BCS competitiveness survey.

The British Computer Society (BCS) have disclosed the results of a new survey that indicates that good professional skills, security technology and strong investment are essential factors for the UK to become more competitive within the global information technology (IT) market Conducted between June-August among 319 British IT managers and directors who are BCS members, the survey also reveals that nearly 700/o of respondents feel that government investment in the sector is inadequate or not applied efficiently. The survey results are being announced in advance

of the BCS IT Professional Awards 2004 on 19 October, at which excellence, professionalism and innovation among IT professionals in the UK will be honoured.

Key findings of the survey include:

* Thirty eight percent of respondents believe the government is not investing in the British IT industry in an efficient way, while nearly the same number (36%) believes there is too little investment.

* The top three qualities vital to competitiveness are viewed as: professional skill set (76%), employment of technology (37%) and strong investment 05%)

* Security technology is viewed as crucial to the UK industry's development. Approximately 750% of respondents believe that providing solutions for security, or adopting security technologies in their products, will be key to the UK's competitiveness in the global market. A further 53% believe that the adoption or supply of personal computing products will hold similar success, while 36% make the case for application software.

* IT Investment priorities in the next twelve months include: security products (26%); application software (20%) and personal (mobile) computing products (11%) such as laptops and PDAS.

* Meanwhile IT budgets for 2005 are largely expected to remain the same as last year (34%) or increase by up to 15% (32%). However, 17% of respondents report that their budgets will decrease in the next year. Comment:

Commenting on the research, Sal Viveros, SMB director for McAfee Inc said-. 'Security is obviously a major issue for UK business, but after years of education, human vulnerability is still one of the major causes of network downtime following a virus attack. Intrusion prevention is becoming vital for all businesses looking to ensure their network remains secure. By preventing an attempted intrusion before it becomes a problem, you remove the human factor from the equation and reduce the risks." Commenting on the skills aspect of the study, Richard Lloyd, director of IT recruitment at Robert Waiters said: 'Professional skidis are the IT industry's lifeblood--it cannot exist without them and poor skills inhibits its performance. Additionally, professional development ensures that individuals are challenged and stretched and open to new ways of thinking that benefits their businesses and the industry.'

www.bcs.com