Lack of skills hits IT department performance

From Xantus

According to a new survey from consulting practice Xantus, almost half of the UK’s top CIOs claim that key skill shortages within their IT departments are hitting performance and collectively costing their organisations millions of pounds.

The report, “Supporting Business: The CIO Challenge”, states that 41 per cent of CIOs in large companies with a turnover £250m - £1bn want more business and management skills within their department, the lack of which they say, is costing more than 10 per cent in departmental productivity and performance. Almost all of the rest agreed the skills issue is affecting performance by anything up to 10 per cent. This means an annual cost to organisations of tens of millions of pounds.

In almost every case (96 per cent), CIOs see a need to strengthen the business relationship and management skills of their IT staff, but they also agree (93 per cent) that these skills are hard to find. To achieve this, the report states, the role of the CIO as leader and champion of change is absolutely vital.

The survey supports the results from a new NCC survey into today’s IT issued which ranked “aligning IT with business” as the second highest priority. Full survey results will be published shortly.

NCC has also been undertaking research into what the IT department of the future will look like, how it will interact with the rest of the organisation and what skills will be needed? NCC’s Dr. Andy Hopkirk presented his findings at last month’s Member Advisory Board, see his presentation here.

NCC Seminar 27th September : Aligning IT with the business

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