http://www.pcw.co.uk/itweek/analysis/2185783/illiteracy-undermines By James Murray IT Week 19 Mar 2007 While UK politicians and business leaders continue to voice concerns over the current shortage of skilled IT professionals far less attention has been granted to the equally serious problem posed by a deficiency of basic IT skills amongst the general workforce. It may not seem like a top priority to IT chiefs who are struggling to fill vacancies in their IT department, but according to several reports a dearth of IT capabilities in the general workforce is doing almost as much damage to productivity and competitiveness as a lack of qualified IT professionals. A survey last year of over 74,000 employers from the Learning and Skills Council found that 13 percent of applicants across all vacancies where firms have identified skills shortages lack general IT user skills. Meanwhile, a recent study from government and employer-backed IT skills development body e-skills UK found that UK employers felt they needed to improve the IT skills of 7.6 million employees out of an IT-using workforce of 21.5 million. "It is a major problem," said Martin Harvey director of IT user skills at e-skills UK. "We have evidence that those with the right IT skills for their role can save 40 minutes a day compared to those who are less adept. It may not sound a lot but when you add it up that means a huge amount of productivity is being lost." Meanwhile, recent workplace trends such as the shift towards home and remote working and the movement offshore of many IT support teams suggest it is becoming ever more important that individual employees have a mastery of the IT hardware and software they use. Experts agree that in the short term the best way to tackle this problem is through increased investment in IT training, and a wide range of courses and qualifications covering basic IT skills are now available to help bolster employees' IT skills. However, with over 640 different IT qualifications available in the UK selecting the right course can prove extremely tricky, according to Harvey. " Employers are baffled by this plethora of certificates," he said. "Even when people have some of the better qualifications like CLAiT, the European Computer Driving License (ECDL) and the City and Guilds' E-Quals certificate some employers are uncertain about the currency of the qualification." He added that having to put staff through the entire course to gain a qualification when they may only require knowledge in certain areas also put many firms off investing in putting employees through such certification schemes. E-skills is seeking to tackle this problem with its new employer-backed iTQ qualification, which Harvey said would provide firms with the ability to tailor the course and exam to suit their needs. Lauren Frere, product manager at accreditation body OCR, which offers the iTQ qualification said it provides employees with the ability to formally certify their working knowledge of IT user skills. "Employers can customise these qualifications to suit their organisations particular requirements," she said. "For example, bespoke software, such as a corporate intranet or existing accounting software can be added... Practical needs of the business and individuals are [also] met as learning can take place in bite-sized chunks, and can often be incorporated into the working day." However, regardless of the confusion surrounding qualifications some critics argue that employers are not doing enough to upskill their staff. "Investment in training is key but many companies have a level of myopia when it comes to the benefits of training," argued Robert Chapman, managing director of IT training form The Training Camp. "IT is the tool that most people use in their jobs and it must hamper productivity if people arent skilled in using it, but many companies still see training as a cost rather than an investment, and believe people will just leave if they train them up." But Harvey insisted that firms are increasingly aware of the need to give staff IT training. "Employers are now investing a huge amount," he said. "One survey found that 58 percent of employers are investing in IT training making it the most widespread form of workplace training after mandatory areas like health and safety." Jeremy Beale, head of e-business policy at the CBI, agreed businesses are now aware of the value of IT training and argued that at some larger firms extensive training had even become mandatory. "If you look at BT, which has a very mature home working policy, staff have to do the [basic IT] training if they are going to work from home," he said. "That is sensible practice as it ensures staff get the right skills to drive the productivity gains you'd expect." However, he admitted that some firms find delivering IT training to staff easier than others. "If there is a problem it is in the SME space," he said. "A lot of smaller companies dont have sufficient resources for a proper IT department, let alone resources to train up staff further." There is hope, however, that even these cash-strapped firms are beginning to see the IT literacy of their workforce improve as online learning technologies and improved user interfaces make it easier than ever before for users to master applications. Darren Strange, product manager at Microsoft, said the vendor's latest version of Office embodied this new generation of user-friendly apps. "Office 2007 moves away from a scenario where you need to understand every aspect of the application to get where you want, to a more results-oriented design that means that if you know what you want it is far easier to deliver," he said. "We've also invested heavily in an online resource that offers all kinds of training from bite sized chunks you can learn in your lunch hour to full training c ourses." Furthermore the emergence of a new tech-savvy generation of school and university leavers who have grown up with Google and MySpace leaves some firms hopeful that the problems posed by computer illiteracy could soon become a thing of the past. "There is a generational issue here," said Beale. "Kids coming out of school do find these skills much easier." However, Chapman argued that that while new user interfaces and the retirement of the baby boomers may reduce the problem of computer illiteracy, relatively few people were making full use of the IT at their fingertips. " There is a contradiction here," he said. "Interfaces are getting easier to use, but at the same time functionality is getting richer and richer. As a result more people can make use of Excel for example, but few are using the full richness of the software and maximising their productivity." _________________________________________ Visit the InfoSec News Security Bookstore http://www.shopinfosecnews.org
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