Peter Griffin: Lack of vision and cohesiveness holds back IT industry

The IT industry is facing a growing problem, a shortage of skilled workers that threatens to undo most of the progress it has made.

In the past six months, workers in the IT industry received pay rises of 6.3 per cent on average as they took advantage of the skills shortage.

That's great if you're already in IT. But the heads of our tertiary education institutions are worried about the dwindling numbers of people studying for IT qualifications. The industry also should be alarmed.

The problem was highlighted again this month at a Positively Wellington Business debate on ICT, when Victoria University's Syd Huff spoke of the lack of enthusiasm for IT among young people.

"I'm going to make a point of going out and talking to schools. ICT is exciting and magical. You can create a great career," wrote Aftermail founder Rod Drury on his blog www.drury.net.nz after the debate.

The skills shortage is just one issue that shows this sector needs to be represented more effectively.

After years of doing arguably little of tangible use, the country's myriad IT industry bodies decided in late 2004 to band together under one umbrella organisation - ICT NZ. The main player is the IT Association of New Zealand and others include the Health IT Cluster, Internet NZ, Software New Zealand and the New Zealand Computer Society.

What have they done since joining forces? Evidently, very little except negotiate how ICT NZ will operate. It's a political issue. Those bodies with subscription revenue are anxious about diluting their funding. Those without subscribers are more enthusiastic to jump on board.

The HiGrowth Project, which is separate to ICT NZ, has resolved to continue promoting the industry.

Software New Zealand seems to be the most proactive group and Internet NZ appears to have had a new lease of life. Many of these organisations do good work. But it's hard to gauge their effectiveness.

Local and international IT players have been confused by the vast range of industry organisations.

You begin to understand why this lack of focus exists when you examine some of the Government's views on the future of the sector. An opinion paper from the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology uncovered in July suggested ICT will never be more than a niche business here.

What was worse was the reaction from ITANZ chief, Jim O'Neill.

"I don't have much of an issue with it. Our industry is a good one, but, let's be realistic, we're not going to generate a New Zealand Microsoft or Oracle," he told Computerworld.

Sure, we're unlikely to produce the next Microsoft, but even a company a hundredth the size of the Redmond giant would boost the industry tremendously.

Take a look at what the IT umbrella organisations are doing in places such as Australia, Singapore and India. Their website addresses are listed below. The Indian body, Nasscom, covers everything from anti-piracy campaigns to branding India as an outsourcing destination and encouraging women to join the IT industry.

All the major IT bodies around the world regard boosting the role of women in IT as a priority. ICTNZ, on the other hand, didn't even invite the very active WIT (Women in Technology) body to join up.

Meanwhile, the Outsource2New Zealand initiative launched in 2004 in London with much fanfare, the backing of a major research effort from Gartner and a good dollop of funding, sits in limbo. Possibly one of the most important elements of ICT NZ, Outsource2New Zealand is supposed to scour the world for companies that might be interested in sending some of their IT work here. The only thing it has scoured is its own reputation.

It's not clear whether ICT NZ will take on the mantle of promoting IT education. It seems education is largely being left to the HiGrowth Project.

But we can't expect immigrants to continue filling the gap in IT graduate numbers.

"There are real fears that the shortage of the right people will reach hundreds of thousands by the end of the decade and put a spanner into the IT works of the country," reads a recent report in India's Hindustan Times. The shortage is global.

When ICT Ireland releases a report highlighting its concerns about the dwindling numbers of high school students taking honours mathematics, you know it regards education as vital to a healthy IT industry.

For four years, ICT Ireland has run a graduate programme putting 100 graduates with technology qualifications into the industry.

Ireland had been receiving huge grants since the 1970s but was able to turn around its backwater economy only in the 1990s when it introduced progress policies to encourage foreign direct investment and training.

Our Economic Development Minister, Trevor Mallard, has made it clear by drip feeding grants and a $12.2 million loan to software company Right Hemisphere that he's happy to "pick winners" in the IT industry.

As much as I admire Right Hemisphere, it makes me nervous when Government ministers and officials start playing venture capitalist with our money.

By now it's pretty obvious that the Government's three-pronged initiative to promote the creative, ICT and biotechnology industries has had lopsided results.

Arguably, the huge success in the creative sector is down to a small group of individuals working for Wingnut Films and Weta Digital. But the Government has done some genuinely good things for the film industry. Where's the IT industry's version of the Large Budget Screen Production Grants Scheme, which offers sizeable rebates to get big movie productions here? We need more progressive Government policies in the IT sector to encourage investment.

We need a decent body to give our industry a coherent voice. Until then, we'll continue to swim around in our own little backwater.