Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) chief executive Liz Cameron highlighted the need for 11,000 new roles each year in Scotland's digital and IT sector.
She warned that the vacancies could not be filled entirely by British workers.
Ms Cameron also called for a migration system that responded to Scotland's lower population growth rate.
She said Scotland's projected population growth to 2024 was only 3.1%, compared with a projected 7.5% increase for England over the same period.
She warned that could leave the economy growing more slowly and unable to sustain public service levels.
Ms Cameron's comments came as the prime minister prepares to get Brexit negotiations under way.
Theresa May has set a deadline of 31 March for invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, getting official talks with the EU started.
In a statement, Ms Cameron said: "It is time to make the case for a new migration system that works for the UK, works for Scotland and, above all, works for business.
"Free movement of people across Europe may have led us to become complacent about the effort that is required to target the talents that our businesses need across all sectors and all parts of the UK.
"We need to plan now for a system that will be focused on sourcing the right talent, wherever in the world that exists, and in the numbers that meet the demands of our economy."
Giving greater control over immigration to Holyrood has been a key demand of Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in the wake of the Brexit vote.
However in January the home secretary appeared to rule out the possibility of Scotland being handed powers over immigration after the UK leaves the EU.
Amber Rudd said introducing different rules "would complicate the immigration system, harming its integrity" and cause problems for businesses.

Portrait of Caterina, dated to 1657, has been at Penrhyn Castle, Llandegai, Gwynedd, since 1860 before being provisionally sold.
But the UK government withheld the export licence until February.
This was to enable a UK buyer to raise the money to buy the painting.
Auction house Sotheby's has now confirmed that the overseas buyer has withdrawn an application to take the picture out of the country. It may be loaned to a museum or art gallery.
The subject of the portrait, Catrina Hooghsaet, was a wealthy Amsterdam Christian Mennonite who was married but separated from her husband.
In a statement, the Art Fund said the painting was of "supreme national importance" and its future was still "perilously unsafe".
It had started fund raising to buy the picture for the nation.
Art experts say it is one of the Dutch master's finest portraits.

The proposal formed part of a public consultation by Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) into a shake-up of health services in the county.
The plans have been criticised by opponents as "perverse logic".
CCG chief officer Tim Goodson said all the responses to the consultation would be considered.
Read more on this and other stories from across the south of England
The consultation took into account 18,500 questionnaires, 2,000 people at drop-in sessions, 1,000 people interviewed over the phone and some paid focus groups.
The most contentious element - to create a single special care baby unit (SCBU) covering the whole county for premature babies - was rejected by two-thirds of people.
More than 25,000 people have already signed petitions against the closure of Kingfisher children's ward at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.
Another proposal to offer planned care from a single hospital and emergency care at another was supported by half the respondents but people were split over whether the A&E should be at Bournemouth or at Poole.
Councillor Alan Gordon of Crossways parish, near Dorchester, said: "This is part of a long succession of financial cuts to the health service and it's about time these cuts were reversed. This is perverse logic and what we should be thinking about is funding the health service properly."
CCG chief officer Tim Goodson said: "We want to consider all the responses we've had and the strength of feeling by members of the public, not just on the paediatrics and SCBU issue but some of the community issues and around the acute care stuff."
A final decision on the proposals will be made later this year.
A Scottish business leader has stepped up calls for a migration system that can fill skills gaps after Britain pulls out of the EU.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A £35m painting by Rembrandt, which has been in Wales for 150 years, will stay in Britain for the time being after an overseas buyer withdrew an application for an export licence.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Plans to cut children's hospital services in Dorchester and create a premature baby unit in east Dorset have been met with strong opposition.