The UK’s IT workforce is set for a shake-up, after industry groups last week announced new initiatives to develop the business skills of technology staff and drive greater professionalism throughout the sector.

The SFIA Foundation last week updated its Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA), developed to standardise a wide range of IT job titles and help firms manage recruitment and staffing. The foundation is backed by groups including E-skills UK, the IEE and the British Computer Society (BCS). SFIA version 3 ups the number of IT roles supported from 54 to 78.

The update follows consultation with UK companies. “We found firms are looking to get IT professionals who have technical capability and business understanding,” said Terry Hook of E-skills UK. “The category of change-management [is also] quite important.”

Analyst Gartner last week agreed that there will be growing demand for professionals who combine IT expertise with other business skills. It predicted that by 2010, 60 percent of IT staff will have business-facing roles.

The launch of SFIA 3 is supported by a new Profiler tool, to help firms implement the framework to obtain information about skills gaps or training requirements, for example. Meanwhile, IT trade association Intellect last week launched an initiative to improve relations between IT suppliers and corporate customers. The Private Sector Council will provide a forum for both sides to discuss project methodologies and best practices.

Nick Kalisperas of Intellect said a key objective is to improve communication. “If we are to maintain competitiveness [with offshore rivals] we need to look at how we communicate with customers,” he said. Intellect previously launched a similar initiative to improve relations with the public sector.

The latest move complements the BCS’s plans to develop more professional guidelines for its members, said Kalisperas. “We’re building a professionalism jigsaw where the BCS addresses the individual level, while Intellect aims at the corporate level,” he added.