Helping to champion professionalisation within the IT industry, Boots UK has proudly become a member of The Chartered Institute for IT (BSC), the professional body for computing.

By becoming a member of BCS, Boots IT team members will now be able to access the institute’s entire learning portfolio via the Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) IT Academy. Encouraging colleagues to upskill and reskill using the portfolio, Boots IT has created four accessible, bite-sized themes, each with a designated ‘Champion’ who is on-hand to help guide team members through the learning and development (L&D) topics they would like to pursue.

These themes are: leadership and fellowship; academic learning and diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I); technology-focused learning and becoming a new leader; and learning from non-traditional IT role models.

As well as introducing a multi-faceted L&D programme, IT team members will now be able to evidence their competency and skills through industry recognised standards, as well as broaden their networks of IT professionals.

Realising the benefits of collaboration, the wider Boots business will also benefit from its BCS membership. Access to the learning portfolio will be given to team members in non-IT functions who enable Boots UK’s IT delivery, such as HR, Communications and Finance business partners and digital owners, helping to ensure IT professionalisation is as broad as possible.

Richard Corbridge, Chief information Officer at Boots UK, said: “By becoming a member of the BCS, we are investing in the future capability of our team members, and we’re equipping our organisation with the skills to thrive and remain resilient in an increasingly digital world. IT has the potential to be a credible transformation agent and through our commitment, we’re championing the future of the profession and driving the professionalisation of the IT industry.”

What is more, Boots IT has set the ambitious target of having its entire leadership team ‘registered’ as BCS Fellows by September 2022, and has offered access for other WBA IT professionals across the UK and Ireland to becoming fellows too.

As well as focusing on fellowship, Boots UK is proactively ensuring that its progressive DE&I agenda can also benefit from the content that BCS has to offer in this space. Its ambition is to be  a credible champion of DE&I across the whole of the UK and Ireland by January 2022.