IT professional role today and tomorrow

Abstract

As IT professionals we live in exciting times. The IT profession is coming of age and the role of the IT professional is changing rapidly. The traditional IT Department, as a support function dedicated to providing technical solutions to problems defined by 'the busness', is set to disappear. The reality today is that IT doesn't just support business, it powers business and the future for the IT profession is all about the development of business-focussed professionals with a much wider range of skills and capabilities than in the past. Information technology can, and in many instances does, deliver very substantial business and social benefits. It enables organisations to make dramatic leaps in productivity and governments to deliver greatly enhanced service levels that their citizens now expect. But successful IT enabled business change often remains elusive. If we are to realise the full potential of IT the function must move from being viewed as a technical solution provider to be seen as a full transformation partner. This article draws on UK experience over the past 5 years to outline what all this will mean for IT professionals, for the IT profession and for the institutions that support the profession. © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.