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<TITLE>Re: [kictanet] FW: Shortage of IT staff in SA------------Standard Bank</TITLE>
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Hummm.....<BR>
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Its time for IT specialists to sharpen and broaden their skill base this is just but the beginning. In a little while this and other markets will be booming and the success of businesses will be their ability to upscale using ICT’s. The skills therefore need to be developed quickly. This will include capacity to sell, market, transact as well rounded business executives with an IT bias. Off cause pure IT skills will still be needed, but the upgrade is a necessity.<BR>
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Njeri,<BR>
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On 6/25/07 12:13 PM, "Kagwe James" <JKagwe@aforbes.co.ke> wrote:<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><FONT SIZE="4"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>Please check it out…..Would someone tell them to and recruit in Kenya…<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'>Business Day (Johannesburg)<BR>
<BR>
21 June 2007<BR>
Posted to the web 21 June 2007<BR>
<BR>
Johannesburg<BR>
<BR>
THE Standard Bank is expanding its recruitment campaigns to suck in <BR>
talent from India because it cannot find enough information <BR>
technology staff locally. It has up to 100 vacancies to fill <BR>
instantly and will need 300 recruits by the end of the year, <BR>
including programmers, project managers and business analysts. Last <BR>
year it hired 600 IT staff, and its total of 2500 means its in-house <BR>
IT department eclipses many of SA's specialist IT groups.<BR>
<BR>
"The shortage isn't breaking us," says its chief information officer, <BR>
Jorg Fischer, but he is tired of postponing new IT projects because <BR>
of a staff shortage.<BR>
<BR>
"We want to try to complement our IT shop with Indian resources. We <BR>
are always looking at the South African market, and we need to look <BR>
beyond our borders," he says.<BR>
<BR>
"It will give me another option for how to solve IT or business <BR>
issues, instead of saying I don't have the people to do it. I want to <BR>
make us more flexible and nimble so IT doesn't become a bottleneck in <BR>
delivering."<BR>
<BR>
As some technologies approach the end of their life, the bank will <BR>
request proposals from Indian companies to maintain and support those <BR>
applications. That will let the in-house technicians be reassigned to <BR>
develop new applications to take the bank forward.<BR>
<BR>
It should also give them a better career path and more interesting <BR>
work, so they do not seek brighter prospects elsewhere.<BR>
<BR>
The first tenders should be issued in the third or fourth quarter of <BR>
this year and will target companies including Tata Consulting and <BR>
Satyam, which already have operations in SA.<BR>
<BR>
One example is the testing and integration of new software, which <BR>
demands a large staff complement. That could be outsourced to Indian <BR>
workers who could either be brought into SA or could conduct the <BR>
testing processes remotely.<BR>
<BR>
If projects to develop new systems also run into local skills <BR>
shortages, technicians could be recruited from India. As part of the <BR>
job description they would be expected to train South Africans <BR>
working alongside them.<BR>
<BR>
No-go areas for outsourcing will be designing the bank's IT <BR>
architecture, project management and business analysis. <BR>
<BR>
The idea was inspired by what is becoming a common practice for <BR>
financial services organisations in the US and Europe. Although they <BR>
mainly outsource to cut their costs, the Standard Bank will do <BR>
it "because we don't have the people and the skills available," <BR>
Fischer says.<BR>
<BR>
He expects many other local firms will follow suit to combat the <BR>
skills crunch. The number of students studying IT at universities in <BR>
SA, Europe and the US has decreased for three years, so the skills <BR>
base is depleting. In comparison, India pumps out about 400000 IT <BR>
graduates a year.<BR>
<BR>
The bank hires many temporary contractors from the personnel provider <BR>
Paracon, but Paracon has told Fischer it needs another 1000 <BR>
technicians to fill all the vacancies facing its customers. Its chief <BR>
financial officer, Mireille Levenstein, says: "We have never been in <BR>
such a situation where there is so much demand for IT skills, and the <BR>
supply isn't there."<BR>
<BR>
Paracon also looks to India for relief, and is flying in technicians <BR>
after acquiring 34,6% of India's Nihilent Technologies last year.<BR>
<BR>
Growth consultancy Frost & Sullivan analyst Lindsey McDonald says <BR>
SA's skills shortage is reaching chronic proportions and fuelling the <BR>
trend for outsourcing. Yet the third-party service providers are also <BR>
struggling to attract and retain skilled staff.<BR>
<BR>
"In order to build a reserve of skilled personnel, service providers <BR>
should show higher levels of commitment to skills development," she <BR>
says.<BR>
<BR>
A report by the Economic Intelligence Unit shows that India's quality <BR>
of service and low costs make it the destination of choice for <BR>
outsourcing application development and management.<BR>
<BR>
Countries such as Brazil and Russia are ramping up their outsourcing <BR>
capabilities to become more attractive to foreign customers, but <BR>
research by Accenture says the cost benefits and experience to be <BR>
found in India are often too large to ignore<BR>
<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="News Gothic MT"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:11.0px'>===================================================<BR>
</SPAN><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>Njeri Rionge<BR>
Chief Executive Officer<BR>
Ignite Consulting Limited<BR>
Eden Square 7th Floor<BR>
Chiromo Rd, Westlands<BR>
P. O. Box 15568 00100 GPO Nairobi, Kenya<BR>
T: (254 20) 3673250—9 <BR>
E: <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U>njeri.rionge@igniteconsulting.co.ke<BR>
<a href="http://www.igniteconsulting.co.ke">http://www.igniteconsulting.co.ke</a><BR>
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