IT skills expertise will be the most important skill required by European companies in the future - but most firms are failing to provide their workers with the required management training.

The survey of 250 European senior executives by Forrester Research, commissioned by IBM, shows that companies rank IT skills first in terms of importance to the business, but up to 82 per cent of organisations are not providing staff with the right skills.

Most businesses surveyed say they will need a far more flexible workforce in the future, with technology workers prepared to take on management skills.

Up to 94 per cent of respondents say communication skills will be increasingly important for their workforce.

But most training for IT personnel is vocational and only focuses on an employees current role.

And 44 per cent of companies fail to offer any kind of cross-functional skills training that will help workers develop the required management skills.

'By getting more from your people, you can improve the bottom line by retaining staff longer and developing them more fully while improving teamwork and management,' said Roger Metelerkamp, partner with IBM Business Consulting Services Human Capital Practice.

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