Almost 120 years after the original land run across parts of North America, and a new territory grab is taking place.

At high noon, on 22 April 1889, an estimated 50,000 people raced across Oklahoma to claim a piece of land. The location for the modern-day land run is very different ­ – cyberspace, as opposed to terra firma. As of 20 February, companies and the general public could begin registering for available .asia domain names in a so-called land rush phase.

According to DotAsia, the firm overseeing domain registration, the land rush represents: “A golden opportunity for individuals looking to invest in the most prestigious and potentially profitable cyber real estate in Asia.”

That sentiment, as well as sounding remarkably like the wording in a timeshare advert, expresses the hype surrounding the latest release of domain name suffixes.

There have been a lot of previous releases, with businesses and cybersquatters ­ – people buying popular names in the hope of making a quick profit ­ – forcing up interest and prices.

But the times are possibly changing. The BBC reports that just 30,780 applications have been filed for .asia domain names so far, compared with 330,000 at the same point in the launch of the .eu domain name.

Instead of lining up for a slice of cyber real estate, are circumspect internet users choosing to ignore the latest virtual land grab? No one would be surprised if IT leaders, bombarded and bamboozled by a series of suffix releases, are struggling to see the point of yet another domain registration.

However, a proactive reaction really is in your firm’s interests. First, DotAsia’s registration rules mean squabbles over names will lead to domains being auctioned off to the highest bidder. Ace.asia has already been sold for $20,501 (£10,400) and a quick look at the upcoming auction list reveals a highly competitive tendering process (dotasia.org/about/auctions.html).

Second, Asia really is the next web frontier. Researcher Global Reach estimates 64 per cent of the world’s internet population are non-English speakers, with Asian languages accounting for 33 per cent of users.

So, while a dose of scepticism to yet another cyber land run is healthy, you should not let your cynicism cost you a competitive advantage.

Further reading

• Web 2.0: Your business needs a strategy now
• Access? Open source? Rethinking the digital divide
• Social networking creates waste and exclusion
• Facebook? LinkedIn? Social networking is rubbish
• Web 2.0 technologies = five hours of depression

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Why do IT managers change jobs? A poll from recruitment specialist TheLadders.co.uk suggests a bunch of reasons - basically boredom, a requirement for more cash and a desire for greater career satisfaction:

• 77 per cent of IT managers said that they have felt trapped in their job
• 46 per cent said money was the driving factor for wanting to changing jobs
• 54 per cent stated the key motivator was a sense of achievement

The press release suggests the results are "surprising" and help to "reveal that not all the clichés about the technology industry are true".

But which clichés are these? The introduction to the press release mentions something about long hours - but is that a cliché associated with wanting to change jobs in the IT industry? I would have thought the key motivating factors had more to do with a lack of opportunity, poor pay rates and the never-ending skills gap (see Further reading, below). In other words boredom, a requirement for more cash and a desire for achievement - which are the key findings of the research.

The survey also says 54 per cent of IT managers feel trapped because of "a lack of contacts in the senior recruitment space." But when anyone mentions spaces - without also referring to astronauts or geography - there is a likely to be an associated whiff of marketing-speak. Call me cynical, but have you ever moved jobs because of a lack of recruitment contacts? I would have thought you would use such contacts to move jobs, not to make more recruitment contacts.

Anyway, the survey also says many IT managers believe networking with family and friends is the most effective method for job searching. Which is probably true, given the cliché that says: "It's not what you know, it's who you know." But that's just a cliché, isn't it?

Further reading

• Miserable technology workers should go freelance
• Project management: Is cutting rates an answer?
• Technology skills gap will create a crisis, says Gartner
• IT needs to show the boss it means business
• The adventures of a technology career

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Credit crunch, downturn or recession - call it what you will, 2008 is likely to be a difficult year for the UK and the global economy. How should chief information officers (CIOs) best prepare for the changing nature of economic conditions, and how will their preparations help to improve business efficiency?

This month's Computing Business (out Thursday, 22 February: see Further reading, below, for issue index ) polled a panel of business technology experts for their opinions. The results suggest six key tips for recession planning in 2008:

1. Technology leaders will need to work even more closely with line-of-business managers to decide on priority projects
2. Leading-edge CIOs will be change managers, prepared for various scenarios
3. Metrics management will be crucial to ensure all suppliers are providing best value at all times
4. Several processes will be increasingly fundamental during the belt-tightening period, notably virtualisaton, consolidation, outsourcing and green computing
5. Regional variations in economic performance will mean CIOs will need to be able to quickly switch activities and priorities between countries
6. CIOs will have to be make tough decisions to save the business cash, such as delaying capital investment, cutting staff and cancelling projects

Here are some of the responses from the panel. The full results can be found in the further reading list below (Putting IT to good use in a recession). 

"I work closely with our business domain experts to understand their evaluation on how the economic situation may impact business. Using such insight, I can generate a minimum of two alternative portfolios to match potential circumstances. Also, there are likely to be projects I want to complete to drive the planned benefits; for example, cost reduction or business generation. And depending on business priorities, I may need to expedite specific projects to deliver the benefits sooner rather than later."
Jeff Roberts, chief information officer, Norton Rose

"Our members plan to make more of virtualisation technology and increase the level of outsourcing. What differentiates our leading CIO members is their ability to deliver. Vanguard CIOs will always be well-prepared and able to accommodate business change. They will have thought through various scenarios and worked plans through with their executive-level colleagues."
Alistair Russell, development director, CIO Connect

"While nobody should be in doubt that tighter belts will mean CIOs paying close attention to supplier performance metrics, it will not be simply the case of the thumb screws coming out once the share price falls. That said, users will prepare for the future by looking carefully at their tactical supplier relationships ­ such as offshore providers ­ and ensuring that commoditised services provide the best value."
Ollie Ross, director of research, The Corporate IT Forum

"For businesses with global reach, we note that the clouds are gathering rapidly over the UK, US and Japan, but some other parts of the world are doing fine. CIOs should anticipate and plan for business leaders rapidly switching activities and priorities towards growth regions. Do not set your 2008 project portfolios in stone, but do warn your management team to expect changes at short notice. For example, the project to expand server capacity in China might be accelerated, while the laptop upgrade in the US is postponed."
Mark Raskino, research vice president and Gartner fellow

"Understand exactly where your cash goes and then meticulously attach costs with a self-funding programme. Also, look at the software tools you use, what can you lose and can you break from the payments? Green computing is helping technology leaders realise considerable benefits, and you should consider environmentalism, even if only for the most inefficient elements of your infrastructure."
John Proudlock, transformation director, Vertex Financial Services

"Most technology leaders know where to look for savings in the IT budget: delays in capital investment in equipment; cutbacks in contractors and consultants; cancelling projects with marginal returns on investment; re-negotiation of vendor contracts; and greater use of efficiency tools, such as outsourcing or consolidation. Calculate potential savings and risks, then identify projects or investments that need decisions now."
Andrew Bartels, vice president and analyst, Forrester Research

Further reading

• Computing Business, Issue 20: Full article index
• Computing Business: Putting IT to good use in a recession
• IT needs to show the boss it means business
• Depressed technology professionals need a boost
• Is IT always a business issue?
• The adventures of a technology career

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Let us look back and yearn for the days when technology management was plain and simple ­ – you either managed systems in-house or outsourced technology to an external service provider.

Such simplicity is now very last millennium and technology leaders are bombarded with sourcing options. But which trends are simply created by hype-loving industry analysts and marketing specialists?

Well, to start with there was standard IT outsourcing, where non-core technology operations are managed by an external supplier.

The term IT outsourcing dates from the 1980s and was complemented in the mid-1990s by business process outsourcing, when users began to externally manage white-collar, management functions.

Then, a few years ago, technology leaders began to doubt long-term contracts with suppliers that were not always providing value for money. Benchmarking led to contract cuts and the return of service provision in-house ­ – insourcing.

At the same time, suppliers from overseas started to offer deals to users that were looking to outsource IT and business processes. For UK businesses, overseas contracts were either managed nearshore ­ – in Europe, for example ­ – or offshore, through an Indian or Chinese supplier.

And during the past year, external service management has become messy, with value-seeking users selecting a broad range of contract types from different providers.

This approach to provision has been widely termed multisourcing, which everyone says is the future of outsourcing, because users now need to be smart and ensure specialists are covering each part of the business. But you can guarantee multisourcing will be the next big thing in outsourcing… until something bigger comes along.

Forrester Research is already complicating ­ – or attempting to explain, depending on your point of view ­ – the sourcing mix by referring to the growth of “activist outsourcing”. Here, users aim to boost IT performance by managing the full lifecycle of each supplier relationship.

In the end, many of the trends are merely different flavours of the same product ­ – outsourcing. It is your decision whether such trends provide clarity or are simply used to push more products to users.

Further reading

• Offshoring means Western IT industry is "dying"
• UK firms love offshoring - what about the staff?
• Outsourcing and the lack of skilled UK IT workers
• 2008 - The year of multisourcing and offshoring
• Gartner reveals top 30 offshoring destinations

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Sometimes it can feel good to stand up and admit your fears: “My name is Mark and I want the bandwagon to slow down.”

Last year, IT leaders were bombarded with a deluge of green computing hype and fears about the impending doom of the planet. Woe betide the IT leader that failed to consolidate their servers and virtualise their applications.

But this is 2008 and now everyone ­- IT suppliers, PR merchants and journalists ­- are looking for the next big thing to hype.

In the wake of the ongoing excitement surrounding Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace, the next 12 months are likely to be the year of collaboration and social networking. This all sounds a bit passé, I hear you say ­- searching Facebook for old flames is very 2007.

But there is the rub; for as this month’s Computing Business suggests (see link, below), very few businesses have worked out how to make the most of all things Web 2.0. Through wikis, blogs and mash-ups, our analysis illustrates how firms are often guilty of dismissing the potential of social networking technologies because of concerns surrounding time management, data storage and information security.

Despite such concerns, Gartner analyst Mark Raskino says chief information officers (CIOs) can see that consumers are becoming more and more involved in social networking.

And decisions about opting in or out will be less about future opportunity and more a matter of current necessity. As a result, Raskino says 2008 could be the tipping point for Web 2.0 technologies.

Expect, therefore, to be hit by a barrage of social software and collaboration conference opportunities during the next 12 months, not to mention an associated and not-too-subtle dollop of hype.

But surely, if you do have to jump on the bandwagon, it is better to take a leading edge in social networking developments rather than a follow-the-leader approach.

And the opportunities for forward-thinking CIOs are currently plentiful, with Gartner suggesting there are few concrete examples of a strategic commitment to social software.

Grasp the Web 2.0 reins now and your fears of a runaway bandwagon will be released.

Full Computing Business feature

• Web 2.0: Fortune favours the brave
  

Further reading

• Mobile social networking is a community thing
• Access? Open source? Rethinking the digital divide
• Social networking creates waste and exclusion
• Facebook? LinkedIn? Social networking is rubbish
• $15bn Facebook valuation masks the real deal
• Web 2.0 technologies = five hours of depression

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A couple of weeks ago, I posted an entry about Spots - the new celebrity identifying game that is the talk of Incisive Media's business IT titles. Well, production desk head honcho Simon Turner seems mildly obsessed with it, anyway.

For uninitiated noobs, the game involves creating a definitive list of Spots (a spot being a celebrity that is clocked by a technology journalist in Soho during working hours).

January spot's included a few high points, such as wildlife chief Bill Oddie, and some other points, including lots of comedians (see Further reading, below: Celebrity Soho Spots, From Oddie to Mortimer). Here's the updated list:

Spots since mid-afternoon, 30 January

• 30/1/08 - Professional northerner Melanie Sykes
• 30/1/08 - Big Brother 1's Melanie Hill
• 31/1/08 - Big Brother presenter Davina McCall
• 1/2/08 - Not sure really's Kelly Osbourne
• 4/2/08 - Radio and other stuff's Edith Bowman
• 5/2/08 - Hellboy Ron Perlman
• 6/2/08 - Armstrong and Miller's Alexander Armstrong
• 8/2/08 - Armstrong and Miller's Alexander Armstrong
• 8/2/08 - Big Brother Celebrity Hijack winner John Loughton
• 11/2/08 - Madge's hubbie Guy Ritchie
• 11/2/08 - Ballroom dancing's Dominic Littlewood

Probably a bit too much Big Brother and Alexander Armstrong, really. But there is hope for an improvement. There was a chap sitting in a deckchair outside our office for most of yesterday. He was holding a clipboard; maybe he was playing Spots? Or, then again, maybe he wasn't...

Further reading

• Soho celebrity spots: From Oddie to Mortimer
• Gossip and scandal will make you a top CIO
• When it comes to fashion, what's the tie directive?
• Luxury and celebrity

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Cheer up, you miserable lot. Recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark says 25 per cent of IT professionals are unhappy at work, more than any other sector apart from human resources (HR).

Chances are the HR executives are feeling depressed because the technology workers are complaining to them about their working conditions, especially as Badenoch & Clark also reports that 55 per cent of IT professionals expect to change jobs this year.

Such expectations could be mistaken for opportunist thinking, particularly given the parlous state of the UK and global economy.

If the recession hits full downward tilt, you might assume most IT workers would just be pleased money is entering their accounts every month.

And are businesses really going to be fighting for technology talent during a credit crunch and impending worldwide recession?

Well, Computing recently revealed the financial services industry has seen high demand for some positions.

But therein lies the issue. Firms in certain sectors are fighting for key IT workers and managers, but most are also keen to avoid hiring permanent staff.

Hourly rates for IT contractors in the financial services industry have risen by 11 per cent in the past six months ­ – with pay increasing to between £45 and £50 an hour ­ – according to the Association of Technology Staffing Companies and recruitment specialist SkillsMarket.

Demand for interim managers in the UK also increased last year, with the number of assignments and daily pay rates at an all-time high.

Technology interims were paid the most, according to the Russam GMS Interim Management Monitor, commanding average daily rates of £622 in December 2007.

So if you are prepared to take on the risk and freedom of freelancing there are reasons to feel cheerful.

Do not forget the other benefits that could improve your quality of life. A new day can bring a new environment, rather than the same old colleagues with their selfish habits, such as eating food at the desk.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But just hope the impending downturn does not bring a slump in contractor demand.

Because then the miserable stench of moaning IT workers will really become obvious.

Further reading

• Project management: Is cutting rates an answer?
• New business dreamers should turn to technology
• Technology skills gap will create a crisis, says Gartner
• IT needs to show the boss it means business
• The adventures of a technology career

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The pesky network - can't work with it, can't work without it. Application performance problems apparently cost the average UK business more than half a million pounds a year, due mainly to reduced productivity, lost sales and diminished customer confidence. And according to Ipanema Technologies and indpendent research specialst Vanson Bourne, one in ten organisations says poor application performance can cost as much as £2m.

With more and more content being pushed down cramped network pipes, UK firms need to find a way to solve performance issues. The answer, according to technology leaders in this week's Computing (out tomorrow, 14 February), is a careful combination of network upgrades, wireless technology and tight service level agreements (SLAs).

In the second of Computing's four-part definitive guide to network management, writer Lisa Kelly talks to bed retailer Dreams' IT director Lee Felton, who says SLAs should be kept proportionate to need:

"You can spend an inordinate amount of money on resilience and only move a percentage point higher, so it is important to properly define and build any extra solution. We don’t want to be at the bleeding edge or have to make changes because we are out of support, but we do want people to be able to turn their PCs on and know they will work."

The conclusion from the special report is that guaranteed performance is everything. While firms can spend inordinate amounts of cash implementing advanced technology, users simply need to know their technology will perform.

In short, working with the business is sometimes more about about guaranteed provision than leading-edge innovation.

For more on the feature: The definitive guide to network management

Further reading

• Network managers face an automated future
• Open standards and "social networking with a point"
• Twelve confusing content predictions for 2008
• Broadband gains mean Ukraine is offshoring boss
• Happy birthday mobile phone - now for the users

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Another day, another salary survey - and this time, there is a suggestion that fears of a severe economic downturn are forcing IT project managers to cut their rates.

Data from PM3 Consulting suggests there is evidence of a looming price war, as the market tightens and firms focus on cost cutting instead of revenue generation. Figures from recuritment specialist suggest fees charged by top project management consultants have dipped by as much as £300 per day, or an average of 35 per cent.

Steve Pragnell, chief executive of PM3 Consulting, says new management consultants are pouring into the market, which is in turn becoming flooded with first rate people looking for contracts:

“However, those we would class as experts – the very best consultants - are having to accept sizeable rate cuts to compete with those with a lower skill set, who can charge less.”

PM3 Consulting suggests such trends explains why consultants are now willing - or more likely, being forced - to take roles for which they are over qualified.

NCC reported recently that three quarters (73 per cent) of firms have a need for new skills, with project management skills seen as a high priority area for business, despite fears of a downturn.

And as project management specialist Peter Merrick said to me this morning: "One of the biggest issues facing the IT industry is delivering projects on time."

However, the PM3 Consulting report clearly identifies issues of supply, demand and affordability. This blog has paid a great deal of attention to IT employment trends recently (see Further reading, below) - and the message for technology professionals seems clear: afford to be flexible.

Now, more than ever before, IT workers need to realise that it is dangerous to specialise in the wrong area. NCC suggests IT professionals with Oracle, SAP, .Net, web development, network support, business analysis, and virtualisation will also be in high demand during the next two years.

Two years after that? Anyone's guess. It would seem the only answer is continual professional development.

Further reading

• New business dreamers should turn to technology
• Technology skills gap will create a crisis, says Gartner
• IT needs to show the boss it means business
• Depressed technology professionals need a boost
• Is IT always a business issue?
• The adventures of a technology career

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Expect mobile social networking to be a multi-billion business by 2012, with more and more users logging on to social networks in order to join productivity, entertainment and social shopping communities. That's the conclusion of new a report from analyst Informa Telecoms & Media, which reports that the number of mobile social networking users exceeded 50 million on December 31 2007, approximately 2.3 per cent of the global mobile user population.

The growth in user registrations will continue at 30 to 50 per cent a year, depending on the type of community and the region. And by 2012, Informa estimates there could be up to 23 per cent penetration of mobile social networks among users globally. Revenues generated from all business models, meanwhile, could reach $52bn. 

As has been mentioned previously on this blog (see Futher reading, below), strong social networking growth during the next 24 months is likely to occur in specific sectors or communities - and Informa points to the likely importance of entertainment, productivity and social shopping.

In short, firms that are currently struggling to make the most of the social software revolution will slowly begin to find opportunities for making cash and increasing efficiency. Platforms that create the possibility for sectoral collaboration are the future of social networking, not applications that allow you to 'poke' your friends and play retro games.

Further reading

• Social networking to test traditional banking model
• Access? Open source? Rethinking the digital divide
• Social networking creates waste and exclusion
• Facebook? LinkedIn? Social networking is rubbish
• $15bn Facebook valuation masks the real deal
• Web 2.0 technologies = five hours of depression

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Fed up Brits are chomping at the bit to set up their own company, according to research from advice specialist Business Link. More than 10 million employees dream of leaving their job and starting their own business - and one in five workers are planning to make the leap into self employment in the next year.

Which would mean an astronomical amount of new businesses setting up during a downturn, at a time when funding is hard to find because of the credit crunch. Still, there's nowt wrong with optimistic fantasies - and the average worker apparently spends three working days a year dreaming about their future business.

But hang on a minute - what's this? It looks like the following contradiction is about to turn dreams of private ownership into a nightmare, according to Business Link:

• Optimistic - 45 per cent of people said they would fund a new company with a bank loan, overdraft or even a credit card
• Reality - 41 per cent of people admitted the current economic climate may make them less likely to start up their own business in the near future

Apparently, the poll also reveals that retail, art and culture, and health are the most popular sectors for new business. Art and culture? Yikes - millions of new galleries and mime festivals does not sound like a well thought-through business plan.

What happened to new technology businesses? The ever-widening chasm that is UK plc's skill gap should be creating lots of opportunities for innovative and creative IT professionals.

The latest NCC Benchmark of Salaries and Employment Trends in IT highlights how skills shortages are re-emerging. The overall rate of perceived shortages has increased from 4.2 per cent last year to 6.8 per cent this year, the highest shortage level reported by NCC's research in the past decade.

Three quarters (73 per cent) of firms report the need for new skills, meanwhile. NCC reports that IT professionals with Oracle, SAP, .Net, web development, network support, business analysis, virtualisation and project management skills will be in high demand over the next two years, despite fears of a downturn.

As has been demonstrated on this blog in the last few weeks (see Further reading, below), now is the right time to branch out and sell your abilities if you're an IT professional with the right skills:

• Gartner says there is a real shortages of people with general qualifications, experience and business insight
• E-skills UK reports the IT sector is expanding at such a rate that 140,000 new staff will be needed annually for the next five years to fill high-level positions
• And as much as fifty-five per cent of IT workers expect to change jobs this year, according to recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark

Good luck, you brave souls...

Further reading

On the IT skills gap and possibilities for technology professionals:

• Technology skills gap will create a crisis, says Gartner
• IT needs to show the boss it means business
• Depressed technology professionals need a boost
• Is IT always a business issue?
• The adventures of a technology career

On UK R&D and the need to boost innovation:

• Invest in technology to safeguard UK innovation
• Forget the downturn and fight for innovation
• Don’t be afraid to be an IT innovator
• Innovate to impress the boss
• UK innovation needs private sector help
• Raise a glass to innovation partners

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Sometimes, you have to start out a bit dull to end up in a worthy position. Network management - the focus of this month's Definitive Guide section in Computing - is a good example.

While running networks used to be all about providing suitable bandwidth and pinging routers, network managers today work at the more responsible end of the spectrum (if you'll excuse the network-based pun): security, internet protocols and content control. As Richard Mahoney, enterprise practice leader at analyst Ovum, says in this week's feature section:

"The onset of convergence has brought more complex management functions because voice and video in particular have to be treated in a more sensitive fashion to guarantee higher levels of service."

Future developments in network management, according to writer Linda More, will concentrate on automation and policy-based control:

Next-generation networks
Integrate Ethernet with multi-protocol label switching and you get an IP-centric carrier-class network that can deliver rich multiple services such as VoIP, unified messaging and personal communications services. Whether the traffic flows over fixed copper, fibre or a mobile infrastructure will no longer be of concern to the user or the administrator. Next-generation networks will be more intelligent and offer new features through software residing in the system.

Virtual managed services
The scope of remotely-delivered managed services is set to grow as the technology improves and acceptance of the concept of virtual managed services increases. The management, and even the provision, of enterprise infrastructures, could be absorbed into next-generation networks being implemented by telecoms companies. Virtualising services – such as telephone provision, contact centres as well as conferencing, email and office applications – means that provision could be delivered and managed from the core of the network, rather than from in the enterprise.

Autonomic computing
Self-diagnosing and self-healing network systems may seem like science fiction, but with the increasing complexity and distribution of infrastructure, autonomic computing has the potential to address some of the management challenges facing business. Viewing IT infrastructures and their services as closed-loop control systems, autonomics implements the corrective actions that return the system to its normal state.

Network management portals
The proliferation of modern network management tools, together with changes and advances in additional functionality and service delivery, means that running and monitoring multiple network management applications is no longer workable. Portals will be used to provide the window into the network management world, in the same way that the systems provide an integrated desktop or dashboard for business applications. As remote network management becomes the norm, your network management portal may soon be appearing on a desktop or mobile device near you.

Policy-based management
Taking a manual approach to network management is unrealistic in the long-term: what is needed is a holistic and comprehensive method that supports business requirements. Networks need to be directed and managed according to policies and procedures and we are starting to see policy-based network management tools appearing in the market. Regulatory compliance seems to be the current driver, but expect to see new tools appearing that offer a wider, comprehensive methodology for total network management.

All exciting-sounding stuff, particularly when set against the dull-but-worthy exercise of pining routers and checking for availability. But how do such automatic monitoring and virtualisation tools sit against e-skills UK's recent suggestion that the IT sector will need 140,000 new staff for the next five years to fill high-level positions? Where do such automated advances leave the role of network managers?

• For the full feature: http://www.computing.co.uk/2208869
• For the full Definitive Guide series: http://www.computing.co.uk/2198192

Further reading

• Technology skills gap will create a crisis, says Gartner
• IT needs to show the boss it means business
• Depressed technology professionals need a boost
• Is IT always a business issue?
• The adventures of a technology career

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Your IT skills are out-of-date and threatening the success of business growth. So says analyst Gartner, which suggests traditional technical skills will not suit the burgeoning demand for developing IT and business together.

“What constitutes qualified people will change," says Gartner vice president and Fellow Diane Morello. "The intersection of business models and IT requires people with varied experience, professional versatility, multidiscipline knowledge and technology understanding – a hybrid professional, in other words."

Hybrid, eh? Sounds a bit robotic; a bit modern. Andy Kyte, vice president and Gartner Fellow, says there aren't enough of these hybrids about - in fact, he says the impact for business could be, well, catastrophic: “This is a massive and devastating skills shortage and it is coming when there is a surge in the number of projects that are required from IT.”

Gartner says there is a real shortages of people with general qualifications, experience and business insight. The focus is on understanding and managing business processes and technology, skills which take time to mature.

While Gartner are undoubtedly right, there's nothing exceptionally original in the announcement: for a start, the skills crisis is common knowledge. E-skills UK recently revealed the IT sector is expanding at such a rate that 140,000 new staff will be needed annually for the next five years to fill high-level positions, on top of the 1.5 million people already employed in the industry.

It's also common knowledge that IT workers need to become more aware of business requirements, just like the business needs to become more aware of the abilities of IT. It is, in short, a two-way street (see Further reading, below: IT needs to show the boss it means business).

As Dr Sharm Manwani, associate professor at Henley Management College, told me the other day, the business use of technology is now a real priority for IT professionals. Finding ways to make that message stick - and to provide useful systems and processes for users - is the key.

Further reading

• IT needs to show the boss it means business
• Depressed technology professionals need a boost
• Is IT always a business issue?
• The end of computer science?
• Is studying computer science a waste of time?
• The adventures of a technology career

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What is the IT department actually responsible for? Technology experts are keen to suggest responsibility for a range of IT issues should pass to “the business”.

Take data quality, for example, which sounds like a core technology issue. Not so, says Gartner analyst and research vice president Ted Friedman: “Data quality is a business issue, not an IT matter, and it requires the business to take responsibility and drive improvements.”

Friedman suggests a marketing specialist should act as a data steward, keeping data “complete, correct, consistent, honest and not redundant”.

What about service-oriented architecture (SOA), which is a complex issue at the best of times and involves specific concentration on data and integration.

Once again, the business is crucial, says IDC research manager Jan Duffy: “The lines between IT and business are so blurred that they almost do not exist when it comes to adopting something like SOA.”

I could go on ­ comments about the business needing to run technology, or technology being part of the business, are common.

But are such sentiments get out of jail cards; basically a simple, shorthand method for explaining away a complex IT issue?

Worse, is the industry doing itself a disservice and helping to hasten the demise of the IT organisation and a series of senior technology positions?

Computing recently reported that further investment in business technology and skills could boost the UK economy by £35bn, according to the latest research from sector skills council e-Skills UK.

The IT sector is expanding at such a rate that 140,000 new staff will be needed annually for the next five years to fill high-level positions, on top of the 1.5 million people already employed in the industry.

But two significant problems are manifest: many students are not interested in IT and many firms are not taking technology seriously enough.

UK applications to IT-related degrees have fallen by 50 per cent in the past five years. And just 35 per cent of technology leaders now report to the chief executive, according to Harvey Nash and PA Consulting.

Nothing is going to improve until the IT industry starts taking itself seriously and recognises technology matters for business, not the other way round.

Further reading

• Depressed technology professionals need a boost
• Is IT always a business issue?
• The end of computer science?
• Is studying computer science a waste of time?
• The adventures of a technology career

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Fed up with your bank? Concerned your trusted provider might cancel your credit card account, despite your fiscally prudent attitude? To quote one high street financial institution, there is another way - and it involves social networking.

Analyst Gartner says non-bank competitors are pushing aggressively into financial services and creating a threat around two core business areas: lending and payment.

The key is social banking* (the star is important, according to Gartner - see the note below), which the analyst describes as the combination of social trends, such as green practices, social entrepreneurship and peer-to-peer (P2P) lending via social networks.

Gartner predicts social banking platforms will have captured 10 per cent of the available worldwide market for retail lending and financial planning by 2010. And the analyst says venture capital investment in financial social networks such as Zopa, Prosper and Lending Club illustrate increasing consumer interest. Says Alistair Newton, research vice president at Gartner:

“This combination of business, non-profit organisations and social justice is being bolstered by general consumer trends and social causes that appeal to consumers to shop ethically.In addition, more consumers are generally spending more time in social networks which increasingly form part of consumer purchase processes for new products and services.”

Unsurprisingly - given ongoing fears of a growing digital divide - Gartner expects social banking to take off in geographies with a developed banking market and widespread adoption of broadband: in short, Western Europe and parts of the United States.

*Note on social banking
Gartner says "social banking should not be mistaken for charitable giving". And you know, they're right - there is some confusion. Google the term "social banking" and you quickly discover that social banking is:

• "A combination of the social trends in networking communities of interest with financial products, services, capital and market access for a return on investment and social benefit" (definition, Gartner)
• "A social banking process that caters specially to the development needs of the poor, in sharp contrast with conventional commercial banking" (definition, www.caledonia.org.uk)

Further reading

• Access? Open source? Rethinking the digital divide
• Social networking creates waste and exclusion
• Facebook? LinkedIn? Social networking is rubbish
• $15bn Facebook valuation masks the real deal
• Web 2.0 technologies = five hours of depression

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Trying to find a proper use for Web 2.0 applications is as infuriating as being stuck in a pointless meeting with a business colleague.

Hyped up social networks, such as Facebook, are often seen as time-wasting devices that are only good for one thing: work avoidance.

But research from recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark reveals 38 per cent of UK executives are not signed up to social networking sites. A further 12 per cent of workers have access blocked by employers and 22 per cent restrict usage to out of office hours.

Such research shows a few key trends: some users remain sceptical about the potential of Web 2.0 technologies - and some businesses also remain sceptical about Web 2.0

The reason is simple. Most social networking options currently lack a strong business applicability and until chief executives can see a reason for implementation, users will remain outside the realm of collaboration.

Such exclusion needs to be put in context, especially when just six per cent of UK employees believe social networking sites are a major distraction at work.

Maybe the employees are in a state of denial? Or maybe employers are over-reacting and Web 2.0 is a healthy way of relaxing at work? As one IT worker (DigitAL) commented on my blog recently:

"Just a reminder, IT staff are not machines. If I did not have 20 minutes time out a day on Facebook, I would otherwise chat to the cleaner or go to the coffee machine in the TV room or text my mates."

The Badenoch & Clark survey also suggests workers are more distracted at work by pointless meetings and loud colleagues than social networking applications.

Pointless meetings, eh? Now you are talking. The whole world has gone meetingstastic - and if that is not a word, it should be. As a contact of mine suggested recently, someone should start a social network called meetingsaboutmeetings.com, logging the details of meetings, providing a meeting place for other people involved in meetings to talk about, well, their meetings.

Because people involved in business just love to: "Borrow your time for a quick meeting." What is this strange concept of borrowing time? You can't get it back once you have taken it. As far as I'm aware, no-one has yet invented a time-bartering system.

Basically, your pointless, 30 minute work-avoidance chat about spreadsheets and Tony from accounts may have helped relieve your tedium and helped shorten your day, but it has extended mine and contracted the amount of available minutes for management and administration.

Sound familiar? Apparently so, according to the Badenoch & Clark survey, which suggests almost a third of UK executives believe pointless meetings are a major source of distraction to productivity at work.

Rubbish meetings, however, are just the base level of UK executives ire. More than half (52 per cent) of managers believe loud, distracting colleagues are the biggest source of distraction. It is not hard to understand why, with businesses keen to move towards open plan offices and hot-desking.

Crammed in like commuters on an over-priced train journey, employees are often expected to sit hip-by-jowl with colleagues. Staff are then confronted with their colleagues' selfish habits, such as talking loudly to friends on the mobile phone or eating stinking food at the desk.

Now, here should be the business use for Web 2.0 and social networking applications – providing a way for colleagues and partners to effectively collaborate without shouting or smelling. However, available social software suggests we are some way off such a conclusion yet.

Further reading

• Social networking creates waste and exclusion
• Facebook? LinkedIn? Social networking is rubbish
• Facebook provides a great business opportunity
• Turn email off to stop unhelpful chatter
• $15bn Facebook valuation masks the real deal
• Web 2.0 technologies = five hours of depression

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Happy February. Actually, that should probably be a rhetorical question - so, maybe I should have started the post: Happy February?

January, by all accounts - both personal and research-based - was a bit of a stinker. Mine was all right since you asked, thanks very much. But the glut of research released in January suggests the first month of the year was indeed a stinker.

Check below to see how many 'most depressing days of the year' fall in January. Now, I know more than one most depressing day of the year is a a bit of an oxymoron, but see for yourself:

"We were somehow cheered up, in a wet and miserable Glasgow yesterday, to learn that January 14 was the unhappiest day of the year. Apparently, with Christmas long gone, New Year resolutions broken, bills arriving and dreary weather, it was not a day to induce much cheer."
  http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/diary/display.var.1965218.0.Seat_of_learning.php

"Quite unafraid to state the bloomin' obvious, however, one Dr Cliff Arnall, a psychologist, has rendered commonsensical observations into a manner of scientific formula. This, when the data has been fed in, spits out the prediction that tomorrow (January 21), being the first Monday of the last full week of January, will be the unhappiest day of the year."
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/01/20/dl2003.xml

"Feeling under the weather? Welcome to what psychologists call the 'most depressing day of the year'. January 24 has been awarded the unfortunate accolade due to a combination of factors – including post-Christmas debt, the weather and failed New Year’s resolutions. And if you find yourself suffering from the winter blues then you’re not alone: a survey by Badenoch & Clark has found that 21% of UK workers are unhappy in their jobs."
  http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/News/MostEmailed/779069/the-joy-work/

Three 'most depressing days of the year'? I might be wrong, but I would have thought the word 'most' suggested some form of definitive date. Apparently not; apparently there are three days to feel glum and blue in January (not including the other 28, which might be suggested by other research/personal experiences).

And it doesn't get better for technology professionals, with recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark’s quarterly Happiness At Work Index revealing a quarter (25 per cent) of IT professionals are unhappy at work.

What's more, as much as fifty-five per cent of IT workers expect to change jobs this year. Which despite the apparent negativity surrounding current positions, shows positive thinking on the part of IT professionals - given expectations of a downturn and a fall in career opportunities (see Further reading, below).

Anyway, here's the sectoral breakdown in full. And look, human resources (HR) workers are even more unhappy/unconcerned than IT professionals. Have a happy February:

Percentage of unhappy workers

• HR - 29 per cent
• IT- 25 per cent
• Travel & transport - 24 per cent
• Accountancy - 24 per cent
• Healthcare - 23 per cent
• (National average - 21per cent)
  

Percentage of workers unconcerned about 2008 job prospects

• HR - 45 per cent
• IT - 35 per cent
• Banking & finance - 30 per cent
• Accountancy - 27 per cent
• Public Sector - 25 per cent
• (National average - 24 per cent)

Further reading

• Interim IT managers: Will daily rates stay high?
  
• Wages and recession: Who is paid more than you?
• Is IT always a business issue?
• CIOs will sacrifice IT contractors in downturn plan
• The end of computer science?
• Is studying computer science a waste of time?
• Don't study IT if you want to be a CIO
• The adventures of a technology career

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Thinking of jacking in the day job, but worried about an impending recession? Demand for interim managers in the UK increased last year, with the number of assignments and daily pay rates at an all time high:

• Average daily interim rates increased by 4.5 per cent to £580, compared with the same period in 2006
• There was an increase in interim activity, which was up 1.3 per cent compared with the same period in 2006 - with 52 per cent of interim managers currently working on assignments

Technology interims also got paid the most, according to the Russam GMS Interim Management Monitor. Interim managers specialising in IT were commanding the highest daily rates in December 2007 - an average of £622; closely followed by general managers on £610 and sales and marketing executives who earned an average £595 a day.

So, good on the technology interims - who says working in IT doesn't pay? That, however, is the end of the good news.

The GMS Monitor also highlights how demand for interims eased in December, with GMS suggesting the slow in demand is possibly indicative of a market slowdown. Charles Russam, chairman of Russam GMS, says proof of a recession should come soon:

"March is usually a very busy month in the interim management sector and we would expect to see a serious uplift in activity- if this does not happen, we will know the market has changed."

Further reading

• Wages and recession: Who is paid more than you?
• Is IT always a business issue?
• CIOs will sacrifice IT contractors in downturn plan
• The end of computer science?
• Is studying computer science a waste of time?
• Don't study IT if you want to be a CIO
• The adventures of a technology career

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