Faculty Training Institute

How to prosper in the Knowledge Economy!

By Steve Erlank

03 August 2009

Despite all the doom and gloom in world economic markets, and despite the severe impact on jobs in developing countries like SA (which has shed nearly 250000 jobs in the last year), many companies, and many individuals continue to prosper. How can this be?

Without a doubt, the developed world is firmly established in the Knowledge Economy. Just a few years ago, the world crossed a threshold into an era where more than half of all employed people are now employed in ‘knowledge work’. Such work involves working with information, and carrying out tasks that involve capturing, storing, thinking about or using information. It includes people who create information in the form of specifications, plans, designs and various types of communications media, and it includes people who make decisions based on information.

Since knowledge work is largely supported by systems it is no surprise that graduates of FTI’s Diploma programmes are in such demand. And the shortage of people with high-order knowledge skills continues to increase.

A recent Gartner report, which is well worth reading, listed the top business and technology priorities of 1,527 CIOs around the world (see table below). It takes only a little thought to realize the opportunities that exist for business and systems analysts, process engineers, enterprise and systems architects, project managers and other agents who are responsible for designing, adapting, building and implementing the business solutions that will support these initiatives.

Forward thinking knowledge professionals will also be thinking about what skills they will need to take advantage of these possibilities.

Top 10 Business Priorities
1. Business process improvement
2. Reducing enterprise costs
3. Improving enterprise workforce effectiveness
4. Attracting and retaining new customers
5. Increasing the use of information/analytics
6. Creating new products or services (innovation)
7. Targeting customers and markets more effectively
8. Managing change initiatives
9. Expanding current customer relationships
10. Expanding into new markets and geographies

Top 10 Technology Priorities
1. Business intelligence
2. Enterprise applications (ERP, CRM and others)
3. Servers and storage technologies (virtualization))
4. Legacy application modernization
5. Collaboration technologies
6. Networking, voice and data communications
7. Technical infrastructure
8. Security technologies
9. Service-oriented applications and architecture
10. Document management

Source: Gartner EXP (January 2009)
Table 1: Top 10 Business and Technology Priorities in 2009

Looking at these priorities, it is no wonder then that demand for FTI’s signature Diploma programmes continues to rise, and that high-scoring graduates are in so much demand. But some warning signs are beginning to emerge in the market-place as organizations become more discerning in their recruitment strategies.

As the economy tightens, employers are looking for more value from their employees. There is a growing backlash against the increasing tendency for some employees, jobseekers and graduates to collect qualifications, and expect to be rewarded for these qualifications, without making the effort to deliver value or apply their new skills to add value. “It’s as though they expect to be paid for what they have done, rather than what they can do!” said one frustrated CIO recently, when we were discussing how to select and find better business and systems analysts in the marketplace.

What should the smart employee be doing?
In a nutshell, the smart employee will be focused, in the next 5 years, on learning as much as possible, and gaining as much practical experience as possible, in key skills that will be in demand. FTI expects to see an exploding demand for people with knowledge and skills of Business Process Management, Enterprise Architecture, Business Analysis, Systems Analysis, Testing, Business Intelligence and Data management specialists and a whole range of knowledge age skills. The conventional educational and training opportunities exist, but there are lots of online forums where learning can be found. Membership of professional societies provide lots of opportunities for learning, ranging from newsletter and blogs, to literally hundreds of inexpensive or free online courses.

What is FTI’s strategy for the Knowledge Economy?
We have a very loyal and passionate customer base that is beginning to demand more courses. We have been monitoring trends in the marketplace quite carefully, and we have plans to bring new courses to market in the next 18 months. Main areas will be the analysis, testing, project management and architecture spaces. Our Diploma in Systems Quality Assurance and Testing is growing in popularity; we recently launched a TOGAF certification course in partnership with Inspired/Promis AG, and we will be releasing a new Diploma in Systems Analysis shortly. On the drawing board are master classes and workshops in Business Process Improvement, Business Intelligence and Information Design, Information and Data Modelling as well as a range of inexpensive one-day workshops.

So: watch this space, and keep on learning!

Steve Erlank is Managing Director of the Faculty Training Institute. With more than 30 years experience doing almost every job there is to do in the IT industry, he now devotes his time and energy to challenging knowledge professionals to unlock the talent and potential that lies dormant within them.