The UK needs IT professionals who can add clear value to organisations, whose skills are easy to identify, and whose development will enable them to continue to succeed in the competitive global market.

This requires a consistent approach to IT professional capability and development ­ presented in clear, simple language and applicable to businesses of all sizes, across all sectors.

In 2006 IT sector skills council e-Skills UK set out to develop that approach. With the support of more than 200 employers, including BT, Computacenter, EDS, IBM, Microsoft, NHS, UBS and the government, as well as our Professionalism in IT Alliance partners BCS, Intellect and NCC, we established e-Skills Procom -­ the IT Professional Competency Model. Procom is a high-level framework for qualifications that builds on existing skills and development programmes to ensure an industry-wide approach.

Two key themes emerged early in the discussions: IT professionals want recognised career paths with progression routes and structured development programmes; and employers want evidence and external recognition of what a person can actually do.

Through employer workshops and one-to-one discussions, we explored how these themes could best be addressed through Procom. Employers agreed that to truly add value, Procom needed to be high-level, simple and flexible; able to support the wide range of backgrounds and flexibility of roles that exist in IT.

It had to unite successful existing programmes for skills development and job specifications, such as SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age), the BCS Chartered Professional Programme and the National Occupational Standards for IT ­ the building blocks of all IT-related qualifications. And it had to provide a firm foundation for new professional development programmes designed to meet the ever-changing skills needs of our rapidly evolving industry.

Seven broad areas of work were defined. These were complemented by vertical levels of progression, with professionals at the same stage of progression sharing a comparable depth of knowledge, understanding and skills. The third element of the model addressed the increasingly important area of transferable and leadership skills, including the business, project management and interpersonal skills required by all IT professionals regardless of their disciplines or role. Leadership skills naturally become increasingly important at higher levels of progression.

As an overarching framework, Procom will be at the heart of qualifications reform for IT, helping to ensure that development programmes, qualifications and learning provide the UK’s IT professionals with the world class skills they need in today’s global economy. This will enable an external recognition of competence that employers can use to support recruitment, professional development, staff morale and retention. We are at the start of an exciting journey.

Karen Price is chief executive of e-Skills UK. Read her blog at: eskillsuk.computing.co.uk