NZ ICT Predictions 2015: Success hinges on transition to become a technology focused organisation

The future success in many industries today will be about how well organisations can embrace the transition to becoming technology/digital focused in the new marketplace, reports IDC in its New Zealand ICT Predictions 2015 report.

This shifting focus will enable successful companies to innovate and adopt many of the disruptive technologies emerging, to give themselves new areas of competitive advantage in areas such as customer service, innovation and cost management.

At the same time, the third platform technologies (cloud, mobility, big data and social ) can enhance productivity and efficiency but also create disruption in some areas of the market.

“This pace of change creates new ways of doing things that could quickly leave models that do not evolve fast enough stranded high and dry,” the report states.

Understanding your organisation’s level of third platform maturity on five key areas – intent, technology, people, process, and data – is likely to be the first place to start, says IDC.

This pace of change creates new ways of doing things that could quickly leave models that do not evolve fast enough stranded high and dry.

Once this assessment is completed, it will be much easier to identify the gaps to outperform peers and competitors who have not done so.

This will also help you identify the right IT partners that fit with your level of maturity and have the capabilities to take your organisation to the next level.

Related:IDC’s top 10 predictions for New Zealand CIOs in 2015: The business technology trends to prepare for in the next 12 months.

The new partnerships

The report points out CIOs will increasingly need to work withline of business (LOB) leaders.

This year, more LOB managers, in particular the CMO, will get furtherinvolved in ICT related spending, whether or not the CIO supports this activity.

LOB managers will increasingly have ICT investment as a direct component of their departmental budgets, driven by a desire to control and enhance their own projects in customer facing environments, the report states.

Their increasing familiarity and the ease of use of third platform technologies will see them continue to use big data, social and mobile in particular to develop improved customer intimacy.

Next: Help students ‘imagine a career in ICT’

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Meanwhile, the focus and enthusiasm over third platform investments will lead to critical shortages in appropriate qualified IT staff, says IDC.

The shortages of local expertise on third platform technologies will drive the expansion of IT service providers, whose skills will be in high demand and priced accordingly.

IDC estimates that half of the skills will come from these vendors and service providers, about a quarter from current IT employees, and the remaining quarter will be sourced from new entrants to the workforce, from tertiary graduates.

It is this 25 per cent quota that employers are already struggling to fill, particularly with respect to third platform technologies and the business outcomes approach to ICT delivery.

The report notes government efforts in this area, in particular the announcement by Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce about plans to spend NZ$28 million over four years on three ICT graduate schools (Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch) to help address high-level ICT skills shortages.

There needs to be more focus on ICT training across the entire education ecosystem, particularly at the grass roots level.

IDC says this idea is good in principle but this program will only address the very tip of the iceberg.

IDC says one program can include education providers working with ICT providers to get insights into emerging areas of skills demand, which will help develop an “agile and effective” curriculum.

IDC discussions with vendors and CIOs have shown that many believe the skills gap problem is not due to the need for more post graduates. Instead there needs to be more focus on ICT training across the entire education ecosystem, particularly at the grass roots level where students first start to imagine a career in ICT.

For example, secondary school students must be inspired to seek an ICT career.

IDC says ICT professionals in other countries take part in government sponsored programs that involve visiting schools,engaging with the students, working with schools and sharing their experience to address the issue of decreasing university enrolment in careers related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), particularly in North America.

Send news tips and comments to divina_paredes@idg.co.nz

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