Bright outlook for ICT sector

Innovation and technology go hand in hand and the outlook for those in Western Australia’s information and computer technology sector is rosy, according to John Krokosz, general manager of recruitment specialist Candle ICT Perth.

Mr Krokosz told WA Business News he expected spending on ICT projects in WA to increase in the year ahead, creating a steady demand for contract and permanent professionals, and putting a further squeeze on skills already in high demand.

This could be expected to push salaries up between 3 per cent and 5 per cent, with higher increases in hard to find/niche skills areas.

However, Mr Krokosz warned that, although more money was a way to attract and retain talent, organisations needed to offer challenging roles with innovative packages and career prospects.

“Above all, they must move quickly to secure the best people on the market,” he said.

Mr Krokosz said WA’s strong economy and market confidence during 2005 enabled companies to renew their investment in ICT and focus on long-term growth strategies.

“Last year was marked by a greater demand for contract and permanent ICT professionals as budgets were increased and upgrades and integration programs gained momentum,” he told WA Business News.

“Our outlook is for steady growth in demand for both contract and permanent ICT professionals moving into 2006. Contractors with expertise in emerging technologies will definitely reap the rewards, and the signs are also positive for those seeking their next permanent position.”

An interesting trend in WA has been a return by companies to investing more readily in permanent employees, a trend not evident in the eastern states.

“Companies now have the budgets to hire permanent ICT professionals, where previously there was a reliance on flexible contracting resources for roles at all levels,” Mr Krokosz said.

What had evolved in WA in recent months, was a move away from using contractors to fill ongoing operational roles.

“Instead, as traditionally was the case, contractors will be hired purely for their specialist skill sets to assist with short to medium-term projects with specific deliverable outcomes,” Mr Krokosz said.

The tightening of the ICT labour market, experienced during 2005, would continue into 2006 as demand for ICT talent across the board remained high, he suggested.

“Due to an increase in projects being scoped, experienced business analysts and project managers are already in short supply,” Mr Krokosz told WA Business News.

To fill the void, Candle continues to recruit from overseas to find the precise talent and skill sets for its clients. The company works with a small number of overseas companies to secure rare skills for the local market.

“But as it becomes harder to find ICT professionals with the exact skills to match a requirement, organisations will need to look at long term training and development strategies,” Mr Krokosz said.

“ICT professionals also need to think long term about training. Keeping informed of industry trends and developing relevant technical skills is crucial to remain competitive and in demand.”

Such development of technical skills should also be combined with acquiring the relevant business skills.

“Gone are the days where a career in IT is purely about technology,” he said.

“The ability to use a combination of technological and business skills is highly desirable.”

Mr Krokosz predicted that short-term project spending would be focused in the key areas of new third generation level programming (3G), the rapidly expanding voice over internet protocol (VoIP) sector, enterprise resource planning (Oracle vs SAP), customer relationship management (MS Dynamics CRM 3.0 vs Siebel), information flow from old legacy systems to new, network security, and compliance (SOX, Basel II).

The launch of Windows Vista may also make an impact towards the end of 2006.

Candle ICT is part of the publicly listed international Candle Australia Ltd and has been operating in Perth for six years.