Senior managers need to have a strong understanding of
the business benefits of IT if the UK is to maintain a strong
competitive edge, Paul Coby, chief information officer at British
Airways, said last week.
Coby, newly appointed chairman of the CIO board of sector skills
council E-Skills UK, said it was vital for business competitiveness
that boardroom executives understood IT.
"One of the things I am very keen on is that if you want to
operate in a FTSE 500 company, you ought to understand
technology.
"It does not mean that you need to understand C++ or program
Java, but you do need to understand how to use technology," he
said.
Universities should include IT training in every degree course
to ensure that future generations of managers and employees
understand the business potential of technology, Coby said.
The growth in offshore outsourcing does not mean that businesses
will be able to spend less on IT training, Coby said. IT
professionals will still need to understand the basics of IT if
they are to manage arrangements with suppliers successfully.
British Airways has set a target for each member of its IT staff
to get eight days of training a year to help meet the needs of the
business. "We are taking staff in groups of 15 and assessing where
they have potential and moving them into new technology areas. We
are growing people to become business managers, project managers
and data architects," he said.
Coby said British Airways is experiencing skills shortages in
some areas, particularly in finding skilled project managers.