One in four heads of IT or chief information officers worry that their IT departments are not home to the skills needed to respond to the developing technological scene, it has been stated.

According to recent research carried out by Hays IT, it was found that more than half of respondents believe the ability to simplify IT jargon is the most important skill to have, with the capability to apply IT strategy to the benefit of a business being the second-most sought after trait.

Managing director of Hays IT James Lloyd-Townshend said people tend to automatically assume IT professionals have strong technical skills in the workplace.

He continued: "But as our survey shows, people and comminication skills are equally, if not more important than industry knowledge, particularly at the senior end of IT jobs market."

Working across 27 countries, Hays has 8,900 staff in 390 offices around the globe.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).