A report published last year by industry analyst Ovum suggests that the IT profession in this country is changing from being pyramid-shaped to diamond-shaped.

At the base of the pyramid model is a broad layer of entry-level roles. Above these are positions such as project manager, business analyst and network architect that build on entry-level talent. At the pinnacle are the IT directors, chief information officers and chief executives.

Increasingly, however, many of the roles that make up the broad base are being outsourced to offshore markets, such as India and China, resulting in the new diamond-shaped model.

Entry level roles have traditionally provided new entrants with the technical and business experience they need to progress to higher levels. The loss of such positions is creating an unsustainable long-term model for the IT profession.

UK employers need onshore IT professionals with skills that complement and build on those offshored and add value to the company. They need business-oriented IT professionals who can function in customer-facing roles and are prepared to deal with change.

Such orientation requires business, communication, team working and project management expertise, as well as up-to-date technical knowledge.

IT professionals, therefore, need increasingly to be able to translate business objectives, manage budgets and work in virtual teams across geographical, cultural and linguistic boundaries.

That broad spectrum of experiences is a huge amount to ask of an IT professional who has progressed up the traditional skills ladder. For a new entrant to the profession, that traditional ladder no longer exists.

Many jobs at the base of the pyramid are disappearing and will not be coming back. Analyst Gartner estimates that a further 20 per cent of IT jobs will move offshore from the UK in the next five years.

Business, government and education need to work together to ensure that new recruits into the IT profession have access to development routes that will enable them to become the managers, analysts and architects of the future.

In May last year, e-Skills UK, together with the BCS, Intellect and the National Computing Centre, launched the Professionalism in IT alliance (Prof IT) to support the UK's drive for leadership in the global IT market.

Part of e-Skills UK's work in the new alliance will focus on establishing a fast-track skills programme for new recruits into the sector, accelerating development in the first 10 years in the profession.

The track will help build customer-focused, business-knowledgeable individuals who can confidently manage projects, as well as relationships and teams earlier in their careers.

There are also plans to streamline work-based development programmes, making it easier for IT professionals to achieve qualifications, ranging from apprenticeships to Masters and doctorates, while still working in industry.

At graduate level, companies recruit people into the IT workforce from across a wide range of disciplines, including the arts. Graduates from non-technology disciplines often have abilities in areas not yet widely included in traditional computing courses, such as interpersonal, project management and business skills.

Recent research indicates that just half of the graduates entering the technology workforce have an IT-related degree. There is an urgent need for university courses that combine technology and business in creative, stimulating programmes that enable students to develop the full range of skills required for a career in IT.

The UK's IT industry is growing at five to eight times the national sectoral average. Not only does the UK need IT professionals that can deliver business value from technology, it needs many more of them.

The IT industry, however, faces a major challenge in projecting a more desirable image as a long-term career choice. Such problems need to be addressed if employers are to compete against those from other industries for a limited pool of graduates.

At the same time, Ovum estimates that by 2008 offshoring will start to have an impact on higher-level roles. The increased technological confidence and experience of countries such as India and China will also provide serious competition to the UK’s current superiority in areas such as creativity and innovation.

The global landscape for IT professionals is undergoing constant evolution that will only accelerate. It is vital that we continue to understand and respond to change so that the UK has the talent it needs to succeed.

Karen Price is chief executive of e-Skills UK