subject: IT Professionals told Adapt or Die [print this page] Warning Warning
Gartner today warned IT professionals that technical aptitude will no longer be sufficient to secure their future in IT organisations.
Scepticism toward the effectiveness of IT, the rise of IT automation, worldwide geographic labour shifts and multi-sourcing will lead to the emergence of a new breed of IT professional, the versatilist', who will have technical aptitude, local knowledge, knowledge of industry processes and leadership ability.
Successful IT professionals will identify themselves not just by occupation"I work in IT"but by the industry, process and change programs in which they participate"I spent two years helping design an Internet selling process that boosted revenue by 20 per cent".
IT professionals must also prove that they understand the realities of the business, such as industry, core processes, customer bases, regulatory environment, culture and constraints. Gartner predicts that by 2010, six out of ten IT professionals will assume business-facing roles.
Change Coming
Regardless of whether the IT professional works in a corporate IT organisation, in an outsourcing team, in product development or in business units, their areas of expertise, knowledge and skills will change.
"Some will be bolstered, some will be carved up, some will be redistributed and some will be displaced," said Diane Morello, vice president of research at Gartner.
By 2010, Gartner predicts that IT departments in midsize and large companies will be 30 percent smaller than they are in 2005.
Versatilists
"If the last decade represented the era of specialists, this decade will mark the era of the versatilist," said Ms Morello.
"Versalitists are people whose numerous roles, assignments and experiences are enabling them to synthesize knowledge and context to fuel business value.
Versatilists are applying their depth of skills and experiences to a rich scope of situations and challenges and implementing their cross-organisational insight to flesh out teams and fill competency gaps."
With versatilists on staff, business and service providers can stretch their personnel budgets further than they could with specialists. IT professionals with broad insight, deep process knowledge and industry orientated competencies will help companies incorporate innovation and multiple perspectives into IT-based processes, products, services and technologies.
