Insight into outsourcing

The outsourcing trend could be good for your career - as long as you position yourself correctly.

While more jobs will undoubtedly be lost as banks outsource more of their back office IT functions to low cost locations, the process also generates new opportunities for IT professionals with the right skills.

"We expect to see increased demand from banks for programme managers and business architects, particularly those with experience of customer-facing projects," says Phil Coding, a senior analyst with analyst firm Ovum.

Employers are looking for experienced project managers, business analysts and project directors who have the strong integration skills required in this new environment, adds Ivan Martin, chairman of recruitment firm FDM, which supplies staff to outsourcing companies. "Very few banks will start afresh with a new system when they outsource, so there's a definite need for people who can make internal and externally managed applications work together effectively," he says.

IT professionals who are interested in working around outsourcing - on the client or vendor side - should focus on developing business skills and gaining experience with new technologies. "It's not important particularly which products or platforms you work on, whether it's IBM or Oracle - but you definitely need to be familiar with .Net and Java," Martin says.