IDC’s CIO Summit Highlights Africa’s IT Skills Development Needs

Information Technology intelligence and advisory experts drawn from the International Data Corporation (IDC), government and private sectors have re-echoed need for IT skills development in Africa and Nigeria in particular.

Leading the discussions, Steven Frantzen, senior vice president, Research, EMEA and managing director CEMA Regions at IDC, said the last five (5) years have seen the emergence of a new era of computing called the 3rd Platform.

Frantzen said the era harnesses the power of key technologies, namely, Big-Data, mobile, cloud and social; these require essential IT skills to tap into.

He said, “These industry forces will come together in new ways to transform both the role of CIO, and key parts of the IT function. They will also transform industries, empowering customers in new ways”.

Frantzen thus advised African leaders and the private sector to speed up measures that will enable the industry leverage on the increasingly professionals, adding that findings show worldwide IT professionals will reach 30 million by 2020.

On his part, Nazim Fraijat, managing director, Levant and Emerging Africa (LEMA) at EMC, said that the technology industry is being disrupted by megatrends underpinned by trust.

These megatrends, he added, led to the birth of 3rd Platform of computing. “Public and private sector organizations have built their technology services around 1st and 2nd platform technology and are looking for ways to optimize these services as well as begin the creation and adoption of 3rd platform.

Earlier, Bola Adisa, country manager, International Data Corporation (IDC), West Africa, said, aside driving innovation, IDC researchers found that African IT leaders are concerned with managing growing expectations from users and measuring the return-on-innovation of the their IT initiatives.

Adisa said: “Our extensive research shows the regions technology leaders are primarily concerned with driving innovation through IT, managing growing expectations from users and measuring the RoI of their initiatives.

“The coming years will be a fascinating period for the development of West Africa IT and communications market.

“While some organizations are still building their infrastructures, others are surging forward, implanting cutting-edge technologies that disrupt traditional business and work models while creating opportunities in lines of business and in the optimization of workflow”.

He added that the proliferation of 3rd platform technologies is not only changing the solutions that CIOs need to implement, but also fundamentally affecting the role of IT in the organization, the tasks and responsibilities of the IT department, and the Skill sets required by CIOs and their IT staff.

On her part, Yemi Keri, managing director, Edo State Information Communications & Technology Agency (ICTA), said the State understands the crucial need to galvanize the youths through IT skill development.

This, she said, led to various IT related projects embarked on by the State since the creation of ICTA in 2009.

According to Keri, the Agency had undertaken a major upgrade of the State’s ICT infrastructure including the setting up of a brand new and modern Government Data Centre, as well as data communications links between all government offices.

She enumerated major completed and ongoing ICT projects being handled by ICTA including the Edo State Biometrics Project, Upgrade of the State’s ICT Infrastructure, Creation of ICT jobs, Computerisation of Edo State Employee and Pensioners Payroll, Automation of Government Functions, Computerisation of Tax Administration, Introduction of a Citizen’s ID Card and ICT Training for Civil Servants.

IDC recently published its 2014 MarketScape report profiling and positioning the leading providers in the worldwide business analytics IT consulting and systems integration (C&SI) services market.

The analysis reveals that the enterprise need for solutions and the introduction of new technologies have created a huge demand for skill sets associated with business analytics services.

These providers were evaluated using detailed criteria that IDC identified as key factors contributing to vendor success in the worldwide business analytics CS&I services market.

The IDC MarketScape analysis utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology to produce a definitive assessment of each vendor’s current market capabilities and strategies for competing in the future.

The vendors included in the analysis are Accenture, Capgemini, Cognizant, CSC, Deloitte, EY, HCL, IBM, PwC, TATA Consultancy Services (TCS), and Wipro.

The IDC MarketScape methodology named Accenture, Capgemini, Deloitte, IBM, and PwC as leaders.