Report predicts serious dearth of IT professionals
Polish information technology (IT) professionals may have good reason to head for higher paying jobs in the West if they don't receive the ongoing training needed to keep them at home, according to a report issued last Thursday.
A dozen emerging market countries, including Poland, are headed for acute, skilled IT worker shortages by 2003, said the report by International Data Corp. (IDC), the global research firm that forecasts worldwide IT markets and technology trends.
The expected shortage of skilled networking professionals those who plan, implement, maintain and manage tasks that are related to IT systems and the internet remains the weakest link in the surveyed countries' abilities to be part of the growing internet economy, according to the report.
By 2003, Poland is expected to need 17,720 skilled networking professionals, but will have only 10,727, the report said. The deficiency of 6,993 workers means a shortfall of 39%, compared to 37% in the Czech Republic and Hungary, and 32% in Romania.
IT professionals skilled in networking are essential to the commercial success of internet-based economies in emerging market countries such as Poland, where small and medium-sized enterprises will increasingly use the internet as a business tool in the global economy, according to the report.
"What will happen is that in order to remain competitive, a lot of Polish companies will be compelled to implement internet infrastructures," said Andrew Milroy, practicing manager of IDC's European services division, at a conference last Thursday. "If you're a Polish fruit supplier and wish to supply large retailers, you won't be able to do it (without an internet infrastructure), and you won't be visible (in the marketplace). A lot of Polish companies will be under pressure to gear themselves up electronically."
The IDC predicts a worldwide deficit of about 600,000 skilled networking professionals by 2002. With an existing shortage of skilled IT workers in Western Europe, the report said it is likely that some networking specialists from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania will migrate west after their respective countries become members of the European Union (EU). The EU permits the free movement of labor across borders within its common market.
The emerging market countries, however, will be able to nip their projected IT worker shortages in the bud if IT manufacturers, schools and governments form alliances to develop programs to train and certify future networking professionals.
"It's crucial that the government, businesses and academia work closely together to keep skilled networking professionals (in their countries) and to keep the economy competitive," Milroy said.
The report, which was commissioned by Cisco Systems, the American internet networking services company, was based on more than 15,000 interviews with information systems managers in 12 emerging market countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Besides Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, other countries surveyed included Russia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.
