In the year 2020, technical expertise will no longer be the sole province of the IT department. Employees throughout the organization will understand how to use technology to do their jobs.
Yet futurists and IT experts say that the most sought-after IT-related skills will be those that involve the ability to mine overwhelming amounts of data, protect systems from security threats, manage the risks of growing complexity in new systems, and communicate how technology can increase productivity.
1. Analyzing Data
By 2020, the amount of data generated each year will reach 35 zettabytes, or about 35 million petabytes, according to market researcher IDC. That's enough data to fill a stack of DVDs reaching from the Earth to the moon and back, according to John Gantz, chief research officer at IDC.
Demand will be high for IT workers with the ability to not only analyze dizzying amounts of data, but also work with business units to define what data is needed and where to get it.
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These hybrid business-technology employees will have IT expertise and an understanding of business processes and operations. "They are people who understand what information people need" and how that information translates into profitability, says David Foote, president and CEO of IT workforce research firm Foote Partners LLC. "You'll have many more people understanding the whole data 'supply chain,' from information to money," he says.
2. Understanding Risk
Risk management skills will remain in high demand through 2020, says futurist David Pearce Snyder, especially at a time when business wrestles with growing IT complexity. Think of IT problems on the scale of BP's efforts to stop the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, or Toyota's work to correct sudden acceleration in some of its cars, Snyder says.
"When you're in the time of rapid innovation," which is happening now and will continue into 2020, he contends, "you run into the law of unintended consequences -- when you try something brand-new in a complex world, you can be certain that it's going to produce unexpected consequences." Businesses will seek out IT workers with risk management skills to predict and react to these challenges.
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