Western Australia’s IT consultants are preparing for a significant jump in salaries and a shortage of IT specialists early next year as the local industry reacts to recent ownership changes and new trends in awarding contracts.
Western Australia’s IT consultants are preparing for a significant jump in salaries and a shortage of IT specialists early next year as the local industry reacts to recent ownership changes and new trends in awarding contracts.
The economic fluctuations during the last year have delivered mixed results for the IT consulting firms found in WA Business News’ Book of Lists.
The larger firms have gone from strength to strength, with top ranked IT consultancy CSC Australia securing some significant private and public contracts in recent times.
CSC WA general manager Mike Horton suggested the only notable effect of the economic downturn was a slight drop in demand.
“Existing customers, which were previously in very strong growth, flattened out,” he said.
“We believe that’s going to change particularly in February and March next year.
“By that stage we should see big jumps in projects.”
Those big jumps will potentially compound CSC’s significant pipeline of work resulting from the company’s new contract wins.
Contracts with BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Newmont are just a sample of CSC’s recently secured work as the company’s IT professionals jumped 25 per cent in the last 12 months, reaching 800 out of a total staff pool of 940.
Interestingly, Mr Horton said the IT sector has experienced a marked increase in the number of panel contracts which award work in a similar way to a limited or targeted tender process, usually involving just two companies competing for the one contract.
“A lot of new contracts are project-based contracts, taking the form of panel contracts,” he said.
“So there’s few suppliers on the panel, and its pretty much been ourselves and Ajilon.”
Mr Horton expects panel contracts to continue growing in popularity because they shorten the typical tender process as potential suppliers present and the best proposal wins.
“It’s been much more common in the last 12 months as the industry matures,” Mr Horton said.
“I think its win-win … and it’s becoming more common on government and enterprise work.”
Mr Horton highlighted the potential problems the industry faced in terms of a shortage of skilled IT workers and potential salary increases of between 5 and 25 per cent which he hopes to counter by bringing in overseas workers.
“We’re predicting salaries will jump again next year, and there will be a reasonable shortage of skilled workers,” he said.
“We will supplement our workforce with offshore workers and near-shore workers, such as those workers found in places like South Africa, on short term visas.
“We absolutely have to start bringing people in for three to six months for projects or we won’t be able to service them (clients).”
Further down the Book of Lists’ ranking is CSG at number six, which will be rebranded CSG Consulting next week following the purchase of competing consultancy, Delexian, about two months ago for an undisclosed sum and brought its total staff levels up to 200.
CSG state manager Mark Irving said despite his company having used 457 visas in the past, it is now more focused on graduate recruitment programs with Curtin University and the Australian Computer Society and up-skilling existing employees in different areas to maintain staffing levels.
“So software development, like programmers are cross-trained and moving into business intelligence,” Mr Irving said.
