Keywords
Citation
(2000), "Business skills for IT professionals", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 32 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2000.03732eab.004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2000, MCB UP Limited
Business skills for IT professionals
Business skills for IT professionals
Keywords: Skills, Business education
The British Computer Society (BCS) and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) have joined forces to deliver a number of CIMA Mastercourses: The Professional Development Portfolio (PDP), aimed at IT professionals who increasingly require business management skills to complement existing IT know-how.
BCS and CIMA have identified a lack of traditional people skills amongst IT managers and leaders. Research has shown that around 80 per cent of IT projects fail to deliver their stated business benefits because the human dimension is not effectively managed. In response, these workshops and courses, which cover persuasive techniques, time management, presentation and negotiation skills, have been designed with Knowledge Pool, the training arm of leading IT services company, ICL, in order to deliver improved interactive presentation, motivation, business effectiveness and to raise productivity from the IT function.
Because IT represents major financial investment, senior IT professionals have to work closely with finance. Moreover, in many organisations, senior accountants manage the IT function, hence the BCS working with CIMA in this area makes eminent sense. CIMA Mastercourses provide workshops in financial and business management to build mutual understanding.
The combination of offering both open schedule and in-company services means that individuals (i.e. freelancers) and small organisations can benefit from Professional Development Portfolio programmes every bit as much as larger ones keen to reinforce their brand and culture through bespoke services. Indeed, larger companies frequently view open schedule as an ideal opportunity to test drive the product before committing to an in-house programme.
For further information, contact the British Computer Society, 1 Sanford Street, Swindon SN1 1HJ. Tel: 01793 417417; Fax: 01793 480270; Web site: http://www.bcs.org.uk