Gartner predicts rise of the social scientist

Understanding human behaviour on the web is vital

People with social sciences skills will soon be used to fill technology jobs to enable businesses to keep pace with consumer technology preferences, according to analyst firm Gartner.

Consumer technology growth has gained speed in recent years, and is now setting the agenda for forward thinking business IT departments that focus on the opportunities it presents.

"To succeed in 'consumerising' corporate technology, organisations will need new talent and skills that blend a deep understanding of the business, artistic talents in visual and social schemes that induce the desired behaviours and reactions from consumers, and expansive knowledge of how to invoke and leverage the power of web technology and models," said Gartner analyst Kathy Harris.

"Many of the needed technical capabilities originate in the social sciences, and are aimed at usability and the adoption of technology-related business services. Therefore, organisations are likely to shift the responsibility for leveraging technology outside centralised IT organisations, and into the business units responsible for the growth and innovation of revenue, products and services."

Gartner explained that social sciences talents will be needed in areas such as designing interfaces for applications delivered over the internet, and in web psychologist roles which are becoming increasingly popular as marketers and those in product development try to study and exploit human behaviour on the web.

The new skills will also be useful for 'information anthropologists' who trace the origin, history and evolution of web content in order to check whether it infringes on an individual's or organisation's intellectual property.

On a more general level, Gartner said that social sciences experts will help executives and marketing teams become more digitally aware and connective.

"This will enable businesses and governments to take advantage of new c apabilities and develop them into mainstream skills," Harris said.