CIPScene February 2005

Narrowing the Gap Between Academia and Industry

January 27th, 2005 Student Event Update

Lara Wigmore, CIPS Student Program Chair

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On Thursday, January 27th, 2005, the Ottawa CIPS section delivered its inaugural student event, Emerging IM/IT Trends and How to Survive Beyond 2010. Students from Algonquin College, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa assembled in a lecture room - a regular venue for students, but a welcome change for the panel of speakers. While the students had the opportunity to receive guidance, insight, and commentaries on current and anticipated trends and related opportunities; the speakers - an assembly of past and present public and private sector industry leaders - were able to return to academia and impart their wisdom to tomorrow's leaders.

Dr. Lyne Bouchard, Program Director of Gartner Executive Programs for Eastern Canada, launched the evening with presentations outlining the top ten trends shaping IT. The presentation revealed shifts in relative rankings of CIO strategic priorities, the increasing emphasis placed on business processes and business intelligence, and the projected top technologies for the next 18-36 months.

Following her presentation, Dr. Bouchard moderated a panel of speakers, including Susan Brown, former Deputy CIO from Canada Revenue Agency; Sue Ernst, former Executive Vice-President, Service Delivery and Operations, BCE Emergis; and Stephen Mill, VP Technology in Eastern Canada, Robert Half International. During this question and answer period, the panel of speakers shared their views on topics ranging from the strategic importance of technology to the key knowledge, skills and attributes that employers seek from new graduates and techniques that new hires can employ to ensure their growth and development.

The final presentation, Outlook for IT Employment, belonged to Norm McDevitt, Vice President of the Software Human Resource Council (SHRC). In his presentation, Mr. McDevitt described two classes of IM/IT jobs, discussed IM/IT employment drivers, and touched on the anticipated impact of offshoring on the Canadian IM/IT industry. Summarizing the past and current market behaviour, Mr. McDevitt described the five critical attributes of 'keeper staff': (1) business acumen, (2) interpersonal skills, (3) organizational skills, (4) project management skills, and (5) leadership ability. One of the central messages of the evening was that having the technical skills is one thing, but having the ability to articulate those skills is paramount to the success of a new hire.

The final component of the evening was a wine & cheese social where students had the opportunity to network with the speakers, CIPS members and executives, and their peers. "The CIPS networking event was one of the best networking events I've been to, in terms of organization and format of the evening. I also liked how CIPS limited the number of people to the event - that made the networking part of the evening a little easier", commented Eksaran Sambi, President of the University of Ottawa's MIS association.