Gaps in available IT skills hurting APAC enterprises, says research
ConvergenceAsia staff
28/04/2009

The shortage of skilled IT professionals in the Asia Pacific region is impacting many industries, including the IT industry, and is negatively affecting the ability of these economies to rebound as quickly from the current economic crisis, says the latest research by IT market research company Springboard Research.

Poor availability of business-domain knowledge and adequate managerial skills are among the top IT skills challenges faced by Asia Pacific businesses, according to Springboard’s study: “Bridging the Gap: Asia Pacific IT Skills Report”.

In terms of technology-skills, Asia Pacific companies are experiencing the greatest shortages in areas like enterprise architecture, application development and system integration. The report’s findings are based on a survey of 400 IT end-users and IT companies, 400 software developers and programmers and 82 IT training and education providers in Australia, China, India, Malaysia and Philippines.

“The biggest current skills-related challenge facing the IT industry is not availability, but rather gaps in the available skill pool,” said Ravi Shekhar Pandey, Research Manager at Springboard Research. “Also, the quality of both technical and non-technical skills is certainly an issue, and where quality is not a concern, it is challenging to find enough people with an adequate blend of skills and experience,” Pandey said.

The report points out that while skill shortages appear more acute in the manufacturing and government sectors, the poor skills quality of IT professionals is among the top challenges for banking and finance, and government organisations. Lack of IT professionals with business-specific domain knowledge is a top challenge for manufacturing and high-tech companies.

The research points out that over 70 per cent of the businesses surveyed are not looking to hire IT staff in the next 6-12 months. Of those who are planning to hire, most organisations are looking for people with skills in IT support and maintenance, followed by those with skills in application development and system integration.

According to the research, Asia Pacific companies are experiencing the greatest shortages of skills in areas like enterprise architecture, application development and system integration. In terms of vendor-specific skills, Microsoft skills are finding favour with more than 70 per cent of those who are planning to hire new staff, followed by SAP, Oracle and IBM-specific skills.

“We believe that as demand for IT products and services slows down, organisations can acquire new employees and skills without paying a premium. While IT user companies can use the opportunity to fill gaps in their organisation’s skill sets, IT vendors and the local partner eco-system can selectively augment their existing staff and build new practices,” Shekhar added.

Springboard’s survey of IT developers in the region revealed that while Microsoft programming languages are the most popular among developers, more than half of those surveyed think that Java is a must-have language in today’s business environment. Java is also the first preference for new learning. Developers are also interested in acquiring skills beyond language and technology with 37 per cent of those interviewed rated acquiring skills in project management as their top priority. In terms of vendor-specific skills, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP are the top three priorities for the developers.

The survey of IT training and education providers in Asia Pacific revealed that courses in Java and C++ languages are most popular and in demand. Web Services and XML, Security Management and Software and System Testing are the top technology-specific skills courses offered by these providers.

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