Giving IT staff the support and resources to continue
adding to their skills makes crucial business sense in an era of
growing competition, Karen Price, chief executive of E-skills UK,
told finalists at Computer Weekly's Best Places to Work in IT
awards ceremony.
Price said the sector had a good record of spending on training,
with £1bn being invested in IT staff last year.
This puts the IT sector among the top three in terms of spend
per employee, but investment in staff needed to increase further in
the years ahead, particularly in view of the threat from
offshoring, she said.
"Offshoring is a factor that must not be overlooked. There is no
doubt there will need to be a rebalance of the skill profile we
have in the UK, but we should see this more as an opportunity than
a threat."
Price said more also needed to be done to promote the benefits
arising from the investment that had already been made. "Can we
articulate the return on that investment?" she asked.
"Do we know what skills we have got? Are they externally
validated? Do we know where to turn to develop the skills we need
at a price we can afford to pay?"
Price also warned that the profession urgently needed to address
its image.
"The number of students applying to do computer-related degrees
has fallen off the edge of a cliff," she said. "Young people are
not choosing to work in this sector, nor are their parents
signposting them towards it.
"We should use today as a call to action. As a profession, we
have a tendency to talk ourselves down. What other profession talks
itself down in this way?
"Where are the successes? Remember, this negative press has an
impact on applications."
Price said more needed to be done to get the message across that
IT was a fulfilling career if it was to attract more graduates with
the right skills.
She added that attracting women into IT in greater numbers
remained a key priority, because "we cannot survive as a profession
if we are only fishing in half the talent pool".
Britannia wins the best of the best award
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