IT training remains a top priority, especially amongst larger organizations, as they understand the importance of staff development.

According to statistics released by the Human Resource Development Institution, ICT-related skills training was the main focus of employers in 2004. Comparing all the different industries, ICT took up the largest piece of the pie with 24.55 percent of total approved training places. Last year, there were 113,000 training places as compared with 52,000 places in 2003. This is an increase of 115 percent over the preceding year.

"Based on these statistics, we foresee that IT will continue to be the main focus for many years to come because the industry has not reached the maturity stage yet," says Woon Tai Hai of KPMG Business Advisory Services. Woon is also the chairman of the Human Resource Development Special Interest Group at the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry Malaysia (PIKOM).

Among the SMEs, however, views on staff development for IT skills are slightly more conservative. Industry observers note that these companies find it hard to justify their investments in staff development because they fear that employees will leave for better offers elsewhere when they have gained sufficient IT skills. SMEs also face a predicament in striking a balance between sending their staff for training and requiring them to attend to daily operational duties.

"This probably explains why some companies get the notion that to save cost, they should only send one staff for training and expect that person to transfer the knowledge to the rest of the team. They also expect that person to immediately apply everything he has learnt immediately," says W.K. Wong, a security specialist with a local financial institution.

Employers who find themselves in such situations need to work out a plan for their training schedules, says Woon. "Planning for training also allows you to determine which IT certification is relevant to your staff and how it can add value to your business."

Yue Chin Beng, director of Asia Professional Services at Novell Singapore, says that while day-to-day work exposes most IT professionals to the technologies they need to cope with, there is still a need to make allowances for further learning.

"IT professionals need to be given the opportunity for further skills development around emerging technologies. More importantly, they need to be equipped with skills to support planned technology implementations within their own organizations," adds Yue.

IT training and certifications are given top priority at organizations such as EDS Malaysia because its employees need to be constantly kept up-to-date with the latest technologies. EDS? training schedules are planned six to nine months ahead, and new employees are required to gain practical experience in the first three to six months before being sent for further training, says EDS Malaysia president Ayut Patel.

Each EDS employee has a personal development plan that is worked out with his supervisor on a yearly basis. The plan defines the type of training and certification the employee should attend and what needs to be achieved.

"Training, in this sense, can include attending specific classes, web-based training or to work on a project to gain some practical experience," says Patel. "We measure the employee?s progress on a quarterly basis to see what has been achieved and also to determine what to achieve next within a given time frame."

Patel says that this appraisal system allows employees to adapt to the changing business needs and adjust the development plan accordingly if an employee is unable to complete the 80 hours of training that is required annually.

"Both the individual and supervisor are equally responsible for ensuring that what has been planned for is achieved. We rate our staff accordingly and they will face a certain penalty if the goal is not attained. Thus, the quarterly appraisal and planning is very important," Patel explains.