Global Knowledge gives 10 technology skills you should acquire over the next 5 years. Some of them may be long gone before that so I will discuss a few that are relevant and will more than likely remain so for awhile at least.
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Wireless technology: Believe it or not, it is still in the early stage for companies. Companies shy away from it because of the security problems, but wireless is only going to become more prevalent. This brings me to the next tip:
Security. This is completely important and as wireless and telecommuting become more popular, security will be front and center. It could also cause lots of problems if the security skills of the IT teams are not kept as up-to-date as humanly possible.
Remote User Support: Many companies have been offering telecommuting to their employees for awhile now, but there are issues at hand. The IT staff needs to be able to support these workers remotely while keeping full security of the internal network. Skills relating to VPN technologies and technologies for quarantining of remote users who could put the network at risk are going to be increasingly necessary.
Software as a Service (SaaS) will become increasingly important to businesses and this will affect IT departments. Traditional administrators will want to acquire skills with an emphasis in planning and convergence, service provision, and multi-tenant architecture. SaaS and Cloud Computing are making businesses more flexible: IT professionals will need to be just as flexible in their skill set. Perhaps the most important, however, is gaining the skills and expertise needed to provide
Mobile User Support. Security will be an issue here as well and IT professionals will need to support email configuration and connection to the company LAN. There is certainly a lot going on out there in IT right now and things are moving very fast. Businesses and their workers expect to be able to do many things, from many locations, many different ways and this will require a great deal of innovation and flexibility on the part of IT staff.
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SK Dutta is a software architect and creator of OfficeClip Suite of products. He loves to design and develop software that makes people do their job better and more fun. He always explores ways to improve productivity for small businesses. He is also an avid reader in many areas, including psychology, productivity, and business.