So you’re in the safe bosom of corporate IT and you think your job is to install and repair hardware and software, fight viruses, maintain and protect networks, be efficient and control costs?Well, that’s the boring part of the job to many IT people. All that’s about to change for many working in the “traditional” IT structure, according to a report by Modis International. So better get some new skill sets to survive and contribute.Modis predicts that more and more companies will move to use IT as a strategic asset and a force for change within their organisational structure. Sounds anodyne, but this forecase is being backed up by a new IT salary report, of which more below.The Modis report on the state of the IT market was compiled from interviews with IT directors and heads of departments at 110 UK companies. About 53 percent see IT as a catalyst for change which will especially affect new supply chain programmes, client management (CRM), and sales. About 21 percent said their teams had taken on a larger role over the previous 12 months in defining business strategy.However, within the majority of companies IT teams are still seen in their traditional role of implementers and technical administrators, with some way to go to alter that perception. “Many IT teams are burdened by a traditional legacy of what IT professionals do and their idea about what IT should be,” Modis says.IT also needs to improve its skill sets to become more to their companies. Over a half of those surveyed (50.6 percent) accepted their IT teams needed to improve their technical expertise around current systems.What are the three broad skill sets needed for the “future IT professional”? They are greater commercial acumen, the ability to think strategically and stronger communication skills. David Wilde, the CIO at Westminster City Council provides a great quote: “There are many brilliant IT leaders emerging these are business people who are brilliant with technology and brilliant with people.” Get the free ‘State of the IT Market 2011) report at www.modisintl.com.What about salary? A separate report by Robert Half surveyed the IT field (www.rht.com/salarycenter). It lists the average starting salaries for about 70 IT positions, and for business owners and managers, provides helpful tips to recruit the best. The calculations were made through a survey of about 1,400 CIOs in the US and Canada.As with the Modis report, Robert Half found many 64 percent say understaffing has compromised their ability to implement innovative or emerging technologies in their companies. The key areas of hire are those who can support web development, handle laptop rollouts, contribute to their expanding use of social media, and install and manage custom-built applications. The top recruiters are in the healthcare, manufacturing, non-profit, oil and gas, and high tech sectors.“IT may be poised for a skills-drive rebound,” the ‘IT Hiring Trends’ report says. “A wave of new and previously deferred projects, as well as those that will deliver high return on investment, is driving demand for application developers, .NET developers, systems administrators, database administrators and desktop support professionals.”See the “skills in demand” section for a very good outline of what companies are looking for these days. Those studying programming languages or need to bone up on new ones should note the skills most sought after are in .NET, Java, mySQL, PHP, Silverlight, Flex and portal technologies such as SharePoint. The certifications in demand are for Cisco, Linux, Microsoft, project management and security (the actual names of the certificates are listed beside each vendor).So how much can you haul in, without the Bermuda wage factor? A CIO can expect to take in between $314,500-$217,000 this year. A database manager can expect to start at $92,500-$128,000, while a web designer can expect between $50,750-$83,000. These are just samples from the 70 positions listed for benchmarking.Robert Hill also lists augmentations to the salaries based on the certificates you can hang on your wall. For example, those with SharePoint skills can expect an 11 percent addition to the basic salary.Send any comments to elamin.ahmed[AT]gmail.com