The 2011 Environment Scan conducted by Innovation and Business Skills Australia (IBSA) has warned that skills shortages in the ICT industry may impact on the effective uptake and use of the National Broadband Network.

 

IBSA is one of eleven Industry Skills Councils funded by the Australian Government to advise Skills Australia, government and industry on workforce development and skills needs. It focuses on the six industry areas of Business Services, Education, ICT, Cultural & Related Inudstries, Financial Services and Printing & Graphic Arts.

 

The Environment Scan report combines direct industry intelligence with statistical data on training and workforce participation to identify skill needs and workforce development priorities for Australia’s innovation and business industries.

 

The 2011 report found that IT employers had amongst the strongest levels of economic confidence nationally,  with 42  percent planning to increase their permanent staff levels in the short term. Major technology projects are underway in both government and commercial sectors. It appears that projects put on hold during the global downturn are now being restarted or ramped up.

 

The report estimated that ICT industry revenue for 2009–10 was $82 billion. The industry employs a direct workforce of 283,000 with a further 260,000 ICT workers employed throughout other industries.

 

The report noted that the ICT workforce is male dominated and overwhelmingly full-time (between 70 and 95 percent).

 

“There is scope for the industry to meet future workforce requirements by tapping into female workers and reviewing workforce practices to increase part time work opportunities.”

 

Skills shortages have been specifically reported in IT systems architecture, information management strategy development, e-security and in the management of IT services.

 

The report noted that skilling in the telecommunications sector in the short term “is substantially dependent on the style and nature of the NBN build and implementation”.

 

“Immediate skills needs for the ‘roll past’ of the fibre, may be met through heightened government and industry recruitment and training, however the skills to effectively connect, support and integrate business and household functions, using the highspeed broadband capacity, remains a significant issue for the IT and telecommunication sectors.”

 

Three states - Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland – have experienced significant employment growth in the ICT industry since 2003.

 

Other characteristics of the ICT industry were:

 

·      Short skill life span due to rapid changes in technology

·      Business sustainability in the face of IT, telecommunications and utilities industry convergence

·      Increasing reliance of all industries on ICT to deliver sophisticated, integrated technology and  systems solutions for complex problems, and

·      National Broadband Network (NBN) rollout and accompanying demand for telecommunications skills in supply, demand and innovation segments of the market and e-business skills in all industries.

 

The IBSA Environment Scan 2011 is available at http://www.ibsa.org.au/news-and-projects/environment-scan.aspx