BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

Student Presentation 2010/11 2 Agenda 01 The Chartered Institute for IT, Professionalism and the Challenge for IT Professionals 02 Membership – Main reasons for joining? 03 What’s in it for you, as a Student?

Student Presentation 2010/11 3 The Chartered Institute for IT, Professionalism and the Challenge for IT Professionals 01

Student Presentation 2010/11 4 What is a professional body? ‘a not-for-profit organisation seeking to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals engaged in that profession, and the public interest.’ To establish a Code of Conduct To share knowledge of new developments and good practice To set standards of education, skills and experience To advise government

Student Presentation 2010/11 5 A Definition of Professionalism PROFESSIONAL - “of or belonging to a profession involving training showing appropriate skill maintaining proper standards competent.... expert.....”

Student Presentation 2010/11 6 What does Professionalism look like? Professionalism is further defined for an individual as being all of the below: Member of a professional body Signed up to a code of conduct Committed to continuous professional development Qualified Demonstrates trusted competence Medicine, Accountancy, Civil Engineering require practitioners to be members of their Professional body in order to practice – Why not IT?

Student Presentation 2010/11 7 About BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT Formed in 1957 Received its Royal Charter in 1984 International awarding body for qualifications – Accredits University degrees, ISEB practitioner qualifications and sets it’s own academic Higher Education Qualification (HEQ) Around 70,000 members in over 100 countries The only awarding body for Chartered IT Professional (CITP) status Route to Chartered Engineer (CEng) and Chartered Scientist (CSci) UK’s leading professional body for those working in IT Promotes wider social and economic progress through the advancement of information technology, science and practice.

Student Presentation 2010/11 8 What tasks does the Chartered Institute for IT perform? Works with Stakeholders Sets standards for education & training Advances & disseminates knowledge Monitors professional conduct Provides services to members Recognises achievement Represents the profession on issues of importance Offers members opportunities for networking both inside & outside the UK

Student Presentation 2010/11 9 Presentation to insert name here 9 BCS Staff Event Our strategy and 5 pillars Bridging the gap between education practice and research Giving practitioners the professional development and career support they deserve Informing public policy on how IT can contribute to society Ensuring everyone benefits from IT Our mission To enable the information society Our vision To be a world- class organisation for IT Championing the global IT profession

Student Presentation 2010/11 10 The IT Profession Past Technical solution provider Present IT (Information and Technology) doesn’t just support business - it powers business FutureA business focussed profession, with a base of both technical and business competencies; a transformation partner with business

Student Presentation 2010/11 11 The IT Profession Today Change is the only constant factor Pressures on costs & revenues Intensive Competition Markets are Global, Location Independent & Customer Focused Customers are more demanding Increasing range of technical related opportunities IT is essential to compete

Student Presentation 2010/11 12 IT Industry Performance - last two decades OASIG 80-90% of IT investments do not meet their performance objectives 80% of new systems are delivered late and over budget 40% of projects abandoned as system failures Standish *31% of projects cancelled before completion 88% of projects exceed deadline, budget or both For every 100 starts, there are 94 restarts Average cost overrun – 189% Average schedule overrun – 222% * IT Project Management : On Track from Start to Finish Joseph Philips ( McGraw Hill ) Would failure in 4 out of 10 bridge building projects be acceptable?

Student Presentation 2010/11 13 Business Project Failures Is the project manageable from the point of view of IT department?

Student Presentation 2010/11 14 Is the IT professional in the board room? ProductionSalesFinance + IT

Student Presentation 2010/11 15 The need for Increased IT Professionalism?

Student Presentation 2010/11 16 Why is it important for the IT profession? IT at biology’s frontiers In less than 10 years IT has gone from being a valuable tool for life sciences to being at the heart of some of the most important research projects ever undertaken. Mining data from the human genome requires massive computing power Chemical equivalent of the genome project is producing another data mountain Go green with software Organisations are looking to software to help them meet their environmental commitments IT helps restore Lehman UK If separating the IT systems is successful, Nomura will be able to run Lehman Brothers UK as a standalone entity at a significantly lower cost than when it was Lehman Brothers’ UK entity Computers to harness speed of light Scientists aim to speed information processing by using light waves Future optical computers will provide more processing power and higher speed Headlines from Computer Weekly

Student Presentation 2010/11 17 Technology is increasingly at the heart of business WH Smith and Amazon.. VISA, MasterCard Groceries to customer’s door, real knowledge of customers; real time delivery.. Collaborative working...

Student Presentation 2010/11 18 Impact of Government Spending Review October 2010 In UK and other major economies IT projects are being cut from government spending. The UK Chancellor, George Osborne, announced a £3bn cut: – £1.7 billion will be directly cut from 'IT programmes, suppliers and property'. –A further £1.15 billion will come from discretionary spending, including IT consultancy. – £80 million is to be saved with the closure of the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA). Not all about cuts - The UK Government has sought partners in order to implement their G-Cloud ‘cloud computing’ initiative which is aimed at saving Government £13.2bn over the next few years. Present knock-on effect is that there are around 69 graduates applying for every advertised IT role ICT Industry makes a £71 Billion (8.4%) annual Gross Value Added (GVA) contribution to UK PLC (Technology Counts 2010)

Student Presentation 2010/11 19 The challenge for IT professionals new to the IT profession The challenge is to: Find out what working in Technology really means: Maximise the dividends of successful IT enabled innovation for business growth Exploit the potential of the technology to increase the ability to compete and meet customer expectations Find out what skills and qualities are required and looked for by recruiters – ‘soft’ skills and technical It’s not enough to be technically aware, must also improve commercial awareness

Student Presentation 2010/11 20 Membership – Main reasons for joining? 02

Student Presentation 2010/11 21 BCS Membership categories Ordinary Grades: Student membership - the grade for those on a course of IT related study Associate membership (letters after your name of AMBCS) - a first step to Professional membership Professional Grades: Professional membership (MBCS) - requires 5+ years’ experience dependent on qualifications Fellowship - our most senior grade for IT professionals Chartered Status: Chartered IT Professional status (CITP) - The benchmark of IT Excellence. Other registrations: Chartered Engineer (CEng), Incorporated Engineer (IEng) and Chartered Scientist (CSci)

Student Presentation 2010/11 22 Skills Framework for the Information Age SFIA & SFIAplus 4 ISM industry structure model “In terms of relevant scope and geographical uptake, we have found nothing similar to SFIAplus.” Daryl Beck Director of IT Academy, Unilever

Student Presentation 2010/11 23 How SFIA works The SFIA framework provides a clear model for describing what IT practitioners and users do. It is constructed as a two-dimensional matrix describing categories of work on one axis and levels of responsibility on another. There are six main categories of work: –Strategy and architecture –Business change –Solution development and implementation –Service Management –Procurement and management support –Client Interface These categories are sub-categorised and divided into 86 specific skills.

Student Presentation 2010/11 24 How SFIA works seven levels of responsibility: –Follow –Assist (≈Associate AMBCS grade) –Apply (≈Professional MBCS grade) –Enable –Ensure, advise (≈Chartered CITP status) –Initiate, influence –Set strategy, inspire, mobilise (≈Fellowship FBCS grade) These responsibility levels are measured by pre-defined areas of work: Degree of Autonomy, Complexity, Business Skills and Influence There are 290 competencies called ‘tasks’..

Student Presentation 2010/11 25 SFIAplus Summary Benefits of SFIAplus: Enables you to benchmark your IT skills against the standards defined by the IT industry Describes IT skills in a common language and a logical structure Helps determine the skills required

Student Presentation 2010/11 26 An overview of Membership > 70k Members 84% are based in the UK 84% / 16% male / female ratio 72% are Chartered or Professional Members

Student Presentation 2010/11 27 An overview of Membership Average age is 35 70% pay out of their own pocket 77% think it is good or excellent VFM 83% are satisfied with Membership 67% feel it has helped with their job Generates 20% of the Institute’s income

Student Presentation 2010/11 28 Why do Members join? 1. Professional recognition – 67% 2. Professional development – 14% 3. Member benefits and services – 10% Source – From 10,300 BCS Members respondents to Survey in Nov 2009

Student Presentation 2010/11 29 What’s in it for you, as a Student? 03

Student Presentation 2010/11 30 Why should Students join BCS? “Our goal is to continue to attract and retain the highest calibre IT professionals and help them through their professional development. We continue to share BCS’ goal and vision for the future and believe that well equipped, highly motivated and industry aware professionals are the key to future success” Ian Tufts, Head of Research and Development, Sage (UK) Ltd

Student Presentation 2010/11 31 Access the resources, skills and opportunities to help with your studies and develop your future career Demonstrates your commitment to the IT profession Shows you are serious about your career development Sets you apart Enables you to keep up-to-date with industry developments Huge range of member services and benefits Why should Students join BCS?

Student Presentation 2010/11 32 Student membership benefits Free online library full of knowledge and best practice: Books 24x7: 250 top IT and business related eBooks Forrester reports: up to 3 IT related research reports each month EBSCO: IT research database, with over 9000 academic journals and magazines Networking: Access to top people and latest thinking Dedicated Young Professionals Group Online Member Network 40 UK Branches and 45 Specialist Groups 17 International Sections

Student Presentation 2010/11 33 Student membership benefits cont. Other Knowledge Services: e newsletters (including eBCS Student) Latest Industry news Events, seminars and job opportunities Gadget reviews Free subscriptions to Computing and Globalization Today (digital versions) Member magazine ITNOW Career Development: Map your career and discover the skills you need Plan the training and development you need Get advice on writing CVs and letters and interview techniques BCSrecruit - Access thousands of the latest IT jobs via

Student Presentation 2010/11 34 Student membership benefits cont. Discounts Leading software from Microsoft and AVG Custom PC magazine BCS Online bookshop

Student Presentation 2010/11 35 ROI Individuals with professional qualifications and membership stand to gain £152,000 in additional earnings over the course of their careers* Members of Professional Bodies earn an estimated 17% premium over their working life** Sources….. *CMI and **Consultative Committee for Professional Management Organisations

Student Presentation 2010/11 36 ROI Potential worth Professional recognition £10,000s to £100,000s Career development & opportunities£10,000s Benefits and services £1000s –Legal help £50/hr + –Events £100s –Publications £100 + –Discounts on software, training and books £100s –Research reports £1000s –Professional Indemnity Insurance discount£110 to £170

Student Presentation 2010/11 37 An important question Does the Institute serve Members? or do they serve it?

Student Presentation 2010/11 38

Student Presentation 2010/11 39 How do you make the most of BCS Membership?

Student Presentation 2010/11 40 The short answer … It all depends on what you make of it!

Student Presentation 2010/11 41 Be part of the solution Raise awareness Network Participate Encourage others Learn new things Take advantage

Student Presentation 2010/11 42 Join today For more information and to apply: go to obtain an application form from your University/College Membership fee: £25 for 1 year (48p per week) or £40 for full course (19p per week) (That’s the price of just one good meal out!)

Student Presentation 2010/11 43 Thanks and any questions?