Information Technology Management and Software Engineering: Do they have a future? Dr. Angel Salazar Manchester Metropolitan University

Agenda: ITM and SE: – Basic definitions, and why do we need them? What are the key trends and strategic issues in context to ITM and SE?

First, what are ITM and SE? Information Technology Management: – Applied software design and development – Business planning, defining system and user requirements, application and database design – Project management – Consulting and more recently entrepreneurship

Software Engineering: – Maths – Programming – Computer science – Engineering – Research: new algorithms and data structures, new languages, technologies (e.g., automatic web services composition), software development environments and methods

CS SE CS SE ITM/ IS/MIS/ Digital Business ? I’m not starting a debate about disciplinary boundaries. That’s the job of university heads of department.

Why do we need them? The “Software Crisis” – First identified at NATO Conference, Garmisch, Germany, 1968 (Naur & Randell, 1969) – Characterized by software which is of poor quality (correctness, bugs, usability, maintainability) over budget and late, or not delivered at all – More than 40 years later, the software “crisis” is still with us

Other startegic issues: – Fast product development cycles due to demanding consumer expectations – Relatively slow transfer of new technologies and methods into commercial systems – Out-Sourcing/Off-shoring of skills and talent – Increased competition, multiple substitute products, unsustainable “digital” business models due to demand volatility – Increased need for security, adding to costs – Transition towards an open source economy?

The Costs of Software Engineering/Development Professionals: – UK: £600 - £1500/day – Eastern and Southern Europe: £150-£400/day – India: £50-150/day for a whole team *Source: Quick scan through oDesk.com job database

“Outsourcing is just a new way of doing international trade. More things are tradable than were in the past and that’s a good thing... I think that outsourcing is a growing phenomenon, but something that we should realise is probably a plus for the economy in the long run” Gregory Mankiw

“When you look at the software industry, the market share trend of the US-based companies is heading down and the market share of the leading foreign companies is heading up. This x-curve mirrors the development and evolution of so many industries that it would be a miracle if it didn’t happen in the same way in the IT service industry. That miracle may not be there.” Andy Grove

Indian Software Exports In US$ Millions Source: Asheref Illiyan, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 2008

Conclusion : The US/UK have gone from bubble to outsourcing within the last two decades. We are moving towards open standards and more recently platform business ecosystems (Cusumano and Salazar, forthcoming). We need to devise new economic models to ensure we keep innovating and applying new IT technologies and solutions to be able to address the future needs of our society.

Candidate questions for the workshop: Where are the jobs? Where they are not? Are we investing adequately in systems that improve productivity? Do traditional government policies on competition and R&D incentives work when applied to software-related industries? Do we educate properly given the current and growing importance of software? What do universities need to do? What does government ought to do? What can firms and start-up entrepreneurs do?

Thanks for listening!