“Being a business winner means you need to work hard and play hard,” said the chief executive at a recent breakout session.

It was motivating stuff. I immediately thought of how I could use his paradigm shift to push the envelope. Thankfully, everyone else in the IT team wanted to hit the ground running ­ and we were able to brainstorm about quick wins.

In today’s highly competitive marketplace, you cannot afford to sit on the fence. So, the first game changer we implemented was an integrated Web 2.0 solution that the team could use to leverage low-hanging fruit.

Then we took some of those ideas offline, so that we could touch base and think about future synergies. Keen not to drop the ball, I took some of our showstoppers to senior management.

And what a session that was. Ken ­ - my right-hand man ­ - put a stake in the ground and ran our concepts up the flagpole to see who would salute.

“In terms of scalability, your best-of-breed vision could bring a lot of value to the table,” said the chief executive.

But going forward, I was eager to manage expectations as we moved to the next level. There’s no “I” in “team” and if you are going to maximise customer satisfaction, everyone has to work together as they think outside the box.

We’d recognised that people are our best asset and knew the resulting piece could architect a bright horizon for the business.

Speaking honestly, I’d given 110 per cent and knew our model could push the organisation from good to great. Then someone from finance stuck their nose in and asked what improved ROI we could expect from the system.

“It is what it is,” I said. And I turned to Ken, who looked down and muttered something about the 80/20 rule and 24/7 operations. The chief executive then canned the initiative. This was a shame, because blue sky thinking requires people to raise the bar.

But Ken and I also knew you can’t polish a turd. And we were secretly pleased when human resources gave us our cards and said we would be spending more time with the family.

Further reading

• 'Gentleman's hours' are key to flexible working
• Would you recommend a career in IT to your child?
• Forget dreams of working abroad, or in Cobol
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

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Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

There's nothing like a precise figure. And according to Plimsoll Analysis, up to 24,073 jobs could be lost as the UK computer software industry consolidates during the next 12 months - which, if nothing else, is an exercise in precision.

Plimsoll has analysed each of the UK’s leading 2,000 companies, assessing each firm’s chances of survival. As well as the job losses:

• As many as three quarters of the firms analysed will need to reduced their head count
• One of the largest firms could see up to 985 jobs lost
• More than a quarter of the companies surveyed are already running at a loss
• Companies need to aim for at least £115,000 sales per employee in order to stay competitive

The figures demonstrate the potential problems ahead, both for the UK software industry and IT professionals. As David Pattison, senior analyst at Plimsoll Analysis, says of the challenge:

“The 165 companies we have identified as in danger need to act now if they are to survive. It's very important they review their entire business cost base and take action now to significantly reduce their outgoings. Whilst job losses are undoubtedly bad news for any company, such decisive action may be called for to guarantee the ultimate survival of the business - even if this means the business is 30 or 50 per cent smaller than it was.”

Are job losses bad news for a company? Yeah, maybe. But if the organisation cuts employees and then turns business performance round, are the cuts still bad news? No, I guess not. But they are still bad news for employees that loses their jobs...

Further reading

• 'Gentleman's hours' are key to flexible working
• Would you recommend a career in IT to your child?
• Forget dreams of working abroad, or in Cobol
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Flexible working is one thing - but do you work like a gentleman? Travelling in on the Underground this morning, I had the pleasure/misfortune of being stuck next to a couple of city workers that were intent on discussing everything they knew about everybody.

And very loudly.

After I listened to half an hour of 'new money' rubbish - who lives where, who has a second home, etc. - one of the commuters said: "Well, he's changed now, hasn't he? He's working gentleman's hours."

Am I missing out on something? Is that a city-only term, because it's not something I've come across before. If in doubt, turn to Google - which suggests a couple of possibilities. I found a couple of references to 8am to 4pm, so that men can get home to have dinner the family. Another definition referred to 10pm until sunrise. I also found a lot of stuff about fishing.

Anyway, "gentleman's hours" seem to be the new way of flexible working. Any other definitions out there?

Further reading

• Smart firms take the flexible working route
• Would you recommend a career in IT to your child?
• Forget dreams of working abroad, or in Cobol
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Everyone is suddenly talking about the responsiveness of the IT department to line-of-business demand. Not so long ago, technology professionals might have worked in isolation ­ now users tell the IT department what they need and chief information officers (CIOs) are charged with working to the business’ requirements.

Agility is the term most often banded about in an attempt to sum up the transformation from technology-pushed innovation to on-demand development.

Attend any conference and you can expect speakers ­- both on the business and supplier side ­- to talk about the need for “strategic business agility”. But what does the term really mean?

In this month’s cover feature, Computing Business talks to chief information officers and line-of-business executives about their perspectives on agility.

The most insightful comment comes from independent financial services consultant Margaret Smith, who says the term agility is little used beyond the IT function.

“I do not know anyone outside IT who talks about business agility. They just expect it -­ and get extremely frustrated when IT does not deliver it,” she says.

Do not turn off, then, when you hear people talking about the need for agility. While use of the term is contentious and often smothered in marketing hype, the concepts that agility represent are critical.

You will need to cut through the flannel and find out the technology needs of users across the business. Such an on-demand way of working creates specific challenges for CIOs, not least the development of smooth interaction between the top tiers of management.

IT directors are aware of the need for smarter collaboration. As many as 97 per cent of CIOs believe the partnership between IT and the business is absolutely critical to obtaining agility, according to research from senior IT leaders’ forum CIO Connect.

At the same time, however, progress towards alignment is often stalled by internal working methods. CIO Connect research suggests only 27 per cent of IT leaders believe their organisation has the culture and processes in place to encourage agile relationships.

Now is the time to analyse the way decisions are made across your business. Agility might seem like a nebulous concept, but the competitive advantage of your company will rely on rapid and effective responses.

Further reading

• Simon Pitt to lead IT at the Environment Agency
• CIO concerns: Rob Fraser switches Boots for CSC
• CIOs will need to transform to survive
• Career moves: Robin Terrell is John Lewis web MD
• Career moves: Steve Markwell is new NCC CEO
• Career moves: Carl Powell becomes Unipart CEO
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

A cheeky lie-in, a cup of tea in bed, a quick check of email and a half hour of the BBC’s To Buy, or Not to Buy.

Sound familiar? Spend too much time hanging around the house in your underwear? Chances are it doesn’t and you don’t, but would certainly welcome the flexibility to work when and where you choose.

As many as 94 per cent of employees want flexible working, according to research from communications specialist Avaya. Yet only 17 per cent of companies extend the privilege to all staff.

Avaya suggests the results highlight a new “digital divide” between firms that offer flexible working practices and those that do not support requests from staff. For the 83 per cent of firms that fall into the latter category, there are probably two key reasons why flexible working is not a tempting strategy.

First, there is the business factor. Certain jobs are performed better in the office; others are completed easier in the peaceful surrounds of the home environment.

Without the distraction of colleagues and contacts, home workers should be able to work quickly and efficiently. But the extraneous distractions of the kettle and the TV mean bosses remain sceptical about the potential for their staff to stay focused.

Second, there is the technology factor. Secure flexible working requires a bunch of new tools and applications, such as BlackBerrys, laptops and virtual private networks all purchased and provided by the employer.

You can, of course, take short-cuts and allow your workers to use their own technology. But the payback from that approach comes when hackers access your corporate network via an unsecured port.

Fears of work avoidance and unsecure access mean many firms are taking an inflexible approach to flexible working, with small firms less likely (57 per cent) to offer alternative conditions of employment.

Blue-chip companies are at least keen to offer flexible options that meet the current legislation governing homeworking. But smart businesses will go beyond the minimum and offer a range of flexible working opportunities, because allowing your employees to check emails in their boxer shorts is likely to increase productivity and loyalty.

Further reading

• Would you recommend a career in IT to your child?
• Forget dreams of working abroad, or in Cobol
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• IT skills crisis not solved via death by Powerpoint
• There is a depressing lack of innovation in UK IT
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

I've just written a news story for Computing that demonstrates how the UK is among the most expensive locations for onshore outsourcing.

The research from analyst Datamonitor demonstrates how contact centre provision in Western Europe and the United States is pretty expensive. But the UK price per agent per hour is among the most costly, due mainly to a lack of suitable talent. As Peter Ryan, head of contact centre outsourcing analysis at Datamonitor, suggests:

"Many vendors cite an inability to find contact centre agents of a high calibre and are frustrated at their unwillingness to stay in their role over an extended period of time. The result is an erosion of margin or higher costs being passed back to the client."

Yet another reason for IT managers to look to offshore locations, then - and Datamonitor suggests Colombia, Philippines and India are among the most competitively priced destinations.

Further reading

• Multisourcing means megadeal decline, says Gartner
• The future of outsourcing is outcome-based, says TPI
• 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

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Simon Pitt has been appointed head of corporate information services (CIS) at the Environment Agency, an organisation which sees green IT as a top priority. CIS provides the organisation’s IT services. As well as day-to-day IT support services, CIS also develops strategy to ensure technology meets the Environment Agency’s future needs.

A press release from the Agency states the CIS is currently undergoing significant change and the tendering process is under way to create "the most environmentally sustainable green government IT contract ever". Pitt says he is looking forward to concentrating on the organisation's green computing strategy:

“The Environment Agency has made some great progress over the past few years improving IT systems. However as the environmental stakes have got higher, the Environment Agency is under pressure to deliver more, better and faster IT in order to keep apace of the changing environment. I’m excited at having the chance to drive this change forward.”

Pitt will be responsible for overseeing 12,000 workers that provide IT systems and support across England and Wales. Prior to his appointment, Pitt worked at the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) and was responsible for establishing the IT to develop the infrastructure for the 2012 Olympics. Before working at the ODA, Pitt was director of information management at London Underground.

Further reading

• CIO concerns: Rob Fraser switches Boots for CSC
• CIOs will need to transform to survive
• Career moves: Robin Terrell is John Lewis web MD
• Career moves: Steve Markwell is new NCC CEO
• Career moves: Carl Powell becomes Unipart CEO
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

The last two posts on this blog have been about the lack of innovation in the UK and the growing importance of research in China. The apparent shift east of leading-edge thinking makes for depressing reading, especially in an increasingly globalisaed market.

Of course, different results from different surveys can present a different story. And as if to elucidate the point, researcher the RAND Corporation has released a study that concludes that the United States remains the dominant leader in science and technology, despite perceptions that the nation - and the West, more generally - is losing a competitive edge.

RAND reports the US accounts for 40 per cent of the global spending on scientific R&D, employs 70 per cent of the world’s Nobel Prize winners and is home to three-quarters of the world’s top 40 universities.

More pointedly, a continuing flow of scientists in to the US has helped - and continuing the flow of foreign-born talent is critical to helping the US maintain its lead, says Titus Galama, co-author of the report and a management scientist at RAND:

“Much of the concern about the United States losing its edge as the world’s leader in science and technology appears to be unfounded. But the United States cannot afford to be complacent. Effort is needed to make sure the nation maintains or even extends its standing.”

The RAND research says that while China is investing heavily in R&D, it does not yet account for a large share of world innovation - which continues to be dominated by the US, Europe and Japan.

But as yesterday's blog posting demonstrated, if patent filings in China continue to grow at the current rate, the the State Intellectual Property Office of China will overtake the United States Patent and Trademark Office by 2012.

Further reading

• China is pushing innovation, says Evalueserve
• Take a risk on innovation and you might just win
• Growing risk of litigation threatens IT innovation
• How can the CIO gain respect for IT innovation?
• Making best use of Gartner's reports
• There is a depressing lack of innovation in UK IT

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Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Further evidence that businesses are eschewing large service deals in favour of multiple deals with many providers. Experts (see Further reading, below) have already pointed to an upward trend in multisourcing - the use of several outsourcers to maintain services.

And now analyst Gartner points to the decline of megadeals, contracts with a value of more than $1bn. Ten outsourcing megadeals were awarded last year, a decline from 12 in 2006.

Kurt Potter, research director at Gartner, says the decline can be partially explained by the fact that outsourcing is now seen as business as usual in many companies - and users are looking at many different methods for service delivery:

“Many providers are pursuing smaller contract strategies as a consequence of the new market realities, new competition and natural market pressures toward commoditisation, which reduces per-unit pricing. These strategies are often in the form of pursuit of smaller contracts from larger clients, or larger contracts from smaller companies."

Other facts from the research include:

• In terms of megadeal total contact value, the total for the 10 megadeals in 2007 was $12bn, the lowest level reported during the last eight years, with the closest level being that of $20.3bn in 2001
• Average contract value (ACV) of megadeals also continued to decrease, from an average of $2.6bn in 2006 to $1.2bn in 2007
• Of the 2007 outsourcing total, Gartner said megadeals represented 39.4 per cent of the contract value and only 6.8 per cent of the number of total contracts in 2007, down from 7.4 per cent in 2006
• Although deals with less than $50m in contract value continued to increase and reached 39.5 per cent of the total number of contracts, they only represented 3.3 per cent of toal contract value for 2007

Further reading

• The future of outsourcing is outcome-based, says TPI
• 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

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Another day, another set of trends in outsourcing. Market consolidation and new destinations are the key issues in external service provision, according to recent attendees at the the European Outsourcing Association summit.

Research at the summit, undertaken by the National Outsourcing Association, suggests globalisation will lead to one of the major Indian providers acquiring a large European or American firm. Three quarters of outsourcing specialists questioned at the summit believe an acquisition is imminent. Other key findings include:

• Consolidation is earmarked as a rapidly increasing industry trend by 68 percent of respondents
• Continental Europe is no longer as protectionist about outsourcing and offshoring - both are now accepted business practices
• Different nearshore locations, particularly Romania and Bulgaria, have brought a new attractiveness to the European offshoring market. As much as 59 per cent of respondents believe Romania and Bulgaria are now more attractive
• But respondents also believe Eastern European nations do not have the scale of staff to resource behemoth outsourcing deals, with the majority (58 per cent) believing different geographies are suited to different types of outsourcing projects.
• Only 17 percent believe Indian providers are leaps and bounds ahead of all other locations

Further reading

• The future of outsourcing is outcome-based, says TPI
• The next big thing in outsourcing?
• 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

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Strategic agility, business agility and strategic business agility - go to any IT conference and technology experts are keen to big up the need for 'agility'. The term is often allied to other key buzzwords - such as strategic and business - in an attempt to increase gravitas.

The result, however, is the opposite. Lack of clarity obfuscates meaning and agility remains a slippery subject, as identified in next month's Computing Business (out 19 June). The magazine for IT leaders speaks to chief information officers and line-of business executives about their perspectives on agility.

The most insightful comment in Jim Mortleman's cover feature comes from independent financial services consultant Margaret Smith, who says the term agility is little used beyond the IT function:

“I don’t know anyone outside IT who talks about business agility. They just expect it – and get extremely frustrated when IT doesn’t deliver it."

Once again, IT concentrates on giving a perceived problem a trendy name - rather than defining and solving the business issues at hand.

Further reading

• The innovative CIO asserts their pressence
• Growing risk of litigation threatens IT innovation
• Making best use of Gartner's reports
• CIOs will need to transform to survive
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

"Interest in Aston Business School boosted by The Apprentice," says the press release. Could it be true? Are potential students rushing to apply for the BSc in Management and Strategy because the course was once completed by The Apprentice contestant Alex Wotherspoon?

Kind of. Applications for the BSc are up 27 per cent on last year, while the number of students making the course their first choice is up by 150 per cent:

Apparently, Alex Wotherspoon completed his studies at Aston Business School in 2005. But the press release claims his continuing involvement in the BBC TV show has sparked a growing interest in his former university:

"One applicant even phoned Aston Business School in Birmingham and mentioned the television show as the reason for her choice."

One applicant? Hmmm...  In fact, Dr Helen Higson, associate dean of undergraduate studies at the university, says in the press release that the course’s surge in popularity is only partly due to Alex’s popularity on the TV show:

”While Alex’s adventures on The Apprentice have certainly given course applications a boost in recent weeks, it is also due to the excellent reputation of Aston Business School and the employability of its graduates after they complete their studies.”

My reading of the situation? 'Aston Business School is popular' plus 'The Apprentice's Alex Wotherspoon once studied at the university' equals 'an opportunity for marketing spin...'

Further reading

• Men like women in short skirts, says research
• "Glamorous" PR tarred with IT nerd brush
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• IT skills crisis not solved via death by Powerpoint
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Men like women in short skirts. As men get older, they like to see a bit more flesh. Those are some of the findings from a survey of 422 UK senior managers and directors by development consultancy The Aziz Corporation:

"Men are much more tolerant than women of very short skirts at work: 34 per cent of men see them as appropriate compared to just 16 per cent of women. Middle-aged men (aged between 40 and 49) tend to appreciate a bit of cleavage on show, with 60 per cent feeling that this is acceptable in the office. But female bosses become less tolerant of low-cut tops as they age, with only a third of those over the age of 50 prepared to put up with displays of cleavage at work."

Nothing like stereotypes, eh? I wonder how the surveyed male managers and directors feel about attempts to encourage more women into IT? Other findings from the survey include the following (my comments in italics):

• Flip-flops were deemed unacceptable by 84 per cent of respondents.

On the beach? Yes. In the park? Maybe. In the office? Never.

• Perhaps of greater surprise is the fact that visible tattoos are thought acceptable by 45 per cent.

Why the surprise? I am getting a spider's web on my neck tomorrow. And a couple of tears under my eye. Oh, and a dotted line around my neck and the words 'cut here'.

• Shorts are still an office pariah with almost nine in ten (88 per cent) considering them inappropriate for office wear.

Once again - on the beach? Yes. In the park? Maybe. In the office? Never.

• The jury is also still out on the subject of ties carrying a jokey motif: respondents were divided almost fifty-fifty in their opinion of them. "Jokey ties and other items of questionable taste are probably best saved for the weekend," said Professor Khalid Aziz, chairman of The Aziz Corporation.

Why the divide? Jokey ties are the same as comedy pop songs - naff. But with a bank holiday weekend comping up, I intend to follow up the Prof's words and crack open the box labelled  'comedy ties'. I know the Homer Simpson tie will look strange with jeans and T-shirt, but hey - it's the weekend...

Further reading

• "Glamorous" PR tarred with IT nerd brush
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• IT skills crisis not solved via death by Powerpoint
• There is a depressing lack of innovation in UK IT
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

You have a child who is about to make a decision that would dictate its quality of life for the next 40-or-so years. This is big news, particularly for readers who are unaware they have any kids. But bear with me on this one.

Because it is time for your real, or theoretical, flesh and blood to decide what they want to be when they grow up. We have all been there, of course. I wanted to be a professional footballer, but I was rubbish.

Some children are more grounded, and make the decision that they want to work in the IT industry.

You made a similar decision yourself once, probably when anything technological seemed to lead to the land of opportunity. But that well-worn path seems to have become increasingly desolate during the past few years.

Companies are struggling with the downturn, and their risk-averse actions increasingly stifle the development of innovative IT.

Such actions do not stop executives sticking their noses into technology, with agile IT managers  expected to respond quickly to line-of-business demands.

When they are not pushing their beaks into your department, executives are coming up with ideas for themselves based on consumer technologies.

And the pace of change in the information age means IT skills are often out of date before professionals are even certified, let alone employed.

The above conditions mean recommending a career in IT might appear like the equivalent of a life sentence at Her Majesty’s pleasure.

Not so, say IT professionals ­ – with 75 per cent of technology workers suggesting they would recommend a career in IT to a child, according to online recruitment specialist The IT Job Board.

Such positive souls should consider the government estimate that 60 per cent of the job titles that will one day be available to the UK’s 2008 primary school intake have yet to be created.

If that fact is not enough to blow your mind, think about how your own job could change.

By all means recommend a career as an IT professional, but today’s children are more likely to be tomorrow’s “Web 4.0 business collaboration executives”. Or something like that.

Further reading

• Forget dreams of working abroad, or in Cobol
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• IT skills crisis not solved via death by Powerpoint
• There is a depressing lack of innovation in UK IT
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

"I love Charlie Brooker, but then doesn't everyone? I also hate people," is a great way to start an email, methinks.

A PR chum of mine emailed the above comment in response to my blog posting a couple of days ago; the one about The Guardian's Charlie Brooker - and strangers thinking you're an IT nerd. While agreeing that working in technology creates a bunch of unwelcome perceptions, she also had the following to say:

"You should try telling people you work in PR. To begin with they assume you lead an Ab-Fab-esque existence and will either be superior about what an airhead you must be, or will get over-excited at the prospect that you have some sort of incredibly glamorous, drug-fuelled existence. If you then tell them you work in technology PR you may in fact redress their initial assumptions, but not for the better. Instead you get the standard tech-inspiring dismissal."

Further reading

• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• Red is probably not the key to technology success
• IT skills crisis not solved via death by powerpoint
• Soho celebrity spots 2: From Sykes to Littlewood...
• Soho celebrity spots: From Oddie to Mortimer...
• Second city Blues

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Computing reported last week that UK IT is in danger of losing skilled technology professionals overseas. Research from recruitment specialist Computer People suggests almost two-thirds of IT workers are looking for employment opportunities outside the UK.

Good luck and all that, but I would hazard a guess that there is a big difference between looking for overseas opportunities and actually finding work.

The first problem is that an increasing amount of nuts and bolts IT work is being offshored to Asia. Maybe Indian and Chinese firms will poach the top UK talent to work on IT projects, in a similar way to dot com firms in turn-of-the millennium California?

Don’t get your hopes up. While best practice theory suggests firms should only outsource technology on a quality basis, most businesses also outsource work to keep prices down.

Prices are unlikely to be kept low if specialist UK workers are imported from high-paying western economies. Cost-pressured firms across Europe and the US are also unlikely to be shelling out top dollar for global talent.

Information Week’s annual US IT salary survey shows the average wage for a technology professional has dropped for the first time since the dot com crash, from $74,000 (£37,000) in 2007 to $73,000 (£36,500).

Of course, some movement for highly-prized expertise is likely to occur. Fast-developing IT centres such as Dubai are expected to create some demand for IT workers. The Computer People report also suggests staff with Cobol skills are best rewarded, with an average annual salary of £41,870.

Computer People’s managing director Nick Dettmar says the IT industry consists of professionals who know they have sought-after skills. I am not so sure. Despite the promising pay rates, only the bravest of souls would become a Cobol specialist in today’s web-obsessed IT market.

Rather than specialising, UK IT professionals will need to be flexible because of the increasing desire for businesses to create on-demand solutions.

Such flexibility might mean working overseas. But it is more likely to include working across an ever-widening array of technology areas.

Further reading

• How can the CIO gain respect for IT innovation?
• Making best use of Gartner's reports
• CIO concerns: Rob Fraser switches Boots for CSC
• CIOs will need to transform to survive
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

So, I'm currently writing a piece about the future of IT skills - perceptions, change, the end of the world; that sort of thing.

Working in IT - or even IT journalism - can be a hard sell. IT is hardly a 'dinner party job'. Conversations with strangers tend to follow a familiar line:

Stranger: And what job do you do?
  Me: I'm a journalist.
  Stranger: How interesting. Who do you write for? The Times, The Sun?
  Me: I'm a technology journalist. I write for a business newspaper called Computing.
  Stranger: (Barely concealing their complete and utter disdain) Oh.
[Embarrassed pause, followed by nothing. Stranger talks to someone else. Anyone else.]

The Guardian's Charlie Brooker recently wrote a spirited defence of the games industry and Grand Theft Auto IV, more specifically. Brooker refers back to his time as a games journalist and how his increasing interest in the technical nature of the product saw the world perceive him as a nerd, or in his words "a tedious loser":

"Society decrees anyone who knows anything whatsoever about computers to be a boring idiot, while those possessing a similar level of nerd-knowledge of football or cinema or food are well-informed and sophisticated and sexually attractive and cool."

Now that is the truth. Strangely, nerd-like perceptions are even prevalent within the IT industry. Many years ago, I attended a focus group session where IT managers compared their feelings on the major technology publications. One guy said of Computing:

"Yeah, it's like you have to read Computing because you know it's weighty and important. But when I read my copy of Computing on the train, I hide it inside IT Week."

I was lost for words at that point. Though I did laugh. Quite a lot.

Further reading

• Red is probably not the key to technology success
• IT skills crisis not solved via death by powerpoint
• Soho celebrity spots 2: From Sykes to Littlewood...
• Soho celebrity spots: From Oddie to Mortimer...
• Second city Blues

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Today's earlier post moaned about risk aversion creating a lack of innovative IT. Well, you can't get innovative IT without funding - and Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets has appointed a new director to work with technology-based businesses who turnover in excess of £15m.

Michael Bavington - formerly a service contract specialist with the Hanover Financial Group - has been recruited to help IT companies raise funds using their assets. Bavington will be responsible for providing structured debt and lease funding to the bank's customers, particularly financial institutions and firms operating within the outsourcing sector.

Vasgen Edwards, managing director of Lloyds TSB Corporate Asset Finance, says Bavington's appointment will strengthen opportunities for funding: "He has developed considerable expertise in the key areas of origination and funding, and his specialist skill set will make a valuable contribution to the team."

Further reading

• Making best use of Gartner's reports
• CIO concerns: Rob Fraser switches Boots for CSC
• Career moves: Robin Terrell is John Lewis web MD
• Career moves: Steve Markwell is new NCC CEO
• Career moves: Carl Powell becomes Unipart CEO

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Computing tends to concentrate on the British industry blue chips, such as last week’s interview with Royal Mail IT chief Robin Dargue. And why not? Big companies fund big IT initiatives, such as the postal service’s £1.2bn change agenda.

Such projects are exciting, and attention is rightly paid to blue-chip technology successes, especially when domestic companies achieve a global lead.

But it is not always like that. Every worker has at one time or another experienced project lethargy.

You know the feeling ­ the one where you and your colleagues come up with a brilliant initiative; something that could improve business efficiency. You also know other firms in your sector have been slow to realise the benefits of the latest, greatest trend.

But your transformation plans are slowed by layers of bureaucracy, and the leading edge quickly blunts under a stack of executive sign-offs. What once seemed an opportunity to beat the competition quickly becomes a game of catch-up.

Sound familiar? One IT leader certainly seemed to think so, suggesting to me recently that the project lethargy story was all too familiar.

One possible conclusion is that the bigger the firm, the slower it is to realise the value of a new opportunity.

New business models do not help IT leaders. In what seems a matter of months, technology has gone from being a misunderstood backwater to a business essential.

Technology teams were once left to come up with their own ideas. Now, more executives are approaching the IT department with specific demands.

Analysts talk of the need for agility; vendors talk of the need for line-of-business IT management.

And while big companies often fund big IT initiatives, they also slash spending. A recession means the IT department is pushed to create innovative solutions with a decreasing budget.

The bright side is that in an age of information and collaboration, the IT department has never been more central to business development.

Focus on how your ideas can transform organisational processes ­ it should help your boss wake up to the importance of leading-edge technology.

Further reading

• How can the CIO gain respect for IT innovation?
• Making best use of Gartner's reports
• CIO concerns: Rob Fraser switches Boots for CSC
• CIOs will need to transform to survive
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

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Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

The next edition of Computing Business will concentrate on the role of innovation in IT, specifically around the development of relevant systems and processes for business users.

Pamela Whitby's cover feature makes for an intriguing read - and the following segment neatly illustrates the difficulties of achieving useful IT innovation:

The research from both reports shows there is no shortage of evidence that the business needs IT to innovate, rather than just operate. "Clearly the best approach to innovation is to align the business and the IT strategy," says Lynn Lawton, international president for professional IT governance body ISACA.

However, marrying the business strategy with the IT strategy poses some real challenges. One clear problem is communication - and the IT department and business seldom talk the same language. "People tend to get bogged down in acronyms and infrastructure," says Lawton.

Just 18 per cent of users agree that the IT department always communicates its objectives, according to the the IT Governance Institute - hardly an improvement on 2005, where just 14 per cent of users felt IT communicated its objectives. But be aware that poor communication is not just an IT concern. "Quite often business sees the IT department as nothing more than suppliers of electricity," says Lawton.

Lack of alignment, over-use of acronyms and a lack of respect from users - some things never change, eh? While the role of technology in modern business cannot be underestimated, it seems innovators will have to continue to fight for respect from line-of-business managers.

Roll on the revolution! Whatever that might look like...

Further reading

• There is a depressing lack of innovation in UK IT
• Social web is about improvement, not innovation
• Motion sensing: Wii must replace the mouse
• The future of technology, according to Gartner
• Forget the downturn and fight for innovation
• Don’t be afraid to be an IT innovator

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Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Information is the lifeblood of any organisation and chief information officers (CIOs) need to create a strategy that ensures crucial business information stays protected. It can be a difficult challenge. Forrester Research says information resides across the modern organisation in different shapes and forms.

Successful IT leaders will identify sensitive knowledge and ensure that data disclosure is prevented, says the analyst firm.

But how should the CIO move towards an all-encompassing protection and prevention approach?

The question is answered in this month's Computing Business, where IT decision-makers outline some of the challenges they face on a daily basis.

Such challenges mean now, more than ever before, technology leaders need to focus on risk management,­ a holistic strategy that helps provide protection across a range of key security areas, such as technological threats, human errors and corporate governance.

Top-level risk management will rely on close alignment between the IT organisation and line-of-business managers.

But working relationships between many technology and business leaders are characterised by complexity.

Jay Heiser, research vice president at analyst Gartner , says CIOs com-monly ask him how much they should spend on security.

His standard response: “Go back to the business and find how much confidentially, integrity and availability it needs.”

While clarity on broader risk requirements will help CIOs define a strong risk strategy, our cover story shows practical thinking is crucial.

Rather than seeing corporate governance as an impediment, use discipline-imposing standards ­such as the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) ­ to help you create a secure set of risk processes.

Also develop a change advisory board, which will help you ensure new systems are tested and back-up plans created.

Finally, do not allow risk management to become risk aversion: rather than just concentrating on preventing problems, concentrate on proactive control.

This month, Computing Business is hosting a CIO roundtable to discuss the challenges of risk management ­ we will feed back those CIO opinions next month.

Take the right steps now and you could prevent information leakages that could result in lost business and an impact on your bottom line.

Further reading

• Data leak prevention is just security best practice
• McAfee spam project smells like marketing guff
• Time to focus on the good in databases
• Security technology is not a priority for firms
• Flexible working creates a security nightmare
• Stop buying illegal software, or face the risks...
• How to cope with rogue IT

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Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Whatever happened to the innovative IT sector? Long gone are the crazy days of dot com mania, when open plan offices were stuffed with smart cookies, cold beers and fruit machines.

Long gone, too, are the times when technology firm values would hit million of pounds in weeks, not years.

In fact, the complete opposite is now true. Technology stock values have slipped to the point where backers are leaving the market altogether.

Finance house Close Brothers says falling share prices and the lack of major technology initial public offerings during the past 12 months mean a startling amount of funding is leaving the sector. More than £2.6bn of equity has been delisted through takeovers since March 2007, says Close Brothers.

Money from delisted stocks is normally recycled into new listings, but this is no longer the case. Private-equity specialist 3i has been gradually pulling out of the IT sector, and recently announced it will no longer invest in startups. Apax Partners left the sector last year.

So much for innovative new businesses; there must be hope in blue-chip companies. Unfortunately, the disparity between idea creation and commercialisation is not confined to the stock market, and internal research is also stalling.

Just six per cent of UK executives are satisfied that their company will be able to convert innovative ideas into services, according to consultant Accenture. Less IT innovation means fewer new products, so IT directors have less choice and increasing cost pressures.

Still, who cares? No one wants to splash out on new systems and services anyway. Take banks and securities firms, which are cutting back on IT investment because of the downturn, says the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

With 47 per cent of institutions reporting a decrease in business volumes during the first quarter, the CBI and PwC expect finance firms to slash 10,000 jobs ­ with the IT department likely to be among the worst hit.

For a sector supposedly driven by innovation, times are tougher than a dried goat sandwich. Excuse me for being gruff, but an appropriate conclusion is that UK IT is not very tasty.

Further reading

• Social web is about improvement, not innovation
• Motion sensing: Wii must replace the mouse
• The future of technology, according to Gartner
• China is the home of R&D, not outsourcing
• Forget the downturn and fight for innovation
• Don’t be afraid to be an IT innovator

Want to subscribe to this blog? Click here for the options

Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels

Former Boots IT chief Rob Fraser has joined services specialist CSC as the firm's vice president of retail, technology and consumer business - a move that raises some important questions.

Fraser's beat will cover UK, Ireland and the Netherlands - and he will report to Nick Wilson, president of CSC’s Northern European operations.

"With technology becoming increasingly more important in the consumer industry, understanding the customer and helping to shape and develop services that enhance the client experience will be key to my role," says Fraser, who began his IT career in 1985 at Marks and Spencer. He then held business management roles at Lafarge Redland Aggregates and Andersen Consulting, before joining Boots in 1997.

Back in November, Computing Business ran a couple of pieces about Fraser's departure from Boots. Writer Joe Devo suggested the move should be seen in the wider context of other transformations, specifically a potential move away from the CIO title at major UK organisations:

With their decisions to drop the title of chief information officer (CIO) or IT director from their boards, the new owners of Boots and House of Fraser prompted suggestions that the end is nigh for boardroom technology leaders and that, just maybe, there is no longer any room at the top for today’s crop of IT leaders.

Sources have suggested the work of Boots’ former IT director, Rob Fraser, came to a natural end. After a six-year overhaul of the company’s IT systems, a decision was made to drop the role of IT director.

Fraser is clearly not the first IT leader to make a move to 'the dark side'. For example, John Worth, CIO at financial services specialist Prudential, took a partner role at consultant Ernst & Young a couple of years ago.

But decisions to move into IT provision, rather than implementation, suggest an interesting trend: what is the explanation?

• Is an obsession with the alignment between technology and business underplaying the role of IT?
• Do some IT leaders believe the room to lead change at blue-chip organisations is limited?
• Are CIOs losing their power in relation to finance directors?
• Or is it a case of more opportunities, and better terms and conditions, in the service sector?

The answer for many over-stretched and under-appreciated CIOs is probably all the above - and a bit more, too.

Further reading

• CIOs will need to transform to survive
• Career moves: Robin Terrell is John Lewis web MD
• Career moves: Steve Markwell is new NCC CEO
• Career moves: Carl Powell becomes Unipart CEO
• Modernise to beat IT and skills obsolesence

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Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels