UK IT professionals have been urged to develop business
and management skills, following new indications that the rate of
offshore outsourcing is increasing.
Computer Weekly revealed last week that the number of work
permits issued to overseas IT workers had reached an all-time high
of 32,251, up from 22,000 a year ago. A major driver for this was
identified as offshore companies bringing their own staff to the UK
to work on outsourcing contracts.
The trend has highlighted the need for UK IT professionals to
develop management, communication and business-focused skills,
industry experts said this week.
"Those who are trying to compete on technical skills, where it
is cheaper to train in India, are operating at a disadvantage,"
said Philip Virgo, strategic adviser at the Institute for the
Management of Information Systems.
Future generations of IT professionals will need to develop both
business and technical skills, or have the capability to manage
outsourcing contracts, if they are going to add value to employers,
he said.
Elizabeth Sparrow, chair of the
British Computer Society working party on
offshoring, said IT professionals must face up to the changes that
offshore outsourcing would bring.
"There are a lot of positive things we can do. The surveys we
have done with employers consistently show that they want to employ
more IT professionals in the UK. But they are looking for a
different combination of skills than they have in the past," she
said.
"They want interpersonal skills, project management skills and
relationship management skills. The ability to know how to source
IT work, when to buy from overseas, and managing outsourcing
agreements."
Sparrow added that employers needed to be aware that they should
train for longer-term skills, not just short-term technical
skills.
Virgo also highlighted the importance of training and called on
the government to offer tax breaks to businesses and individuals
who invest in training.
The estimated 100,000 IT professionals in the UK working on
large systems integration would be most affected by offshore
outsourcing, said Virgo. However, offshoring would have relatively
little impact in the City of London, aerospace and pharmaceuticals,
he said.
Related article:
Work permits reach
an all-time high
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