Crime is seriously affecting SA's software and ICT industry, says Simon Carpenter, director of strategy for SAP Africa.
Carpenter is a panellist at ITWeb's upcoming IT Confidence event, where the key factors impacting the local software sector will be discussed. The conference takes place on 28 February in Midrand.
He believes crime is a major contributor to the skills shortage. "Highly skilled architects, modellers and the like will continue to migrate to locales where they can enjoy the fruits of their labour unmolested," he says. Carpenter adds that the lack of skills should be addressed early, through the educational system.
Sandy Pullinger, MD of nFold, will chair the software panel at the event. Joining Carpenter on the panel will be the local heads of the other three multinational software giants: Pfungwa Serima, MD of Microsoft SA; Stafford Masie, MD of Novell SA; and Nicky Sheridan, VP and MD of Oracle SA.
Pullinger says the panellists will tackle issues such as the fight for supremacy between open source and proprietary application software, the impact of grid computing and service-oriented architecture on the way software is built, and the "software as a service" trend in SA.
Pullinger hopes it will be "an engaging discussion, with sleeves rolled up... but hopefully no blood will be spilt".
Carpenter believes that in order for the local ICT sector to succeed, CIOs must be "less and less like technologists and more and more like business strategists".
To ensure healthy growth, the industry will have to "continue in its efforts to show value - hype and feature proliferation no longer cut it for business users," he says.
Share