March 2006

IT pros called to become 'business savvy'

A leading local recruitment company is bucking an international trend that reflects that business leaders and IT experts are disputing an emerging trend in the UK that freelance technologists must be “business savvy” in order to remain competitive in the contract and offshore outsourcing market. Org Geldenhuys, a director of Pretoria-based IT recruitment company, Abacus Recruitment, said the contracting market has become “a lot tougher”. “Today if contractors want to remain employed on a consistent basis it is advisable for them to hone their business skills. In fact, this goes for IT workers in general. A contractor or full-time employee who can offer business skills, or savvy, over and above his technical qualifications, is far more sought-after today.”

Geldenhuys is, however, not alone in his belief that IT workers who have an element of business savvy or more in demand. According to the on-line recruitment newspaper, ContractorUK, “ongoing demand from domestic and offshore clients indicates a preference for IT recruits to display a level of business intelligence to complement their technical expertise”. But many businesses and experts disagree, arguing that companies are still placing specialist IT skills at the top of the search agenda.

Alan Rommel, a director of UK-based Parity IT government division, agrees with Geldenhuys. He said one of the main reasons for this trend is that companies need staff who can bolster relations with private sector partners. Parity is a respected IT recruitment specialist in the UK.

But Dr Stephen Castell, UK’s IT consultant of the year, commented recently in ContractorUK that companies are looking for contractors “with a narrower and narrower focus on software tools and techniques.”

“We are certainly not seeing this trend in South Africa”, said Abacus Recruitment’s Geldenhuys. “Companies are obviously still looking for people who come with specialist IT skills – but they prefer those who are also business savvy. And this is increasingly becoming an issue.”