Global firms are not devoting enough time, budget and commitment
to safeguarding core IT skills.
A
study of 450 large firms by enterprise application management
firm Micro Focus, in conjunction with international business school
INSEAD, was carried out across France, Germany, Italy, the UK and
the US. The study was carried out amongst CFOs, CIOs and HR
directors at the firms.
Micro Focus says vital skill-sets to manage and maintain core IT
assets are being marginalised by the world's leading companies.
Many of these organisations are focusing on IT skills for newer
Web 2.0 technologies, at the expense of the crucial skill-sets
required to future-proof the core systems critical to the
successful execution of operations.
Stephen Kelly, Micro Focus CEO, said, "The important step now
for global organisations is not to be completely entranced by shiny
new technologies and ensure they are also recruiting the
professionals that will maintain, and develop the lifeblood of
their IT - their core systems and information.
"Failure to safeguard these assets is tantamount to a ticking
time bomb for global business."
The survey found that 60% of CFOs, CIOs and HR directors thought
core systems and databases were business critical, compared with
only 38% who felt the same about systems using new
technologies.
However, despite reinforcing the importance of core IT assets to
business success, respondents revealed that it is the newer
technologies that are receiving budget when it comes to recruiting
skilled IT professionals.
More than half of all those polled (56%) confirmed newer,
web-based technologies are the skills being recruited the most
today.
Less than one in seven (13%) of CFOs are very confident that the
knowledge and skills exist within their organisations to maintain
core IT assets into the future.
Despite this, nearly two thirds (60%) of CFOs surveyed highlight
that in a recession, skills to modernise core IT assets are the
most valuable, rather than skills to implement new replacement
technologies.