Information technology (IT) professionals in Bahrain will be expected to handle a growing list of functions with only average competency levels, according to a new survey.

Published by global consulting firm Protiviti, the survey highlights IT risk factors for 2013.

"Continued rapid global expansion of the smartphone and mobile applications marketplace reflects the strong demand," Protiviti managing director and leader of the firm's global IT consulting unit Kurt Underwood said.

"The demand from business leaders and consumers is for access to information anytime and anywhere, which presents exciting opportunities for delivering value.

"However, it also creates greater technology risk potential," he added.

The result is significant pressure on IT departments and business leaders as they are asked to deliver more mobile technology-enabled services.

This pressure forces them to take on considerably more risk than they're prepared for - especially in terms of policy, integration, data management, security and data privacy related to mobile commerce and social media proliferation and innovation.

In the survey's "managing IT assets" category, monitoring and accounting for IT assets are listed as the top two areas that require improvement.

The 2013 IT Priorities Survey, designed to help IT departments classify areas in need of attention in order to better execute the function's strategic mandate, found that IT executives are struggling to manage the wide variety of technology risk, regulatory compliance and performance challenges that now face them.-TradeArabia News Service