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2009-04-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

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palleTUru - paTNam dorasAni

2007-11-23T02:54:00.001-08:00

kavikO kannItiboTTu

2007-11-23T02:52:00.000-08:00

onTari kavi

2007-11-22T01:43:00.001-08:00

nA adRushTam

2007-11-22T01:41:00.001-08:00

endukostundi sOshalijam

2007-11-22T01:39:00.001-08:00

mA Uru

2007-11-22T01:37:00.001-08:00

preyasi varNaNa

2007-11-22T01:36:00.001-08:00

pratispandana

2007-11-22T01:35:00.001-08:00

idEm kAlam

2007-11-22T01:31:00.001-08:00

rAtri

2007-11-22T01:23:00.000-08:00

toli chUpullO prEma

2007-11-22T01:18:00.000-08:00

kaDupu manTa

2007-11-20T03:02:00.000-08:00

Nurturing a dream

2007-10-18T23:29:00.000-07:00

Please follow the below URL to access my article, which is published in Indian Link magazine:

http://www.indianlink.com.au/?q=node/3374

ICT resource crisis in Canberra

2007-10-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

By Nagesh Jayanthi
Article Date: 19th October, 2007

The following are the few interesting statistics published on the business entry point website of the ACT government:
http://www.business.act.gov.au/servicestobusiness/industryprofiles/information_and_communications_technology

Canberra is home for the largest single purchaser of ICT products in Australia i.e. Federal Government
Canberra has also experienced the fastest ICT employment growth in Australia (8.3% per annum)
Canberra has the highest ICT employment intensity of any Australian jurisdiction (25 ICT employees per 1,000 of population)

Are these figures worth gloating upon or is it time to ponder about the potential impact this growth can cause?

The above statistics clearly suggest that ICT industry plays vital role in Canberra’s overall business. It is also visible that ICT industry is growing at a significant pace. But, should we take these changes in the Canberra ICT market granted for or is there anything we should be concerned of? One might wonder ‘what is the need for concern when the market is showing signs of growth’? Well, growth is a change and any change, if not achieved in a controlled manner, can potentially bring along many side effects. These aftermath effects can be counterproductive and even disastrous in few situations.

The ever changing international as well as local political scenarios and competitive trade practices are triggering too many policy changes. These policy changes further demand changes in everyday business practices, which will ultimately result in system changes. In this heavily automated world most of these system changes mean changes in technological infrastructure. These changes include creating new business solutions, upgrading and/or amalgamation of current systems and integration with other systems to satisfy the social, economical and security needs. By being in driver’s seat for the nation, naturally the Federal Government is responsible to invoke most of these policy changes. And Canberra is federal headquarters. Hence, most of the business in this town is generated mainly from Federal Government agencies. Needless to explain that Canberra ICT market is heavily reliant on these federal agencies.

Now let us have a pragmatic look at few main reasons which are causing ICT employment intensity in Canberra. Off late there is increased level of IT activity in Canberra. Recently there are at least three major IT programmes initiated in the town, where the budget for each one of them is estimated well over five hundred million dollars. This increased level of IT activity is putting additional pressure on already resource strained Canberra market. To counter the resource crisis few government agencies even considered the outsourcing option. While it is not a bad idea to engage external service provider to gain from their technical expertise, still when it comes to resource crisis, it usually does not make much difference. Because, whether it is the Service Provider or the agency, both are digging from the same resource pool. More over, recruitment through Service Provider is usually much expensive compared to direct recruitment. At the same time, let us not forget that one can outsource the responsibility of performing a task, but they can never escape the accountability of the outcome.

Few segments of the ICT industry are already experiencing issues like – shortage of skilled IT professionals, unrealistic increase in contractor rates, etc. There is also a general feeling in few sections of ICT fraternity that most of the resource related issues are due to the rush in policy implementation by the Federal Government agencies. Well, we can not solely hold Federal Government at fault for the ICT employment intensity related issues, as many of these programmes are necessary in national interest. But by being the single largest consumer, the Federal Government can definitely influence the situation by putting the appropriate measures in place to maintain the sustainability of the Canberra ICT industry. Few options as follows:

Exercise more control over policy changes that may impact major IT programmes:
Now, it is conspicuous that policy changes are worldwide phenomenon and it becomes inevitable for the Federal Government to initiate few of those to keep up to the pace. But, at the same time let us also remember that there are only limited resources available in the market to implement these policy changes. The best approach in such situations is to prioritise these changes. There may be few policy changes which become imminent. The government should take proactive approach about sensing forthcoming demands and prepared for those situations, to get into more commanding position.

Use consistent and repeatable solutions:
We already noticed earlier in this article, currently there are a few major IT programmes running concurrently in Canberra. Though each of these programmes has specific requirements, there are still some common high level requirements. If the government agencies who are responsible for these IT projects take a consolidated approach in identifying consistent and repeatable solutions for similar requirements, then it would save lot of effort spent in reinventing the wheel. This can be achieved by all the Federal Government agencies embracing the best practices of the industry like – ITIL, Six Sigma, COBIT, Sarbanes Oxley, Prince II, etc.

Encourage academic institutions to offer training in latest ICT skills:
Most of Australian universities, TAFE colleges and other academic institutions are still offering conventional curriculum. Major government agencies and other ICT service providers should encourage these schools to add latest ICT skills to their curriculum to fulfil the industry needs in exchange for campus recruitment or sponsorships. This will produce talented IT professionals who can readily fit into the low to medium skilled roles required by the contemporary ICT industry, at affordable budgets.

Improve the human resource practices:
Most of the government agencies are still demonstrating conservative approach which is no longer suitable to the modern ICT industry. Few examples as follows,

Inconsistent Security Vetting procedures: Many of the government agencies made Security Clearances mandatory to fill many positions. But there is lack of consistency between each department’s securities vetting processing. This is causing huge delays in getting people on board after their selection. This is also forcing the employees to repeatedly go through the clearance process each time they change employment from one agency to another. The security classification can vary based on business needs, but security categorisation can be standardised across all the departments. It is high time the government agencies identify some uniform approach on security vetting procedures.

Selection criterion: Most of the government roles make it mandatory to address selection criterion. Many of the current generation IT professional are not showing much interest in addressing for those jobs with selection criterion. There are instances where the same IT professionals ultimately end up in those very roles through a service provider on a higher rate. Hence, it is in the best interest for the departments to filter the applicants based on the candidate’s resumes instead of selection criterion.

Distribution of few ICT activities to other Australian cities: The two major cities of the country i.e. Sydney and Melbourne have abundant ICT talent pools, compared to Canberra. Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and few other Australian cities are also building their ICT capabilities. Unlike in ‘80s and ‘90s, now the communication techniques have improved a lot to cut the virtual distances between these cities. So, it is worth considering for various federal agencies to distribute few of their ICT activities across other Australian cities. This will not only take off the pressure building in one location, but also avoids it from becoming single point of failure. Few Canberrans may not like this particular option. But, by being Australia’s 7th largest city with a population just over 330,000, it would be too difficult to solely handle the total Federal Government ICT responsibilities without involving other cities. So, keeping the long term interests of the city in view and also to achieve greater sustainability of the industry, this option is worth considering.

Other: Outsourcing overseas and direct recruitment from other counties are few other options available to the skilled resource crisis. But, these options should be considered on their merits.

It is true that few of these options are sporadically considered by few organisations. But, these random attempts are inadequate and will not offer any long term sustainability to the ICT market. Though it is widely acknowledged around the world that ICT plays a vital role in conducting business, we seldom realise that ICT industry also changes its complexion quickly depending on the nature of business, its geographical location and various other political aspects. Canberra ICT industry is no exception to this theory. Any oversight of this fact may quickly turn the success story into an ephemeral. If not dealt sensibly, this resource crisis may have serious ramifications in future. One such major issue will be unnatural spiralling of contractor rates, which will further create demographic issues like increase in cost of living, increase in real estate prices (rental and buying), etc. This will be like putting the last straw on already overloaded Canberra ICT market. Let us be prudent not kill the goose that lays golden eggs.