What must be done to sustain UK competitiveness through
to 2025? This was the subject of a recent
BCS Thought Leadership Debate, which centred on
the premise that competitive advantage is increasingly enabled by
IT and the use of intellectual assets.
The senior IT leaders and academics at the debate agreed that,
for UK plc to maintain its position in the global economy,
universities and businesses need to work together more closely.
When management or political decisions create problems, the
culprits often find a way to blame IT, the debate heard. The IT
community is losing the propaganda war, and unless it fights back
there will be under-investment, under-achievement and needless
damage to the UK economy. One suggestion for how this could be
addressed was for IT suppliers to work more closely with users.
It was also felt that the government should, and could, do more
to encourage and support IT. By taking the lead, it could encourage
businesses to do the same. Government also needs to show that it
can make IT projects succeed, instead of failing and going over
budget.
In terms of raising the profile of IT, many suggested that the
IT industry should make focus on what it is good at, such as
banking, the arts, media and culture. It was also said that in the
UK we need to support innovators more than we do currently.
Most delegates felt that the biggest issue was education and how
IT is taught. Debaters felt that teachers did not know enough about
the IT industry. IT needs to be shown as useful and appealing, they
said.
Being interested in IT is seen in a negative way and people are
labelled as "techies", but IT skills are becoming increasingly
important. IT should be shown to cross-over into many different
areas rather than being isolated, the debate heard.
One idea was that businesses should work more closely with all
levels of education, from schools to higher education, and enable
more vocational courses.
As an offshoot from this, some felt that there was not enough
investment in research, which is essential for future UK success.
With a drop in investment, fewer people are going into research
occupations and businesses tend to be reactive rather than
proactive, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to other
nations.
Some felt that chief executives need a better understanding of
IT, and CIOs need a better grounding in business practices. In
fact, many felt that CIOs could be the biggest obstacle to business
competitiveness and that they need to change the most.
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