Micro focus calls for IT students to develop business skills

Micro Focus, the provider of enterprise application management and modernisation solutions, today calls on businesses, academic bodies and educational institutions alike to acknowledge both the need for the training of future IT professionals and the necessity of instilling business acumen in the process. Addressing students at Oxford Brookes University, Stephen Kelly, CEO of Micro Focus, emphasised the critical role IT plays in todayís global enterprises and the need for IT professionals to be able to demonstrate the value it brings to business.

ìOver the coming years, we are going to see an increased demand for IT professionals, not only with the ability to maintain and upkeep enterprise systems that have been in place for decades, but also, just as significantly, with the skills to interpret the benefits they are bringing in a business context.î said Kelly. ìWhereas IT departments were previously seen as an expensive cost centre, organisations are now waking up to the fact that it is actually the guardian of hugely valuable business assets. There is a huge opportunity for students today that wish to pursue a career in IT to embrace both business and IT skills and make themselves an invaluable asset to any business.î

Recent research from Micro Focus revealed that nearly two thirds of CIOs and CFOs do not know the size of their core software assets, whilst a third do not even know what they spend on these assets each year[1]. With a global spend on IT of more than $1.6 trillion in 2006[2], it is now evident that CIOs need to be able to communicate the value of core software assets to the Board. Micro Focus is therefore urging businesses and educators alike to ensure both the smooth transition of IT skills and to give future professionals the business intuition to communicate the value of their crucial work.

[1] Source: Micro Focus and Vanson Bourne, October 2007
[2] Source: IDC Jan 2007