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Tech Talent Must Tackle Broader Tasks

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Tuesday 20 January 2004

EDWARD MANDLA

Amid constant change, staying relevant is a challenge

The New Year is a good time to ponder lessons from the past and consider opportunities and omens for the future.

For the ICT sector, such thoughts are particularly appropriate in light of the lean times experienced over the past 24 months. Finally, there are signs of a real recovery, not just in terms of predictions of increased spending, but with numerous vendors saying projects are moving again and sales opportunity pipelines are growing.

As I take over the role of ACS President for 2004-05, I am mindful of how much the ICT industry has changed over the years.

In the 1960s and 1970s, it was all about products, about who had the best features and functions, the most bells and whistles. Technology was marketed as an end in itself and there was enormous pressure on customers to buy these revolutionary new technologies.

In the 1980s, the focus shifted to solutions as vendors recognised that certain business problems were common to most organisations and fear of the competition drove technology purchases.

In the 1990s, services began to dominate the ICT landscape and trends like CRM, ERP and Outsourcing were justified on the basis of "compelling ROI" and that we "couldn't afford not to". Many customers are still waiting for the payback and our industry attracted heavily criticism as a result.

In 2004, the big question in ICT is relevance. Who will keep their clients and who will lose them? Who has the leadership to win market share?

Customers no longer fall for the hard sell. In fact, they have become extremely cynical about what vendors claim technology will deliver and ICT Departments must go to considerable lengths to justify even relatively minor technology investments.

While this has made life more difficult for many ICT vendors, it has also had the effect of eliminating many of the undesirable elements from our sector.

With Gartner predicting that up to half of all technology suppliers will disappear by the end of 2005 due to vendor consolidation and job losses, it seems certain that life in ICT will continue to be nothing if not interesting.

The issue of relevance is not just one for vendors - it is equally applicable to professional societies like the ACS.

It is not enough for the ACS to be one of the largest ICT professional societies per capita in the world if we are not staying in tune with the wants and needs of our members.

In an industry that is more clearly defined by change than any other single attribute, retaining relevance is a significant challenge, but one that we have wholeheartedly embraced.

As ACS President, I am committed to making the Society more relevant and valuable to its members than ever before by raising the standing of ICT in the community and the political arena.

We will communicate more with our members and encourage them to communicate with us through regular surveys to canvass their views on key issues affecting ICT professionals. I will drive this view with passion, conviction and dedication to the community, media and politicians.

We will seek to involve our members more closely in the development of policies about everything from specific technologies to broader issues like competition in telecommunications, ICT literacy in schools, the role of women in ICT, the ethical and privacy implications of technology convergence and the quality of communications in the bush.

We will be more visible, not only to Government, the ICT industry and profession, but we are going to take these issues to the wider community and encourage a broader cross-section of people start thinking about them. By raising the standing of ICT in the community, we will increase credibility in our profession and opportunity for all ICT professionals.

Today technology affects every aspect of our lives, not only driving the way we work and conduct business, but also influencing how we relax, communicate, play games or sport and entertain friends. It is time the quiet forward thinkers in our community - ICT professionals - got out of the closet and started making a name for themselves by using their talents to shape this nation.

If the ACS and the ICT industry are serious about being relevant and prosperous again, then we must get everyone talking about our profession and become relevant to a much wider community than ever before.

Stand by for a major announcement in January when the ACS reveals who has been appointed to advise the Society in developing its policies and taking them to the community and politicians. It's a very high profile Australian and this decision will spark lots of interest.

In the meantime, I look forward to your contribution as we embark on polling and surveying our members on what we need to do to get ICT issues on everyone's lips.

Edward Mandla is national president of the Australian Computer Society.

To contact the ACS, call (02) 9299 3666, email: info@acs.org.au or visit the ACS Web site