A recent survey has found that IT professionals might need to hone up on their business skills going forward, as employers look for workers with project management, leadership and communications skills.

The results of a research conducted by more then 20 members of the Society of Information Management (SIM) between May and October last year (and released recently), show that the IT workforce may not experience a significant change in actual numbers.

The report states that the IT workforce, including in-house, independent-contractor and third-party provider Full-time Equivalents (FTE) will remain basically unchanged from 2005 to 2008.

However, IT professionals will have to evolve their skill sets to include more business-related capabilities. “One important finding is the emphasis on business skills. There has always been a need for that, but now employers want IT workers to have industry knowledge and business skills from the start,” says Kate Kaiser, a charter member of the Wisconsin chapter of SIM and an associate professor at Marquette University.

The study focuses on the fact that business skills and capabilities represent five of the top ten skills, respondents identified as critical to keep in-house in 2005. Also, the respondents said that they didn’t think there was a sufficient supply of project managers with skills in the areas of project planning, leadership and risk management. Communication was the skill cited as most lacking in entry-level hires, according to the report.