'Techies' urged to integrate

Citation

(1999), "'Techies' urged to integrate", Education + Training, Vol. 41 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.1999.00441bab.008

'Techies' urged to integrate

"Techies" urged to integrate

Keywords Communications, Information technology, Skills

Businesses need more than just technical ability from their information-technology specialists. IT staff must also be able to understand and analyse business needs, relate to colleagues and clients and manage resources.

So says a report entitled Keeping IT Together: Skills for Information Technologists, by the Institute for Employment Studies.

Sally Dench, the report's author, comments: "Unless those who intimately understand what IT offers can recognize business needs, identify appropriate solutions and communicate these in clear, non-technical terms, their professionalism will be insulated from the organization."

Apart from the rate of change in technology, the main changes influencing the skills required of IT specialists include a closer relationship to business needs, the emergence of knowledgeable users to whom personal computers are no longer a mystery, and pressure on costs and delivery times.