What do UK IT companies need to compete?

If British IT companies want to compete internationally, they need to hone their employees' skills, tighten up security - and get more help from the government.

More than three-quarters of IT managers surveyed by the British Computer Society (BCS) named professional skill set at the most important quality for competitiveness.

The next highest were employment of technology and strong investment, which both got a little more than a third of the votes.

When it comes to the UK government's role in IT, more than 70 per cent of respondents said there was too little government investment or that the investment was not done efficiently.

Speaking of funding, IT budgets for 2005 were expected by about a third of respondents to stay flat and by another third to increase by up to 15 per cent. Seventeen per cent expected a decrease from 2004.

It's no surprise that security is a key concern for British IT businesses, with about three-quarters of IT managers saying providing better security in their products is key to being able to compete globally.

Security also topped the list of IT spending priorities over the next 12 months, followed by applications software and mobile computing products such as laptops and PDAs.

Sal Viveros, SMB director for McAfee, said in a statement that intrusion protection is an effective way for businesses to secure their networks because it "removes the human factor from the equation and reduces risk".

The survey included 319 British IT managers who are BCS members.