Introduction
DG Enterprise and Industry organised a workshop titled “e-Skills and ICT Professionalism” on December 9th 2008 in Brussels. It was a follow-up to a presentation at the European e-Skills 2008 conference in Thessaloniki on 9-10 October 2008 by the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS) which fostered a debate on ICT professionalism.
The aim of the workshop was to present the concept of ICT professionalism to a broader community of stakeholders, to focus on topics relevant to the EU e-skills agenda and to discuss possible next steps. The purpose of this document is to report on this workshop by summarising the key points of the discussion and providing suggestions for further actions. The workshop concluded that the development and the promotion of ICT professionalism are very relevant, that European action could usefully support existing national and that a larger Symposium should be organised to promote the debate to a wider audience, take stock of progress and initiate concrete actions in the scope of the EU e-skills strategy.
The renewed Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs highlights the critical role of ICT for Europe‟s competitiveness and prosperity. At the same time, numerous studies and press articles show that the number of young people choosing ICT oriented education and career paths is falling dramatically and a long-term supply shortage of suitably qualified ICT practitioners is predicted, with potentially severe repercussions for the European economy and jobs. Taking up the challenge, the European Commission is promoting the implementation of a long-term e-skills agenda. While the level of competence of ICT practitioners and their skills relevance to market needs are key factors for Europe‟s competitiveness and innovation capacity, other qualities, such as character, integrity and sense of responsibility are also as important. To develop these qualities, a life-time career must motivate, reflect a level of esteem from the community, command the respect of peers and be morally and financially rewarding.
This broader description of ICT practitioners falls under the label of
“professionalism”; a concept that in other professional contexts, such as law and medicine, is implicitly and explicitly recognised
The importance of ICT professionalism
There is no doubt that ICT is ubiquitous. In today‟s globalised world ICT is a prerequisite for trade and multiplier of business value, e.g. e-commerce, but at the same time is a significant cost. While creating previously unimaginable commercial opportunities (Facebook, Youtube etc), and changing profoundly the lives of citizens, ICT at the same time gives rise to risks and issues that are unique:
Data Protection and Retention (e.g. UK DNA database) Social Inclusion, e.g. digital literacy, digital divide Cyber threats
In recognition of the importance of ICT, the government of the United States has recently declared the “cyber infrastructure” of the country to be a “strategic asset”, on a par with power-generation and distribution, transport and so on and therefore to be a matter of homeland security1.
Thus, society and economy are increasingly dependent on ICT services and products.
Inevitably, people lives depend on ICT applications that hold the promise to be of the highest quality and can endure the test of time. Nevertheless, we learn regularly of ICT failures with serious repercussions, often of great scale, for people‟s lives, business and society. Indicative is a report of the US National Institute of Standards and Technology that holds that in 2001 software bugs cost American users $59.5 billion per year2.
These failures (or successes) beg the question of responsibility and accountability.
Obviously the organisations using or producing the „faulted‟ technology are required to answer the question. But ultimately the questions must come down to the individuals and teams that design, produce and apply the technology, the ICT practitioners. In comparison to other professions that carry significant social responsibility, it is unclear at this stage what the ICT profession is or to articulate the question differently how do we define ICT Professionalism. Other professions, such as the medical and legal professions, regardless of cultural and national traditions, have arrived to a consensus on the definition of Professionalism in their domain.
Today, society would not accept an individual to practice medicine unless he/she held the appropriate qualifications and experience in the field. Disturbingly, despite the risks and ethics related to technology, ICT is often practiced by people that lack the proper qualifications. Estimates in the UK suggest that about 50% of ICT staff do not have formal ICT qualifications. Although the ICT profession has not reached the level of maturity of other older professions, it is clear that that the benefits and risks associated to technology would benefit from a consensus on ICT professionalism.
The challenges facing the ICT profession
Conveying the value of ICT. In many respects, ICT has quickly become a victim of its own success: ubiquity begets utility, and utility bears cost. While it is easy to measure the cost of ICT (and, increasingly, its “green” cost), it is difficult for people to see where ICT actually adds value to the business3 and generates competitive advantages.
This is particularly evident in many companies and in the public sector in which the CIO strives to persuade senior management about the strategic contribution of ICT and to dissipate the short-sighted argument of ICT being merely a cost.
Unsurprisingly, many CIOs report directly to the Chief Financial Officer.
Market pressures. ICT products and services are subject to fast technology changes, continuous innovations and the conditions of relentless competition in which „getting the product out quickly‟ incentive becomes an overriding imperative. There is a concern that the culture of „good enough‟ hinders the development cycle of products and services. In the name of this „pragmatic‟ approach IT professionals are often forced to agree to impractical deadlines and poor estimates resulting to failures and risks for which they might eventually be found accountable. Regulatory intervention, certification and full implementation of well-defined software development models
1 http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/homeland_security/
2 http://www.info-ethics.com/docs/ICT-Professionalism.pdf
3 However, some reports indicate the investment in IT produces returns for business, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/ICTReportAug05a.pdf
(e.g. CMMI) are resisted by industry due to their steep immediate costs and the difficulties of measuring long term returns. Moreover, industry notes that excessively rigorous development can hinder innovation and impose higher prices on their products and services. Nonetheless, the ICT industry would need to follow the example of the European automotive industry in which innovation is not at the expense of quality, reliability, security and affordability. In this respect
“organisational” professionalism is needed, driven by senior management as champion of ICT professionalism.
Recognising competence and taking responsibility. The competence of ICT practitioners has a direct impact on customers and the bottom lines of their businesses.
Therefore it is in the interest of both employers and employees to be able to strengthen and demonstrate ICT competence. Employees search for “markers” along their career path that they can show to employers to demonstrate their competence and experience. While certification is frequently used by employers and employees as
„markers‟, it does not encapsulate responsibility that is an integral element of competence (which built a lot on previous experiences and informal learning). The question of responsibility is important: if there is no responsibility, then there is nothing to look to when the question of ethics or misconduct arises. Being a member of a community (of one‟s peers) could lead to and fosters responsibility. To date, ICT practitioners around the world have no affiliation to an ICT professional community that would cultivate the notion of responsibility and accountability as defined by their peers.
The image of the profession. The public, particularly the younger generations imagine ICT as purely a technical profession that requires no human interaction. A report4 in the UK indicates that between 2001 and 2006 the number of students attending IT in university fell by 43%, and anecdotal evidence shows that this trend is accelerating. In contrast to a misleading „geek‟ perception, “how things get done” requires much more than just the technical skills5. A good expression of this challenge is embodied in the role of the CIO. The CIO, the highest position attained in an ICT career path, is required to deliver business value from ICT investments and practices. Often the CIO operates as an interlocutor between technical staff and management and is expected to provide strategic thinking in terms of integrating ICT in complex business processes that eventually influence the company‟s strategic direction if not transformation6. National and cultural diversity. Despite the fact that ICT transcends national borders, the ICT profession is determined by professional and cultural traditions existing in each country. A CEPIS Taskforce on Professionalism based on membership feedback concluded that the diversity of how the ICT Profession in Europe is organised, governed and regulated is high. For example, while the UK and Germany have the concept of Chambers and Guilds for ICT profession, Spain does not; while the UK Chambers are self-policing in terms of admittance to membership, in Germany this is addressed by statute. In general, the ICT profession in Europe in terms of maturity ranges between “qualified” for example in Spain and “governed”, for example in the UK7.
4 Karen Price, e-Skills UK, “How can we attract more students into IT?”
http://e-Skillsuk.computing.co.uk/2007/04/how_can_we_attr.html
5 Outsourcing tends to dilute this, especially in smaller organisations
6 The IT-CMF presented at the workshop provided interesting insights
7 See at slide of ProfIT Alliance presented at the workshop. Presentations made by CEPIS at the workshop are available at: http://www.cepis.org/professionalism
Promoting a European approach to ICT professionalism
The diversity of national and industrial perspectives on the ICT profession prohibits the development of a rigid and unified concept. However, taking into account the global drive of ICT and the commonality of challenges facing the profession across Europe, there is scope for action at EU level that respects and supports national action on professionalism. The workshop recognised that the Commission‟s long term e- skills strategy offers an opportunity to addressing professionalism on a European scale. An initiative on professionalism could build on the European e-Competence framework and efforts to develop common ground in addressing the issues of responsibility and accountability of the ICT professional. To face these issues a multi- stakeholder partnership approach would need to be adopted, involving active participation from academia, industry, unions, professional bodies, government etc.
Furthermore, there is a need to accommodate a culture of „change‟ that will allow the continent to have a world leading role and remain relevant to global ICT developments.
The Commission‟s workshop on December 9th was the first step to outline a possible agenda on the promotion of ICT professionalism in line with the broader EU e-skills agenda. There was a clear interest among participants of the workshop to go beyond the exchange of information into identifying concrete actions at EU level to address the various challenges.
The workshop formulated the following recommendations:
Look into the individual countries‟ situations to synthesize characteristics and issue a report in May.
Investigate the feasibility of creating a meta-model on ICT professionalism as suggested by Professor Brunnstein. The purpose of the model would be to enhance the recognition of ICT practitioners across Europe, mobility and transparency.
Synchronise with discussions and actions in CEN/ISSS on ICT skills
Explore how the promotion of ICT professionalism could be part of the EU e- Skills Week (awareness campaign in 1Q2010)
Organise a European Symposium in 2009 on ICT professionalism that will take validate the progress made on the these recommendations with a broader group of stakeholders and plan the next steps
The Commission will organise a follow-up workshop on e-skills professionalism and industry-based training on 13 March 2009 in Brussels.
