IT job skills that matter: Where you can leave a mark

Understanding business ethics, knowing how to communicate effectively and being a great project leader could serve IT professionals better than technical expertise

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan, Network World
December 20, 2007 12:05 AM ET

All business. That’s what network professionals need to be in 2008 if they want to have the most profound impact at their companies.

The hottest skills for IT professionals to develop center on business acumen rather than deeper technical expertise. Project management, financial analysis and communications skills are in big demand, according to CIOs, recruiters and IT staffing specialists.

Network professionals still need a solid technical foundation, of course. But with limited time for professional development, they should hone their business skills rather than pursue additional technical certifications, experts recommend.

"Companies love finding employees who can make sure that technology is being used to deliver business value," says Matt Colarusso, branch manager with Sapphire National Recruiting in Woburn, Mass. (See an archived career chat with Colarusso.) "They are always looking for people who can communicate, who can bring together the technical side with the business side and the customer side."

"Technical skills are important, but companies need people who know how to apply them," says David Foote, president of Foote Partners, which conducts IT salary surveys nationwide. "Companies need people who understand how to move the business forward, who have good instincts and a lot of business knowledge…It’s all about execution."

Read about the technical skills that still matter.

A recent survey of 130 CIOs and IT executives conducted by the Society for Information Management (SIM) found that the top five skills for mid-level IT hires are all business related. These include: ethics/tolerance, problem solving, written/oral communication, collaboration and project leadership.

The SIM survey shows that business skills are needed further down the IT organizational chart, says Steve Pickett, immediate past president of SIM and chairman of the SIM Foundation. "More and more IT people are dealing directly with their counterparts in the business. It’s no longer just the top IT executives,’’ says Pickett, who also is CIO of Penske, in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

One of the top CIO priorities was building business skills in the IT department, the SIM survey found. In 17 years, this priority had never before been listed among CIOs' top 10 concerns.

IT professionals "need to be able to dissect a business process and understand what components of a business process will be impacted by technology," Pickett says. "Then they need to be able to sell the technology. They need pretty good communications skills, pretty good organizational skills and pretty good translation skills to do that."

What business skills to develop

Increasingly, CIOs say they need equally strong technical and business skills on their IT staffs.

Jeff Ton, vice president of enterprise processes, information and technology at Lauth Property Group in Indianapolis, says he’s emphasizing communication and teaching skills in his hiring for 2008.

"We're finding good technicians, but the typical technician likes to sit with their face to the computer and just code all day," Ton says. "We really need folks who are willing and able to get out and interact with the business leaders. We're trying to continue to break down the walls between the business line folks and the technology employees."