Provocative Predictions for 2007

January 1, 2007 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - We asked some industry leaders and IT executives for their boldest predictions about the future of IT -- from skills to technologies. Here’s our collection of their most interesting thoughts.

Tech Skills & Careers

“If you look at actual skills pay patterns, the most growth categorically has been in enterprise business applications, Web/e-commerce development and applications development in general. And these are accelerating into 2007, having gathered steam in the last half of 2006. Also hot in the coming year will be business intelligence and analytics, storage-area networking, and enterprise project management skills. Expect a surge in IT security skills pay late in the year following a few years of relatively flat pay performance.”
-- David Foote, CEO and chief research officer, Foote Partners LLC

“Build it right: Structure the workplace to maximize the potential of the youth authorities. Net-geners function better in a decentralized, independent, collaborative and innovative work environment. Traditional hierarchies need to give way to models of work where expertise is specialized and authority distributed. However, this doesn’t mean they don’t need or want to be managed. Instead, they seek work experiences that value their contributions, provide clear expectations and feedback, and above all provide them with supervisors who mentor and guide them.”
-- Don Tapscott, president, and Mike Dover, vice president, syndicated research, New Paradigm, Toronto

“I believe we’re on the cusp of a huge IT jobs renaissance, with certain jobs taking on more importance in 2007 in redefining IT’s role in the business. One category targets business skills and includes project/program managers, business analysts, business process managers, strategist/internal consultants, internal relationship managers, IT finance specialists, vendor managers and IT human resource specialists. Another emphasizes various “niche” technology skills in applications development, database management, IT security, enterprise architects/SOA, systems analysis, storage/SAN, Web services, networking and Web site development. Still another focuses on IT change management and data mining/business intelligence.”
-- David Foote, CEO and chief research officer, Foote Partners

“Complicated management science algorithms are more common than ever before -- so advanced math degrees will be a requirement for many cool business jobs. If you look at job postings for Google, you’ll find that a bachelor of science degree is required for almost all jobs (even in sales). Graduates from the social sciences will still be in high demand, however, as lateral thinking becomes more important than before.”
-- Don Tapscott, president, and Mike Dover, vice president, syndicated research, New Paradigm

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