to offshore IT skills means that at least 12 per cent of current UK IT jobs could be lost by 2010. But although the offshoring market will continue to grow by 20 per cent year on year, the report claims that the future for the British IT profession is far from bleak.

The report cites the skills shortages currently faced by the British IT sector in growing areas such as systems integration, project management and security technologies. According to the BCS, the increasing need for IT professionals to provide business analysis and added value in sectors such as financial services, the law, market research, architecture, engineering design and public services including the NHS, means that a more rounded skills profile will be key to the future competitiveness and market worth of many of today's UK IT professionals.

The BCS report says the low unemployment rate among UK IT professionals, less than 4 per cent, is indicative of the current buoyant state of the IT profession. However, it suggests the offshoring trend, developed on the back of improved telecommunications and inexpensive bandwidth, means that the IT profession cannot afford to be complacent.

The chair of the BCS's offshoring working party, Elizabeth Sparrow, is adamant that the fast evolving IT services market opens up real opportunities for British IT professionals to work in new industries and to provide services from the UK to world markets. However, she cautions, the profession needs to critically review its performance in comparison with the best in the world. Otherwise it risks overselling itself and underestimating the capacity of overseas workers to provide high quality, cost effective services. By failing to identify and understand its current competitive advantages means that it will lose out on new opportunities.

The BCS say that offshore suppliers are addressing a perception that overseas workers do not produce quality work by investing heavily in achieving compliance with internationally recognised quality management standards such as the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). This, the BCS say, is setting the norm for the new global IT services market.

"The challenge for British professionals now is to gear up for the rapid globalisation of the IT services industry that is well underway," said BCS chief executive David Clarke. "Traditional IT skills such as software development have become globally ubiquitous and a narrow focus on technical skills and their application will not help tomorrow's professionals. But all too often, IT staff can underestimate their business knowledge and expertise too.

"The BCS is now proposing a new career model for a new era in which IT professionals would evolve their skills beyond a purely technical environment. The ultimate aim is to create recognition of IT as a career in which longevity is valued and computing expertise is transferred into the business arena. Life-long learning will become essential for many IT professionals, which is why the BCS is now offering the most comprehensive range of training and qualification products to meet the new demands from IT. While the BCS's new Career Builder programme will enable individuals and their employers to strategically map career paths to fulfil market needs."

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