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Story URL: http://management.silicon.com/itdirector/0,39024673,39166717,00.htm

Tech skills not enough to be top dog
Softly-softly best for CIOs...

By Gemma Simpson

Published: Thursday 12 April 2007

From programmers to CIOs, the IT workforce needs to buff up their non-technical skills if they are to be seen as a driving force in business.

Too often, IT is viewed in isolation and not as the driving force behind business even though technology professionals should be more respected for the contribution they make, according to Cliff Lineker, head of professional products business unit at the British Computer Society (BCS).

Lineker told silicon.com IT execs need non-technical skills - such as management and leadership skills - as well as computing ability.

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In the past, Lineker said, CIOs have failed to reach the boardroom and IT professionals need to understand how their knowledge and expertise in technology can help drive the business.

The BCS is offering a chartered qualification - run in partnership with the Institute of Directors - to help the IT crowd improve their soft skills and understand how to become a company director.

IT people are just as ambitious as anyone else but what they have lacked is the information about how to make that next step up to become a director, Lineker added.

More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of organisations do not use a professional development scheme for their IT managers, according to a study from the BCS.