ITP

Bridging the IT skills gap

2007-09-06T10:00:00.001+01:00

By common consent, for SMEs and larger corporates alike, employers are increasingly finding a mismatch between the IT-related qualifications new young recruits bring with them to the workplace and their ability to meet the specific needs of the business.

As the leading professional body for the telecoms sector, The Communications Network (TCN) recently undertook research into what was causing this shortfall in relevant skills delivery and found one of the principal causes to be that such qualifications were typically governed exclusively by academic institutions, with very little input from commerce or industry.

In response, TCN has undertaken an initiative to address this disconnect, working with a consortium of leading employers including BT, Orange, Virgin Media and Vodafone to develop a Foundation Degree directly geared to addressing the requirements of the ICT and telecoms sector industry. Critically, this initiative is employer-led, but is also supported by academia.

Unlike exclusively academic programmes, the Foundation Degree will incorporate a balanced curriculum of academic and work-based learning – ‘learning in action’. As part of this, it will also incorporate SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age) principles, which address broader business competency skills, from basic tactical to more senior strategic level.

Such a skills gap is not restricted to the IT industry however. As the Leach Report commissioned by the Government in 2006 highlighted, the UK will have to double its skills levels across literacy, numeracy and ICT by 2020, if it is to compete successfully with such emerging economies as India and China.

However, the rapid rate of change as the telecoms and IT industries converge together with the high level of complexity, presents particular problems of education and training in the context of the nation’s ageing profile. One of the key ways to address this, we believe, is for employers to encourage staff to take responsibility for their own career development, by creating the right culture, environment and infrastructure support.

Another TCN-led initiative is again leading the way here, through the development of a wide range of online training and learning materials designed to support the telecoms industry and its future direction. This also includes an extensive archive history and live screening of key conference speeches, for example, removing the barriers of geography and enabling access by life-long learners at a time convenient to them.

In tackling this problem, some companies have looked to outsource leadership and development
programmes, both formally and informally. Yet as Professor Mari Sako of Oxford Saïd Business School has pointed out, a focus on administration rather than strategy and a lack of understanding of key business drivers has often led to disappointing results.

SMEs in particular can have particular difficulty in securing places on costly and restricted specialist technology programmes. And if they are able to make such investment, the problem then arises in retaining staff with these highly sought-after skills. Some industry initiatives are already underway to enable equal access to such skills training and at an affordable cost.

However, in attracting such skills, the onus is also on an individual company, of whatever size, to promote and sell themselves effectively so that the available talent sees them as an employer of choice rather than, as at present, the other way round.

The initiatives outlined above may be embryonic, yet provide sound examples of how the industry can, and must, take a lead in ensuring that the ICT workforce of tomorrow is given the tools to compete effectively – locally, nationally and globally.

Emerging Telecom Advances -Advances in Communication

2007-09-06T09:58:00.001+01:00

There are some emerging technologies that are going to revolutionise the way we work. Some may not work and some that we may not even know affect us, but will. Emerging telecom advances will improve the way we communicate, work and entertain ourselves.

Cable and satellite on broadband - Sky has introduced a new service for its satellite TV viewers. If they have subscriptions to specific channels, they can view the channel on broadband connections. For example, if a viewer is subscribed to the movie channels, they can view movies on the Internet at no extra cost.
IPv6 – Internet Protocol version 6 - Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) has been described as the next generation Internet by leading telecommunication companies. Although it is not a technology, the protocol should provide an incredibly high amount of Internet addresses. The current version 4 (IPv4) only allows four billion addresses. Version 6, however, will allow an estimated 665,570,793,348,866,943,898,599 possible addresses per square metre of the Earth’s surface. This advanced protocol will make technology more efficient and allow devices to communicate with each other. Your freezer could send you an email at work to tell you to buy some more chips if it is running low.
Implementing technology such as personal and voice chips with this protocol may improve how we get information. We may no longer need to look for data, but be sent it as and when it is needed

Mobile Internet - the future

2007-09-06T09:56:00.000+01:00

Mobile Internet Technology

With the introduction of digital communication and devices that can handle all functions that most modern computers can, is there any need for home computing and Internet at home, when, clearly, we can surf whilst on the go?

Most companies, such as Orange and Sky, now offer free broadband for their customers. Yet others seem to charge the same amount, with little reflection on what other companies are offering. But then we look at the deals closer. The offer may be restricted to areas with prior broadband connections and the speed may be restricted to a lower connection.

There is still a market for the Internet at home, especially with demand for faster connections and for users who are still not connected. This demand for faster Internet in the home and at work has introduced new technologies for transferring data of the World Wide Web.

Devices that can handle the Internet are now able to download and surf at reasonable speeds. There is still, however, a need to improve reliability and service for mobile devices with Internet communication.

Data Protection

2007-09-03T14:53:00.000+01:00