What on earth does it all meme?

Attend any gathering of technologists and there is a strong likelihood you will hear certain phrases over and over again.

Outsiders can be baffled by the IT industry's reliance on vacuous phrases, such as 'end-to-end solution' and 'value-add services'.

These expressions, or memes, have become the accepted way of speaking in the technology sector.

Like a virus, memetic phrases can be a tricky thing to shake off - particularly for a discipline that has spent much of the past 10 years developing systems in isolation from the businesses it serves.

But now the technology industry's choice of language is being closely scrutinised.

And technology workers would be well advised to stop using the memes that give their industry a geeky reputation.

Last week, Computing's Skills Roadmap - which traces the three stages of a technology worker's career: graduate, professional and director - highlighted how companies now require much closer integration between technology and business processes (Computing, 23 June).

IT professionals and technology leaders are expected to work across all areas of business to develop systems for specific sector problems.

As a result, the most successful technology professionals during the next three years are likely to be those with a business focus.

And quirky memes are not going to help you explain how technology will improve business efficiency - or get you a seat on the board.

Recruitment firm Harvey Nash's annual CIO survey suggests that 65 per cent of IT directors already have a degree of responsibility outside technology. Evidence from Computing's Skills Roadmap backs this assertion.

UK IT directors say their roles are already much more business-focused. Technology leaders now require communication, leadership and networking skills to maintain a broad range of internal and external business relationships.

By 2009, Gartner expects IT directors will need to spend more than 50 per cent of their time concentrating on external relationships to ensure they deliver results.

This all means that IT professionals looking to move up the career ladder will also need to broaden their horizons. Panellists on Computing's Skills Roadmap said technology professionals should brush up on their general management skills.

These changes, of course, mean technology graduates should also ensure they are business-focused.

Take note, then, IT candidates. Your future is likely to involve a subtle mix of technology and business.

Do not get hung up on technology and meaningless memes that attempt to convey the potential of IT.

Understand what business requires and communicate your resolution in English, rather than machine code.

The opportunities for well-rounded technologists are still plentiful and Sector Skills Agreement for IT (SSA for IT) from e-Skills UK aims to provide a boost for the technology sector.

As part of the SSA for IT action plan, UK businesses will invest £2.4bn in employee training over the next three years, to try to close the productivity gap between the UK and its competitors.

The action plan aims to address some of the major skills issues surrounding the technology sector: the skills shortage, poor quality training and a gender imbalance.

These three issues have remained at the forefront of government and business approaches to technology skills for the best part of five years.

Some 34 per cent of businesses with job vacancies for IT professionals find these jobs hard to fill, according to e-Skills UK.

Employers state that 5.6 million people will be needed to increase their skills base to meet the changing demands of business during the next three years.

And just one in five of the UK IT workforce is female, an endemic gender imbalance that e-Skills UK says must be overcome if the country is to meet workforce demands.

In a world without technology memes, e-Skills UK's SSA for IT action plan should not be seen as an 'end-to-end solution'.

But it is to be hoped that the plan is a considerable step in the right direction.