Yes, I"m still dwelling on HOTS. That"s Higher Order Thinking Skills, thank you. I find I am able to look at the concept more impartially -- and favorably -- when my daughter"s math grades aren"t involved.

Separate strands of discussion converged recently to lead me back to HOTS, and to a new Web Services training initiative that Computerworld is introducing in collaboration with NICC and the XMLOne User Group.

At IDC"s annual conference Directions this year, Puni Rajah, vice president, Research, IDC Asia Pacific, talked about how the dynamic enterprise was changing the way enterprises were using and buying IT. Within the dynamic enterprise, discrete functions and operations will begin to overlap and align themselves to business processes rather than individual business units. Flexibility will become the mantra of business and IT operations. Enterprise architectures will have to be deconstructed and given greater flexibility to address evolving business needs. Cost structures and sourcing models, too, will have to become more flexible -- not just in terms of hardware and software but also in terms of manpower costs. Especially manpower involved in non-core IT tasks.

In a separate announcement, the government recently announced its S$1.5 billion (US$915 million) intention to develop a utility-based standard ICT operating environment (SOE) for the public sector. With the SOE, the public sector will procure ICT services on a per user per month basis. Driven by the desire to achieve better economies of scale, the SOE will ultimately lead to more routine IT functions being divested to the service provider. Only the aspects of the IT environment that have to do with business-specific applications remain within the user"s fold.

This trend is being repeated elsewhere in the business world. As organizations intensify their focus on the core business and outsource to benefit from more flexible cost structures, basic technical skills will make way in favor of IT people with business smarts.

Invariably, entry-level IT functions in end user organizations will move to IT service providers and other vendor companies. Invariably, some of these jobs will disappear.

What happens then?

One possible consequence is that there will be fewer entry points into IT, and fewer opportunities for IT professionals to cut their teeth on the basics of their trade.

We could end up with a middle-top heavy skills profile, with everybody a consultant or a systems analyst. And we could be inundated with some very fancy IT job titles which mask a serious skills vacuum.

It will not be a comfortable situation to be in. Which is why, in bringing you the new Web Services training initiatives, we emphasize both -- the technical knowledge and the ability to map this knowledge to business needs.

The development of web services requires, on the one hand, an understanding of business processes that can be "re-used" within the organization. At the same time, web services present a minefield of technical standards that its adopters have to navigate through.

In order for Singapore IT to have a solid foundation, we need both the HOTS, and the hardcore technical skills.