A New Initiative from CCICT

The BTM is the first Canadian undergraduate university professional program to focus on producing leaders of technology-based change. Computer and communications technologies are at the heart of everything that happens – within and among organizations and with their customers and other stakeholders. Employers need people who understand how to harness technology to meet the changing needs of a fast paced world. This is what the BTM is all about. Several Canadian universities are expected to offer the program in September 2010. Demand is high and growing fast. Some 200,000 professionals are in business technology management jobs today. Employers – in every industry – will need 65,000 more by 2015.

Tomorrow’s leaders will be business technology managers!

You want to make a difference. You know that technology is at the heart of everything. You are inspired to make things happen in real life. This is what business technology managers do.

• Harness innovations like Facebook, Twitter, BlackBerries and iPhones to help organizations work smart, collaborate better, and redefine their products and services.
• Team up with professionals and technical experts to design electronic heath systems, making patient care better, faster, and more effective.
• Work with hydro companies, appliance manufacturers, and consumers to help them bring “smart” power grids to life – reducing greenhouse gases and making a real difference on climate change.
• Be the sales, marketing and business leadership side of tech startups – like the app developers that are taking the mobile world by storm.

Approach

BTM graduates will learn to analyze business needs, design appropriate technology-based solutions, and communicate these effectively. They will learn to lead work-based teams, participate effectively in projects and understand best practices of organizational change. They will experience academic courses in combination with real life extracurricular activities and work experiences. Employers will be a big part of BTM activities – serving on advisory councils, offering coops and internships, participating in competitions and conferences, and facilitating graduate employment.

BTM isn’t just about book knowledge and professional training. It also places distinct emphasis on developing interpersonal communications, collaboration, and leadership skills. Graduates will be ready for high demand jobs in business analysis, project management, sales, consulting, customer and supplier management, and marketing support.

Why and How the BTM came to be

In February 2009 the CCICT formed a steering committee consisting of employers, business and computer science faculties from universities across Canada. Our work was inspired by the IT Management for Business initiative of e-skills UK. Within a few months, the Steering Committee had developed a robust set of learning outcomes and competency requirements, and had named the new program “Business Technology Management”.

The rise of packaged software and “cloud” computing, Web 2.0, offshoring, outsourcing and the need for IT to support sustainability initiatives – and the sheer pace of innovation – mean that technology education needs to change. Today’s IT-enabled practices – like virtual global teams, networked business models, and social media – mean that business education requires a contemporary, fresh approach to the role and uses of technology. The BTM will be supported by a pilot accreditation process in collaboration with the Canadian Information Processing Society (CIPS).

Is the BTM for you?

This program is for students who are inspired to use technology to change the world. There is huge and growing demand – and high paying jobs with great career prospects in every industry – for BTM graduates. BTM professionals will help to drive technology-enabled change within our organizations and accelerate innovation and prosperity across Canada’s 21st century economy.

For more information, contact CCICT Executive Director at dticoll@ccict.ca

BTM Overview

The BTM is based on a set of learning outcomes and competency standards. It does not prescribe curriculum, but rather the things that students should learn and know when they graduate the program and enter the workforce. These outcomes and standards are grouped in six areas, as follows:

1. Integrative. This knowledge area contains learning outcomes that integrate the competencies developed in the other five knowledge areas. It produces a “deliverable” of direct relevance to employers.
2. Personal & interpersonal. The ability to make a meaningful contribution depends upon one’s self-knowledge and ability to have constructive, long term, interactions with others. Successful leaders have strong personal and interpersonal competencies.
3. Business. To be effective in the workplace one must have both the broad context of business – its role and place in society – and a working knowledge of how business operates.
4. Technology. BTM graduates must understand information and communications technologies, their current capabilities, and future trends.
5. Technology in business. This knowledge area is designed to synthesize the knowledge and competencies gained in the foundational knowledge areas and create an additional competency in understanding: the potential (economic, personal, societal), the risks of, and the governance, acquisition, and management of ICTs in and for business.
6. Processes, projects, and change. BTM graduates will gain the foundations that enable them to help create well designed business processes, well managed projects, and support for the individuals and groups undergoing change.