KEY POINTS:
ICT-NZ - a group being set up to represent the interests of the IT industry - has suffered a blow with the New Zealand Computer Society opting not to join it.
The society's president, Richard Donaldson, has written to his 2000 members ahead of the NZCS's annual general meeting next week, telling them that due to "limitations in due diligence information and related business projections" provided by ICT-NZ, the society would not be getting involved.
Instead, its council will consider an alternative plan for a "confederation of professional organisations with like-minded goals", something that has alarmed ICT-NZ's acting executive director Garth Biggs. He said: "That would be attempting to set up in competition to ICT New Zealand."
The stated aim of ICT-NZ has been to group the representative bodies in the industry under one banner to give the IT industry increased lobbying and spending power.
The 40-year-old Computer Society was considered a key member.
"Their decision is disappointing," said Biggs. "There was a proposal to put the decision to members as a referendum. The Computer Society council decided not to do that."
That leaves the Canterbury ICT Cluster, the Health IT Cluster, the New Zealand Software Association, the HiGrowth Project (which Biggs also heads) and the IT Association of New Zealand as the founding members of ICT-NZ.
"We're going to push on in the hope that in nine months, the [Computer Society] decide to join it," said Biggs.
Donaldson said he hadn't been convinced by ICT-NZ's business plan and was concerned that the Computer Society and its goals would be subsumed by the larger body.
"The Government has preference for a single entity, but professional organisations want to retain their independence," he said.
The Computer Society will review its decision next year.
Meanwhile, ICT-NZ, which received an $80,000 grant from the HiGrowth Project and a further injection of funds from its members, is next month planning to put a website online and to hire staff and an executive director.
It will survive largely on corporate membership fees and form interest groups to tackle issues considered important to the industry.
Biggs said he had no idea whether ICT-NZ would receive any funding in the Government's Budget to be released today.
