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IT’s mission is shifting

July 5, 2006

According to a recent report released by SIM (the Society of Information Management), over the past few years, IT's mission has largely shifted from delivering systems to managing the delivery of those IT services. In 2008, organizations of all sizes will require more IT staff to efficiently manage specific projects and working closely with end users in the business sector.

However, to this day, most companies fail to evaluate business training into account when hiring entry-level staff. They will actually default to candidates with technical degrees such as computer science and engineering, the SIM report says.

“If you take into account computer science and engineering or some other management science program, there’s been an emphasis on the technical skills, like programming,” says Phil Zwieg, V.P. of IT with Northwestern Mutual, and V.P. for advocacy and communities of interest with SIM.

College curricula, adds Zwieg, aren’t changing rapidly enough to train IT people with the right skills that modern business really needs today.

While the colleges try to catch up, company training programs can help fill the gap. The survey found that most companies provide both entry and mid-level hires with some type of business training. But CIOs also may have to get creative in who they hire to fill upcoming vacancies, such as recruiting business users for IT positions.

“I don’t think a company can use just one avenue for recruitment anymore,” says Zwieg.

SIM’s survey of ninety-six executives from eighty-nine companies found that more IT organizations of all sizes wish to expand rather than reduce staff, although more small and mid-market enterprises expect to add employees than do larger companies.

In a similar fashion, many companies, regardless of size, plan to outsource more work, particularly technical work to third-party providers. Overall, the study concludes that the number of IT jobs won’t change much between now and two years from now.

The SIM report identifies a number of business skills as core to successful IT operations, such as industry knowledge, project management expertise and business process knowledge. But it found no technical skill to be correspondingly critical.

Source: IT World Canada