| The shortage of IT staff is not projected to be solved any time soon; according to figures presented here, the shortage will continue to at least 2010. This is despite widespread layoffs and sector unemployment. Almost daily reports suggest that the modern 'knowledge economies' will struggle and become less competitive if the shortage cannot be overcome. The problem is worldwide. One report noted that a Spanish company had gone as far as signing up students before they begin their final year of studies and that Spain had 22,000 computing and telecom posts vacant. In Germany, there is a shortfall of 75,000 jobs in high-tech workers (Center for Immigration Studies, 2000). Other countries, such as Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, have reported similar problems. As we have seen, the effects and the costs to the U.S. economy can be significant and serious. It is time to challenge all high-tech companies to redouble their efforts to find long-term solutions to the rapidly continuing demand for workers with technical skills. A strategic global initiative is needed to address and present rapid effective solutions. This will require doing more to improve college education systems—a collaboration of universities and high tech companies. Collaboration between countries and the sharing of knowledge and solutions, upgrading the skills of our existing workforce, and recruiting from under-represented groups, such as older workers, minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and residents of rural areas and other emerging countries must also be attempted. Many IT companies have important initiatives in these areas, but we clearly need to be doing more. Historically, IT organizations have typically met all that was expected of them with staff members who had the necessary skills. However, because of the scarcity of skills and the vast complexity of computing compared to legacy mainframe systems, IT organizations must change their approach. They will have to create a blend of internal and external resources by finding motivated IT professionals able to work in a collaborative environment and possessing the necessary critical skills. In addition, we must look beyond these identified solutions and use the software tools that we have to provide more automation. If we can design and implement software products and services that can address the functions and processes that IT staff perform, this will help in the solution. One of autonomic computing's main objectives is to reduce the need for and dependency on IT staff. If we can use this software to relieve skilled workers of monotonous tasks, it will allow them to concentrate more on the business objectives. Autonomic computing will provide the following: -
Software installation and regular configuration. -
Required and periodic upgrades. -
System monitoring to ensure optimum performance. -
Automatic data and file management, such as backups and checkpoints. -
Self-healing software that will automatically recover from system failures, errors, and runtime faults. -
Embedded security features that can detect and prevent data, files, and systems from being infected or stolen. -
Software that can manage resources and apply them where needed to maximum effect. As an industry primarily concerned with providing effective software automation, IT should look inward upon itself and adopt higher levels of automation wherever possible. |
