Question: This year is the BCS' 50th anniversary. What are you doing to celebrate this landmark?

David Clarke: We have had a whole series of events throughout 2007: to date we have had somewhere in the region of 50 events to commemorate or 50th anniversary. In March for example, we had a dinner at St James Palace, hosted by the Duke of Kent, our royal Patron. And this September we have an all-Ireland event planned in conjunction with the Irish Computer Society.

We are adding a 50th anniversary dimension to almost everything we do this year.

As part of our celebrations we have also supported the rebuild of the ‘Bombe’ – the computer system at Bletchley Park that cracked the Enigma codes during WW2, which opened last month to the public.

Of course while this is a fantastic opportunity to look back and see how far we have come, we at the BCS are also very much committed to looking forward as well.

Question: Fifty years is a long time in terms of the evolution of computers and IT. In your eyes how far has the BCS come in the past 50 years?

David Clarke: Historically we are still a relatively young institution, but in my opinion, over the last 50 years we have come an awful long way. The IT profession is always changing and evolving, and we at BCS have tried to keep up with that change, if not stay ahead of the game.

Over the past four years, we realised that the had to do more than change, we had to transform ourselves, quite deliberately.

Previously our membership had been pretty static, hanging around the 35,000 members mark for quite a while. Since our re-launch three years ago we have on average been adding an extra 1,000 new member a month and we now have a total membership exceeding around 62,000 people. More than half our members have joined us during the last three years.

We are also engaging with a lot more of the overall IT profession. We are recruiting a lot younger people, and a lot more women, to such an extent that we now have a better percentage of women amongst our membership, than the profession in general. To do this we have had to target these people and become a modern professional institution, which can provide them with the services and support they need.

We have however always had really good retention rates amongst our membership, and even this has been improved recently with well over 90 per cent of our members renewing on a yearly basis. So we must be doing something right.

Question: What big projects does the BCS have coming up.

David Clarke: We have a number of projects coming up; the big one of course is our 'Professionalism in IT programme' which is attempting to change the reality and perception of the IT profession, and has really become what the BCS is all about.

The aim of the programme is ensure that IT becomes a key part of any businesses infrastructure. IT can no longer just be a service function that a company outsources delivery of  already defined projects to. In today’s world, most organisations are completely dependent for their very survival on their IT capabilities.

It is our duty at the BCS to ensure that businesses and their CEO understand this, and that both the IT profession and business in general become more effective and efficient at developing the business together.

This of course will mean that IT professionals will need additional skills to the ones they have needed in the past. It is therefore also our responsibility to ensure that we have within the future generations of IT professionals the skills they will need to succeed in this ever changing environment. The real question for the future is how well a business will be able to apply technology, in the context of their own organisation.

It is also important that we develop an international standard for professionalism in IT, because after all IT is a global industry. As any computer manufacturer or multinational company will tell you, standards like ours for IT professionalism are a good idea, but they are just not practical if they are not implementable on a global basis. 

Therefore if we are to improve standards in IT we are going to need a global approach and agreement to global standards.  As such, we at the BCS are working with the IFIP, a global organisation representing some 75 computer societies worldwide, to develop a global standard for the IT profession.

Question: In relation to the growth of the IT industry in places like India and China, what does the UK need to do to remain at the forefront of this industry?

David Clarke: Much of the IT work done in countries like China and India is due to their low labour costs. However I believe that over time, demand in these countries will start to exceed supply and wages will inevitably rise. In fact we are already beginning to see this happening in parts of India.

The real issue is more about the application of technology, and how we in the UK can use the intellectual capital in this country to help ensure that our businesses are able to compete more effectively. The new competition is going to be in terms of innovation and the levels of IT competency in business.

Question: What is the BCS position on the introduction of identity cards and the use of biometric data?

David Clarke: The BCS is an apolitical organisation, and as such we would only ever comment on the technical capability of such schemes.

There are however certainly some issues around the practicality of these systems, that we have outlined in reports to the Home Office. If we take the original system proposed by the Home Office for example, this system would have been unusable by some 20 to 25 per cent of the British population because of various disabilities.

Our approach is try and help government departments get things right, it is not our job to tell them whether or not the policy is right, it is merely our job to tell them whether we feel it is possible from an IT perspective.

Question: Where do you see the BCS in 10 years time?

David Clarke: We are focused on being the professional body for the IT and communications industry in Britain, and as the scope of IT widens, we see an increasing role for us within the communications industry.

We also however want to continue to ensure that the IT profession is effective and influential, and able to carry out the role it should have in society, as it is our role to change the public perception of the industry, so that people understand the incredibly valuable contribution the IT industry makes to society.

Question: Do you have any final message for ePolitix.com readers?

David Clarke: We at the BCS are working very hard to improve professionalism and to ensure that both business and government get the most out of IT and I am sure we are taking steps in the right direction.