David Clarke, who recently became chief executive of the BCS, has
said he believes the society's Web-based services can become
self-funding, writes John Kavanagh.
Clarke, who was previously chief executive of Trinity Digital Media
and Virgin.net, told the society's governing council, "I have been
very impressed by what the BCS is doing with the Web, especially
single registration: this will be the basis of everything we do via
the Web, but it is very difficult to deliver. I am very impressed
that we have cracked it."
The BCS is now rolling out single sign-on to members. Its system
will give members and non-members access to material they are
entitled to see, depending on factors such as membership grade,
committee membership and special interests.
Clarke made it clear that the BCS is taking a pragmatic approach.
"Although you can enable things on the Web, you cannot immediately
replace everything you've got. You have to maintain the old and the
new methods of doing things for quite a while. So you don't
immediately save costs because you have Web-enabled
something."
Even so, he said one of his early tasks will be to look at ways of
making the BCS' Web activity self-funding, although he added that
this did not need to be rushed into, largely because demand for BCS
qualifications has brought great commercial success.
Demand for BCS exams has broken all records in the last year, with
candidate numbers for the BCS Information Systems Examinations
Board certificates and diplomas in practical IT topics running at
well over 1,000 a month; a record 3,000 candidates sitting BCS
professional examinations; and the number of candidates for the
European computer driving licence user skills qualification topping
400,000 in the UK.
Clarke said he was surprised to find that two thirds of the BCS'
turnover now came from non-members, reflecting the high standing of
BCS qualifications. "It is a real pleasure to be taking over with
such a solid foundation in place," he said. "It is an incredibly
strong outfit. The society owes Judith Scott a debt for sorting it
out in her seven years as chief executive."
Clarke also paid tribute to the hundreds of members who gave up
their time to serve the BCS on committees and other forums. "I have
found that we have some really excellent people, both on the
honorary side and the staff side - and people are what this
business is really about," he said.
"When I was appointed by Virgin I felt really proud to be part of
that organisation; when I was fortunate enough to be offered the
BCS role I felt exactly the same way - really proud to be offered
this position."
Clarke was recruited by Mirror Group in 1999 to develop its digital
media business.He became chief executive of its online arm after
Trinity acquired Mirror Group. He was previously chief executive of
Virgin.net and UK managing director of services company Netcom
Internet. Earlier he was in top marketing jobs at Hewlett-Packard
and Digital Equipment and was marketing director at Compaq.