ITS - Information Technology Services

ITS is on the Move

justin@its-recruit.com — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 15:38:00 GMT

On 18th September 2010, a few days short of our first year, we relocated to Temple Chambers in the City to be closer to our client base and allow for our continued expansion.

Over the next 6 months we will double in size offering our client-focussed IT Recruitment model and IT Managed Service to a target market of the wider professional services industry. We will also expand our services within the legal sector.

We are excited about this development & our future plans and look forward to attracting more high calibre individuals to join our team.

ITS EXPANDS UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP

justin@its-recruit.com — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:58:00 GMT

Following the successful purchase last year of the ITS brand from former owner, Median Recruitment, Justin Edwards & Kristian McMaster have expanded and exceeded forecasted profits by 25%.

Edwards says "This is due to the resurgence of the Legal IT market over the last 12 months and increased uptake of our unique and highly client focussed Managed Services resource solution, which includes a cost-saving weekend service desk. We have increased the team by 50% over the last 6 months leaving our nearest competitor in Legal IT Recruitment a distant second".

The company will shortly launch it's long-awaited Legal HR Recruitment division having found much support amongst its client base for a service in this sector that's as good as its IT Recruitment model.

McMaster says "It is fantastic to see such quick success following our management buyout and we are excited about our impending relocation to Temple Chambers, in the City of London so we can can continue to expand and be closer to our client base. By the end of 2010 we will have doubled in size over the year and will be on course to double again in 2011".

ITS MD VOTED TOP 30 PERSON TO KNOW WITHIN LEGAL IT

justin@its-recruit.com — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:58:00 GMT

**ITS MD VOTED TOP 30 PERSON TO KNOW IN LEGAL IT**

For the second year running Justin Edwards has been voted into this list of key 'people to know' within the sector. The list details all the movers & shakers including leaders from within the law firms and from the software vendors and strategy consultants.

Voters are a mixture of IT Directors, decision-makers and vendors within the sector.

ITS UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP!!

justin@its-recruit.com — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:11:00 GMT

Last month, long-time ITS employees Justin Edwards and Kristian McMaster bought the ITS brand and company rights from former previous owner, Median Recruitment Group.

In a well-executed business move, the two have taken over the complete portfolio of ITS clients and candidates.

For both Justin Edwards and Kristian the move seemed like the logical choice, as both have been working with the legal IT sector for a combined total of over twenty years.

“This is a very workable partnership,” Justin said. “I am able to focus on business development, while Kristian can continue to provide excellent client service. We know our strengths and we’re using them together to grow the business even further.”

Edwards joined ITS in 1996 and was instrumental in building the brand to its current status. His professional reputation boasts a wealth of industry knowledge and contacts. Under his leadership, ITS has won several prestigious awards including “Most Customer Focused Supplier” at the 2008 Legal Technology Awards, a first for any recruitment agency.

McMaster was recruited by Edwards in 2000 and has since become one of ITS’ most financially successful consultants. He took over team management in 2008 and continues to work with clients and candidates on day-to-day recruitment issues.

The team also benefits from consultant David Willis and resourcer Adrian Hotham who have both been with the agency for over five years. Both will remain working with ITS.

ITS are still based in Kingly Street, W1, and will continue to work from these established offices until early 2010.

Is there an upturn in the making?

justin@its-recruit.com — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:05:00 GMT

The media have been eagerly talking down the market for the last 12 months which I hoped would at least help me buy a house for a good price having sold in November.

However, since nobody has been prepared to sell, it's been pretty impossible to find one we like because there's been nothing on the market. So what's out there has actually been priced artificially high and now we've found one, we've ended up paying 5% over asking price in a closed bid!

What's that all about??

Anyway, now I've got that off my chest, on to business...

Our turnover dropped by around 35% between September 2008 and February 2009 but has remained stable since February. This has at least meant that our cost-cutting measures have been adequate and that we are able to sustain a team large enough to allow for growth. The leveling out is mostly attributed to a good contract market - the perm side of the business really fell away.

Activity significantly increased in July & August with our contract vacancy list quadroupling and our perm vacancy list doubling during this period. Whilst this could be just a happy blip, it's still very encouraging.

Justin Edwards

Legal Technology Awards 2009 - Shortlist

justin@its-recruit.com — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:46:00 GMT

Legal Technology Awards

January 29^th 2009, The Royal Lancaster Hotel London

The Legal Technology Awards celebrates achievement in the provision of technology solutions within the legal practice sector.

The Shortlist for 2009

FIRMWIDE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Fee-earner desktop/portal of the year

· DLA Piper

· Norton Rose

Training initiative of the year

· Ashurst

· Penningtons

· Simmons & Simmons

CSR/green IT initiative of the year

· Bech-Bruun

· Nabarro

· Taylor Wessing

Client (commoditised) facing legal service of the year

· Allen & Overy

· Boyes Turner

· QCAS a division of Shulmans

· Simmons & Simmons

Most client-focused law firm of the year

· Ashurst

· Berwin Leighton Paisner

· DLA Piper

· Halliwells

· Wragge & Co

TEAM ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Regional – IT team of the year

· Blake Lapthorn

· Matthew Arnold & Baldwin

· Shulmans

· Tollers

City/national – IT team of the year

· Berwin Leighton Paisner

· Halliwells

· Howard Kennedy

· Nabarro

· Olswang

· Taylor Wessing

International – IT team of the year

· Ashurst

· Bech-Bruun

· Bird & Bird

· Cuatrecasas

· Matheson Ormsby Prentice

Knowledge team of the year

· Ashurst

· Burges Salmon

· Simmons & Simmons

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Regional – IT director of the year

· Burges Salmon - Jon Gould

· Lester Aldridge - Neil Prevett

City/national – IT director of the year

· Berwin Leighton Paisner - Janet Day

· Halliwells - Dene Rowe

· Nabarro - Andrew Powell

· Osborne Clarke - Nathan Hayes

International – IT director of the year

· Cuatrecasas - Francesc Muñoz

· DLA Piper - Daniel Pollick

· Foley & Lardner - Douglas Caddell

Knowledge officer of the year

· Allen & Overy - Ruth Ward

· Ashurst - Jeremy Thomas

· Burges Salmon - Carol Aldridge

· Simmons & Simmons - David Fitch

SUPPLIER ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Technology innovation of the year

· Epoq Legal Group

· IntApp

· Interwoven

· KnowledgeTools International

· nFlow

· Vuture

Technology implementation of the year

· Basware & Goldsmith Williams

· Elite & Maurice Blackburn Pty Ltd

· Epoq & Nelsons

· Eurodata Systems plc & Marks & Clerk

· knowledgeTools International & Bombardier Transportation

· Tikit & ECHR

Electronic disclosure support/service provider of the year

· LDM

· Merrill Legal Solutions

· TRILANTIC

Integrated system of the year

· DPS Software

· Eclipse Legal Systems

· TFB

Best of breed system of the year

· CallCredit

· Elite 3E

· Flosuite

· IntApp

· Interwoven

· Mimecast

· Recommind

Online product of the year

· CallCredit

· knowledgeTools International

· LexisNexis

· Mimecast

· Tikit

Most customer-focused supplier of the year

· AK IT Solutions

· BigHand

· nFlow

· Phoenix Business Solutions

· Recommind

Industry News

justin@its-recruit.com — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 13:08:00 GMT

A new report, from the Analysis firm IDC, sugests that growth for 2008 in the the IT market will only reach 2.6%, 3.3% lower than the original 5.6% that was predicted before the econiomic crisis. This brings Europe’s growth in line with both the USA and Japan, whoch is somewhere around the 1 % mark. Analysis firm IDC do predict, however, that IT spending will make a 'full recovery' and will see growth of near 6% in 2012.

Gartner an IT advisory and research Firm claimed, at its Sydney Stmposium, that the IT industry could help to deal with the World's Carbon emissions! Currently IT contributes to roughly two per cent of global carbon emissions, Gartner said that IT could help reduce the emissions from the remaining 98 per cent.

Simmons & Simmons is planning a Linklaters-style strategy of cutting the number of its key global clients in the wake of the financial crisis, following the loss of key clients such as Lehman Brothers and ABN Amro. The move comes hot on the heels of Linklaters’ plan to reduce the total number of clients it represents from 11,000 down to an expected 3,000 by this time next year.

Mischon de Reya has signed up alongside Field Fisher Waterhouse and Reed Smith to give Public advice through a newly-launched advice service at Queen Mary, University of London namely ‘The Pink Law Legal Advice Centre’. The initiative launched on Friday (14 November) and will give free legal advice to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Unlike Field Fisher and Reed Smith this is the first time Mishcons has worked with the university. Queen Mary's Legal Advice Centre is unusual in London in that it is run by the university and offers free legal advice to staff, students and members of the public. Since opening its doors in 2006, the centre won the attorney general's 2008 pro bono award and was the only university to be short-listed for the Law Society Excellence Awards 2008

More than half of the London lawyers at Lehman Brothers have left since the bank’s collapse in September, despite the huge amount of legal work still required by administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Those who remain at Lehman have been offered generous packages by PwC, according to recruiters.

Is there doom & gloom around the corner?

justin@its-recruit.com — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:05:00 GMT

Everyone is obviously concerned about what's around the corner given recent financial upheavals. Nobody knows if we are going to have a deep recession or of it will be just a blip. It is hard to see if there is just a lack confidence or if they is going to be a very real lack of money to drive growth & development.

What we can do is comment on now and our observations of current state of play are positive:

· Law firms have been busy. Since May, we have posted our best revenue figures for 3 years. There is a lot of activity being generated for the legal profession by recent events; we can’t say how they see things panning out once this work is finished but our forecasted figures into January are in line with the positive trend since May.

· After discussion with many of the top 100 IT Directors, it is clear that many firms (including US firms who one might expect to be battening down the hatches) are committed to spending on major projects for at least the next 18 months which will ensure a fair amount of recruitment activity.

So we would expect the Legal IT Contractor market to be fairly healthy going forward and we are still maintaining the highest number of contractors we have ever had in Legal.

· Only 3 of our clients have frozen recruitment those particular firms would be expected to do so anyway (after recently completing a long run of large implementations).

· We have seen a reduction in new permanent positions by 18% but we would expect a 10% drop around this time of year anyway.

New Team Member

justin@its-recruit.com — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:54:00 GMT

ITS welcomes a new member to the team. Sara Mulvihill joins us as a Consultants and will focus on US Law Firms and UK firms in the South east.

This increases our dedicated Legal IT team to 7 members, making us the largest in the country solely committed to this IT market.

ITS welcomes a new Consultant to its Legal IT Team

justin@its-recruit.com — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:43:00 GMT

In a confident 'recession busting' move! we are please to welcome Dee Uppal to the team. Dee will focus on some London Firms but mainly North East & North West.

Since we know that recruiters from the larger IT recruitment companies are not tuned into the customer focused approach that is needed when recruiting for the Legal IT sector, we are keeping with our policy of training people from scratch by sourcing from outside of the IT recruitment sector. Dee joins us as a trainee bringing a great deal of customer services & media experience since graduating in 2002.

The 2008 ITS & Median Oscars

justin@its-recruit.com — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:37:00 GMT

The annual Median and ITS Oscars ceremony took place in May to commemorate the 2007-2008 financial year.

As ever, the evening was a roaring success and this year included some surprise presenters such as ex-Median consultant, Ketchum’s talent network manager, Stacey Neighbour who presented one of the fun awards of the evening.

ITS’ David Willis walked away with FIVE Oscars (the most ever given to one individual) which included Best Placement and Best Newcomer and overall Best Biller was awarded again to ITS’ Kristian McMaster for the 2^nd consecutive year.

List of some of the winners

Best Biller

Kristian McMaster – ITS

Best Placement

David Willis – ITS

Best New Business Consultant

Amy Wilson – Median

Outstanding Contribution to Office Environment

Christopher Lee-Roberts – Median

Most Reliable and Considerate Colleague

Kathryn Woof – Median

Best Newcomer

David Willis - ITS

Least Number of Sick Days

Adrian Holtham - ITS (0)

David Willis – ITS (0)

Amy Wilson – Median (0)

Best Office Comedy Performer

Christopher Lee-Roberts – Median

Best Office Singer

David Willis - ITS

Special Award (For Outstanding Commitment to his Job, Team and Firm)

Adrian Holtham - ITS

ITS' Team instrumental in Simmons & Simmons' successful global refresh Programme

justin@its-recruit.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:21:00 GMT

At the end of 2007, Simmons & Simmons delivered on time and on budget their global refresh Programme, Vanilla, using a mix of internal IT staff, external contractors and IT Partners.

The Team was commended in the category of “Best International IT Team” at the recent Legal Technology Awards as was Abby Ewen in the category of “Best International IT Director”, narrowly missing out on the win.

Whilst we were only a small part, we are proud to say that Design Authority and key Project Management within the 40 strong team as well as many backfills covering internal employees moving to the programme were contractors supplied and line managed by ITS. We worked closely in-house on an often daily basis with HR and IT to ensure smooth integration of contract staff with internal employees.

We would like to thank the HR & IT management team at Simmons for giving us the opportunity to work with them on this programme and for keeping us privy to strategic level discussions which enabled us to manage our team effectively. After Vanilla and the preceding Elite/Business Objects/InterAction Programmes, as if that wasn’t enough, it’s now on to ITIL! We look forward to working with you on that too.

Please see our Client pages for a testimonail on our work on this Programme.

ITS wins Customer Focus award at the 'Legal Technology Awards' on first nomination

justin@its-recruit.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:38:00 GMT

In December last year ITS was the first recruitment company ever to be shortlisted for an award at the coveted ‘Legal Technology Awards’. The event is monopolised by the Legal IT vendors rather than recruitment.

As the longest running and most successful Legal IT Recruitment specialist in the UK. and, in particular, having carried out client work during 2007 that went above and beyond the usual remit of a recruitment company, we were nominated for this year’s awards in the "Most Customer Focussed Supplier" category.

Our nomination was supported by testimonials from: Simmons & Simmons (where we supplied and managed the core team for their recently completed Vanilla Programme team - the Team was a runner up in the Best International IT Team" award category at the same event); Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (where we helped them write a competency review process for their internal IT staff and sat on the internal review panel with a Senior Partner); Taylor Wessing (with whom we have worked for a number of years; CMS Cameron McKenna (where we have worked in-house and as an external supplier for 10 years).

We attended the Awards Ceremony on the 31^st January along with many Clients, Partners and Legal IT vendors; including the competition in our category who were: AK - IT Solutions, BigHand, Interwoven, ConveyanceLink, Eclipse, IRIS – AIM and Redwood Analytics.

To win this award over such good competition was a fantastic achievement and so unexpected given we are not an IT Vendor. Well done to everyone at ITS and thank you to all our Clients for all your support and partnership over the years. We are so proud to have won and look forward to another great year in 2008.

Latest Legislation for Contractors

justin@its-recruit.com — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:28:01 GMT

In the 2006 budget, under the banner of “tax motivated incorporation” the Chancellor announced he would bring forward discussions around the tax and NICs systems, with a particular focus on how best to tackle disguised employment via Managed Service Company (MSC) schemes.

This statement simply reaffirmed the Governments long held opinion that only those individuals who are genuinely in business should be able to make use of the tax advantages of working via an incorporated business. The tax advantages were introduced to encourage entrepreneurs rather than to avoid paying their proper share of tax.

The 2006 Pre-Budget report (PBR) paper entitled “Tackling Manager Serviced Companies” (TMSC) set out the proposed steps HM Treasury (HMT) intended to take to ensure the collection of tax and NIC and noted the start of a consultation period ending 2^nd March 2007, during which time HMT invited comments about how well the proposed legislation defines and targets an MSC, a scheme provider and whether the proposed transfer of debt provisions can be applied correctly.

HMT’s View Of The Industry

The TMSC document summarises the issues HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have experienced in trying to police compliance with existing legislation for contractors working via corporate structures, such as composite companies and Managed Personal Service Companies (MPSCs). Basically proving that a contractor is caught by IR35 has been very time consuming and far less successful than hoped. It also notes the frustrations of HMRC where, as part of any review, underpaid tax/NIC is identified but there has been an inability to collect the sums due, either because the companies have no available cash/assets to meet the liabilities or because, in most extreme cases, the companies have been liquidated and the contractors within them have switched to other “new” corporate structures to start afresh. This is known as “phoenixing” and is often on the advice or instruction of a scheme provider. These frustrations set the tone of the TMSC document.

The Industry’s Response

Not surprisingly, given the tone of the document, its objectives and the proposed legislation drafted to support the enforcement of the new rules, there has been a large volume of comment and opinion from contractors, agencies and the service providers. The most contentious issues seem to be:

· HMT’s belief that a contractor working through an MSC cannot be in business on his own account. The view is the same regardless of whether the contractor is inside or outside scope of IR35. It is not the contractor’s individual circumstances that are key (as under IR35) but his connection with an MSC scheme provider

· HMT’s failure to recognise that there are compliant service providers (and contractors) in the industry who are implicated to the same degree as non-compliant service providers (and contractors)

· HMT’s reluctance to define “control” – this is discussed later

· The very shirt window to allow any representations to be made and for any changes to be incorporated, following the completion of the consultation period and the start of the new tax year on 6 April 2007

The Legislation Itself: Control

To fall outside proposed legislation a contractor must be able to demonstrate that he/she is “genuinely in business on his/her own account”, rather than simply passing the IR35 tests. HMT would regard a contractor who exercises “financial and management control” of his own company as one who is in business on his own account. Contractors working via a managed company structure are seen as having the actual financial and management control of the company undertaken by a third party. It is a significant factor in the eyes of the HMT that a contractor who benefits from working in a limited company should be aware of the financial risks of being in business and have a responsibility for the running of the company – its is not enough to simply have shareholding and pass the financial and general management of the company to a third party.

The third part, or “scheme provider” is often a business, typically a composite, which provides various levels of support services to a large number of contractors including:

1. Control of the shareholder structure

2. Provision of a company director

3. Formation of the companies

4. Accounting and payroll services

5. Invoicing services

6. Preparation of personal and corporate tax returns

7. Companies compliance activities

HMT have acknowledged that providing some of these activities does not necessarily constitute “control”, but providing all of these services is likely to constitute control, resulting in the company receiving the services becoming an MSC.

The provision of some of these services by a provider (such as an accountant or payroll bureau) would not necessarily mean the company used by the contractor is an MSC. It is the “de facto” control of the company through which the contractor is working which HMT believe differentiates an MSC from a PSC.

This issue of “control over the finances or general management” is the key factor is determining whether a contractor is within an MSC or a PSC. However, instead of using existing legislation (which case law to provide clarity) to define “control” the TMSC document provides that control will take its “general meaning”. This may be a deliberate move n the part of HMT to enable HMRC to cast its net as widely as possible and to ensure a cautious approach for any contractor service provider who wishes to be a compliant business. The downside for HMT is that HMRC will not be able to say with certainty whether a contractor’s company is an MSC until the case is decided in court.

In respect of looking at control, noted below are some frequently asked questions about whether the provision of certain services would constitute control being passed to the service provider and therefore the contractor company becoming an MSC:

· Are Individual bank accounts necessary?

The TMSC document notes that the use of single bank accounts in the name of the service provider used for collecting and holding of contractor companies monies, is an example of the service provider exercising financial control. Therefore, going forward, individual company bank accounts with the company director (the contractor) authorising transactions on the account is advisable.

· Does the provision of accounting/payroll services suggest control?

The outsourcing of services such as accounting or payroll to a third party is noted in the TMSC document as an example of services which can be completed by someone other than the contractor’s company, without this constituting financial or general management. This will allow contractors to appoint third parties to complete certain tasks without relinquishing control of the company.

· Can a contractor outsource the completion of tax returns?

As with the outsourcing of accounting and payroll services, the simple act of requesting a third party to provide assistance in the completion of personal and company tax returns does not constitute control being passed from the contractor to the third party service provider.

· Does the holding of tax liabilities by a third party to be paid over to HMRC constitute control?

One of the HMT’s concerns noted in the TMSC document is the inability of HMRC to collect underpaid tax/NIC liabilities. If the industry is forced to change from third party service provider holding tax remittances (PAYE/NIC, CT and VAT) (in an account until the due date for payment) to the contractor companies personally holding the monies would in reality increase the risk of non-payment of these sums. I do not believe tat HMT intended an increased risk of tax/NIC being lost and the industry has asked for guidance on this point. It is difficult to imagine HMRC arguing that holding tax liabilities for HMRC constitutes control since the effect of running this argument would be for service providers to simply transfer the monies to the contractor’s bank account.

Form a legal prospective, if the contractor company elects to be prudent, and via a direct debit mandate, permits a third party service provider to deduct amounts equal to its tax liabilities to a separate account, this would not seem to constitute a loss of contractor control.

There are a variety of questions around how this new legislation will impact on the contractor population and the above are just some of the most common queries currently being raised. Whilst the TMSC document noted that specific guidance would be provided for individuals and service providers affected by the changes, it has yet to be published. This gives little time before the beginning of the new tax year for all concerned to read and understand the issues.

Debt Transfer Provisions

The legislation is given teeth and reinforced by the introduction of the “debt transfer” provisions, whereby any contractor who works via an MSC and is not complying with the new legislation can be personally liable for any underpaid tax/NIC liabilities.

The debt transfer rules also permit HMRC to seek monies from any third parties who have directly/indirectly benefited from the provision of services via an MSC. The transfer of debt provisions will ensure any scheme providers and organisations (agencies or end users) who have instigated the use of an MSC and benefited from such an arrangement can theoretically be pursued for any unpaid PAYE/NIC debts of an MSC.

The Next Stage

HMT would like to introduce a simple test of “being in business on your own account” to complement the existing IR35 legislation. This is aimed at those contractors who HMT believes do not understand the corporate structure through which they are currently working, such as a composite company arrangement and do not have any responsibility for the running of the company in which they work. The difficulty for HMT has been to articulate what “being in business” means and at present is stuck with the control test.

HMT’s intention to force contractors into corporate structures where tax and NICs are fully deducted is not going to happen. If the legislation is enacted in its current form HMRC are going to have a difficult job in enforcing the new legislation and proving “control” as they currently have in proving “status” under IR35. It is the control test that will be the difficulty for all affected parties.

HMT believes that the majority of contractors in composite structures are not “in business”. The fact that many composite providers are simply moving their contractors to PSCs and advising them with the new legislation and “in control” proves how difficult HMRC’s job is going to be.

Can Contractors Still Receive Dividends?

Throughout the period from the PBR to date, HMT and HMRC have accepted that there are contractors who are in business on their own account. These contractors can receive dividends and not be subject to additional NIC or tax on the dividends. These contractors must work through PSCs and pass the “control” test.

We should not forget that most of the contractors working via MSCs are regarded by the Treasury as not being in business on their own account. Even if they move to PSCs and are found to pass the “control” test this may only be a temporary solution since HMT will no doubt revise this legislation if it is found not to work as HMT intended.

It is important to highlight that where a contractor can demonstrate they are in business on their own account this does not automatically mean the contractor is working outside IR35; there is still a requirement to consider whether the IR35 legislation applies to any relevant assignments undertaken.

Conclusion

The PBR has highlighted that the Government has a strong desire to ensure that individuals should only benefit financially from working in a corporate vehicle where they are taking the relevant risks of running a company (i.e. being in business of their own account). The current prevalence of managed service solutions where the contractor effectively does not control their own company (or even understand how the company operates) is, in the eyes of the Treasury, unacceptable avoidance of PAYE and NIC.

Our understanding of the market position is that there will be a great number of contractors currently working in MSCs moving across to “PSCs”, which will create increased pressure on the various administrative arms of the Government as the new companies are formed, register for VAT, corporation tax and PAYE. Contractors who are genuinely in business on their own account should carefully consider whether they advertised “PSC” could be viewed as an “MPSC” – the old adage of “look before you leap” has never been more appropriate.

It is apparent that those affected in this sector are going to have to think on their feet, as it is quite clear that definitive guidance from the authorities is not likely to be forthcoming before the legislation is planned to start.

This article first appeared in Recruitment International March 2007 authored by Julian Bell, Legal Director of PayStream who provide payroll, accountancy, tax and administration solutions for personal service companies. They can be contacted on 0800 1976515.

Recruit women or face IT skills famine, says EU

justin@its-recruit.com — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 17:19:10 GMT

The European Commission has warned of a 300,00 shortfall of qualified ICT staff by 2010 Europe doesn't get more women into ICT. The Commission said that the proportion of women graduates in ICT across Europe was falling, especially compared with other regions of the world.

The ICT sector accounts for 5.3% of the EU's GDP and 4% of its jobs. However, by 2010 there will be an expected shortfall of 300,000 qualified ICT staff.

Although computer studies graduates across the EU's 27 member states grew by 133% from 1998 to 2004, Europe is actually falling behind compared with other regions.

In 1998, computing graduates accounted for 2.3% of all graduates in the EU 27, and by 2004, it had increased to 4%. In the US, it rose from 2.3% to 5%, and in South Korea from 1% to 6%.

For women, the statistics are even worse. The proportion of women computer graduates working in IT fell from 25% in 1998 to 22% in 2006. In other regions of the world the percentage is higher: Canada (27%), the US (28%), and South Korea (38%). The proportion of women working in ICT varies widely across the EU, from 6% in Luxembourg to 41% in Lithuania. But those who enter ICT careers often drop out or move to a different career.

Also, fewer women make it to senior management positions, particularly in the ICT sector. About 66% of telecoms companies have no women on their board of directors. According to the Commission, less than 10% of board members in "14 major ICT" companies are women; in telecoms, the figure is about 6%.

BT, Cisco, Infineon, Motorola and Nokia have been working with the Commission on “shadowing” exercises, where potential women recruits follow in the day-to-day footsteps of existing ICT workers.

ITS - Information Technology Services

ITS is on the Move

**ITS EXPANDS UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP**

ITS MD VOTED TOP 30 PERSON TO KNOW WITHIN LEGAL IT

**ITS UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP!!**

Is there an upturn in the making?

Legal Technology Awards 2009 - Shortlist

Industry News

Is there doom & gloom around the corner?

New Team Member

ITS welcomes a new Consultant to its Legal IT Team

The 2008 ITS & Median Oscars

ITS' Team instrumental in Simmons & Simmons' successful global refresh Programme

ITS wins Customer Focus award at the 'Legal Technology Awards' on first nomination

Latest Legislation for Contractors

In the 2006 budget, under the banner of “tax motivated incorporation” the Chancellor announced he would bring forward discussions around the tax and NICs systems, with a particular focus on how best to tackle disguised employment via Managed Service Company (MSC) schemes.

Recruit women or face IT skills famine, says EU

ITS EXPANDS UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP

ITS UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP!!