Process management to see dramatic improvement
South African software development processes are likely to change dramatically for the better in the coming year, says the 2008 ITWeb/JCSE Skills Survey.
12 November 2008
Adrian Schofield, JCSE manager: Applied Research Unit, says the survey found that there was currently a high demand for process management skills, with sixty-three percent of respondents indicating that they were lacking skills now, and demand dropping to forty-six percent next year.
Thirty-seven percent of the respondents said that they were OK for now, jumping to fifty-four percent next year.
The drop in demand for process management skills, accompanied by an increase in the number of respondents who have process management skills is a clear indication of growth in the number of people who are skilled in process management, translating into significant improvements in software development processes across the sector as a whole.
Schofield says the expectation of dramatic improvement in process management may have been triggered by the people who have taken part in the JCSE's CMMI training.
"The JCSE is conducting a local CMMI pilot programme, a programme which involves the CMMI certification of a number of organisations including the State IT Agency (SITA), First National Bank (FNB), Psybergate, Wits University's Computing Services, IBM and others. Hopefully, these enterprises are starting to see the results from the programme," he says.
The report shows that SA is still facing a significant skills shortage, indicating that probably twice as many practitioners would be required, compared to the 35 000 reported in government's National Scarce Skills Report for 2007. Additionally, all of the South African companies stated that the skills shortage is either having a major impact on their business or is affecting their viability. These results were obtained before the recent setback in the global economy but are expected to remain a strong indicator of skills demand.
Skills development is a really significant investment in our future, says Schofield. "It's not just a case of whether we have working capital or products we need; you can market all you like, but if you don't have the skills to enable you to grow your business you will eventually fail."
Team play:
Most stakeholders in the ICT sector have previously acknowledged that SA faces an acute skills shortage, and have launched some initiatives to deal with the issue.
The problem is that the ICT sector still operates as a collection of individuals rather than a group aiming to achieve group success, says Schofield. "We tend not to join associations, and when we do, the associations are also fragmented."
Corporate executives also tend to think that they do not need to work with their competitors to lobby on issues that affect the sector, relying on their individual pipeline to government decision-makers to effect change, he adds.
"South Africa will require the efforts of more than one group of people to deal with the skills shortage - you can't say it's only the problem for government or industry or academic institutions. Everyone has to work together."
The JCSE aims to establish itself as a source of well qualified research, of strong, well-informed opinions, thought leadership and of targeted training and skills transfer programmes in the software development sector.
"It's important that we recognise that the ICT sector is a globalised industry, and the strategies that we use to address the skills shortage must comply with international standards," he says.
The ITWeb/JCSE skills survey aims to identify the most pressing skills needs from the corporate perspective and to balance that with a view of the current skills capacity of practitioners. The survey also looks at the intentions of practitioners for future skills development.
The researchers received 115 valid responses from corporate executives from different enterprises, more than half of whom were of C-level or director status within their enterprise, says Schofield.
"Almost seventy-five percent of the companies are based in Gauteng with sixty percent of the enterprises South African privately owned ICT companies and fifteen percent being local ICT listed companies," he says.