IT Staff – Professional Development
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IT Staff – Professional Development CITRA has a vision to become the leading IT resource for the voluntary sector. Our aim is to help maximise the benefits of existing IT infrastructures by extending the capabilities of IT to enhance service performance. We believe that a significant part of this maximisation is the development and support of the staff who deliver the IT services and that their value is often underestimated by organisations. During its relatively short life CITRA has been involved in a number of initiatives involving IT staff from the sector and has formed the opinion that there needs to be a professional association specifically to meet their needs. There are already organisations to support and develop Chief Executives and finance staff which provide networking opportunities and peer group support and we are now in a position to put something in place for the staff who deliver IT to the organisations. Research shows that IT managers would benefit from being more forceful in communicating to their executives the value of the work that they and their staff do. A study undertaken a few years ago found that when it comes to self-promotion, IT managers are much too bashful, yet most believe they are doing good work. Two-thirds of 200 IT managers who responded to the survey, conducted by Deloitte & Touche and IDG Research Services, said they have been largely unsuccessful in measuring and communicating to their executives the value of the work that they and their staff do. Yet most believe they are doing good work. Ninety percent of the survey respondents said the value of information technology is either critical or very important to their companies. In the voluntary sector, particularly in smaller organisations, the ‘IT Manager’ often has a myriad of other duties and undertakes the IT function in an ad-hoc manner. This may appear to work for the organisations but there is often a greater exposure to risk because the individuals are not properly trained and the degree of importance attached to the role is not apparent until something goes wrong. CITRA wants to support these individuals as well as those who are full-time employed in an IT capacity. What we are asking for is a mandate to proceed with this initiative and invite you to respond to the questionnaire, which will only take a few minutes to complete. Although to deliver this service we will need to introduce a membership subscription, we do not intend to form another huge umbrella body but would hope to collaborate with some or all that are already in existence and use existing infrastructure to manage the process. Yours sincerely Mary Foley |
