Over half of UK IT managers plan to change jobs in the
next two years because they are not being involved in top level
decision-making.
Fifty three per cent will have changed jobs by 2009 and 34% plan
to move to new pastures by the end of 2008, a Harvey Nash survey of
650 senior IT professionals found.
"In the next 12 months, more than half of all the technology
leaders surveyed in this report will have moved jobs," said Albert
Ellis, chief executive of recruiment consultant Harvey Nash.
The report found that a third of respondents still desire more
involvement in business strategy and would move roles to get
it.
With 23% already in their jobs for less than 12 months and a
further 34% planning to move within the next 12 months, the IT
industry could be about to witness one of the most dramatic
migrations of technology leaders in recent times, said
Ellis.
He said the reasons given for changing jobs should be taken as a
sign by CEOs to ensure the door to
strategic decision-making remains open to IT managers or risk
losing them.
However, giving IT a seat on the board conflicts with the views
of CFOs. Nearly half (47%) of an additional 50 CFOs surveyed felt
there was currently no need to see the IT director on the board -
the reason being that IT was seen as a support function and did not
directly earn money for the business.
The 53% of CFOs who said there was a place for IT directors on
the board said this was contignent on having strong communication
and change management skills, which ranked above a strong in-depth
IT awareness.
Jane Kimberlin, IT director at Dominos Pizza, said that managers
seeking a top position on the board needed to show
strong commercial and change management skills that help grow
profits, and that IT was just one of a number of skills they needed
to master.