IT skills crisis looms - and outsourcing won't help

Increasing retirement rates combined with a drop in new IT graduates will leave companies struggling to recruit enough staff with business and technology skills, according to analyst group Forrester Research.

And as companies outsource more routine activities, they'll need fewer technicians and more staff with business-oriented skills.

But Forrester predicts the educational system won't be able to train the IT/business analysts, architects or programme managers needed fast enough.

Forrester senior analyst Richard Peynot said: "All the evidence indicates that Europe faces a serious risk of a shortage of IT skills and Forrester believes that companies need to take action now to support long-term IT competency needs and to pay close attention to the implications of renewed competition for the best talents."

Forrester predicts companies will place a greater emphasis on training and education, saying that European companies plan to "significantly" accelerate spending on training between 2005 and 2007.

They are also looking to engineering schools and technology universities to provide more content on subjects such as business, management, finance, architecture and contracts.

Nine out of ten respondents to a Forrester survey said the education system fails to cover these newly important areas in enough depth.

And turning to outsourcing won't help, the analyst house warns.

"Companies that opt for global or selective outsourcing can't afford to move all responsibilities and decisions to service providers," Forrester said.

Decisions about security, technical architecture and new technologies need to be made internally by people with high skill levels, it said.

Peynot added companies won't be able to wait until the universities get into gear. "These high-level positions require experience and a relevant background. The educational system may take some time to align its programs with demand - so companies should seriously evaluate the possibility of training adults either internally or through partnerships with universities," he said.