2014 JCSE ICT Skills Survey

Joburg Centre for Software Engineering

Authored by Adrian Schofield, Manager: Applied Research Unit

© JCSE 2014

Supported by

Contents

Executive Summary ............................................................................................... 1

ICT Skills Environment ........................................................................................... 2

The African context ............................................................................................. 3

Closing the gap .................................................................................................. 4

Survey Process ....................................................................................................... 5

Corporate Responses ............................................................................................. 6

Provinces ............................................................................................................ 6

Respondent Level ............................................................................................... 6

Type of Enterprise .............................................................................................. 6

Size of Enterprise ................................................................................................ 7

Sectors ................................................................................................................ 9

Sector Skills Plan Correlation ........................................................................... 10

MICT SETA .................................................................................................... 10

Other SETAs .................................................................................................. 11

ICT Priorities .................................................................................................... 18

Business Capabilities ........................................................................................ 20

Staff Dynamics .................................................................................................. 20

Corporate Preferences ..................................................................................... 21

Recruitment Value ......................................................................................... 21

Training Methodologies ................................................................................ 22

Management Development ........................................................................... 22

Local Recruitment ......................................................................................... 22

Skills Needs .................................................................................................. 23

Impact on Business ........................................................................................... 24

Corporate Summary ......................................................................................... 25

Practitioner Responses ......................................................................................... 26

Practitioner Profile ............................................................................................ 26

Practitioner Roles ............................................................................................. 28

Multi-tasking ..................................................................................................... 29

Skills Acquisition .............................................................................................. 30

Conclusions ......................................................................................................... 32

Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 33

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Executive Summary The Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) is a University of

Witwatersrand partnership with government and industry. This is the JCSE’s sixth

annual survey of skills trends in the South African information & communications

technology (ICT) sector.

The state of the South African economy is depressing the demand for ICT skills as

the sector’s clients cut back expenditures. Although we have seen a global

recession in the last few years, demand in Europe and US for ICT skills appears to

be increasing or holding steady. South Africa is falling behind its peers in Africa

(Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt) who are putting greater emphasis on the contribution

that technology plays in economic growth.

We continue to express our concern at the lack of improvement in South Africa’s

basic education for the majority of pupils. Exposure to and familiarity with ICTs

for all learners is essential, in order to equip them to adapt the modern tools to

their daily lives.

Trends in technology adoption place increasing emphasis on cloud, big

data/analytics, mobile, security and “Internet of Things”. The ranking of the top

five priority areas remains unchanged from the previous survey – in descending

order, they are Software as a Service/Cloud Computing, Network Infrastructure,

Information Security, Application Development and Business Intelligence/

Knowledge Management (which now includes Big Data/Analytics).

The MICT SETA has used a new model to estimate the number of employees in

the Media, Advertising, Information and Communication Technologies sector.

Previously, they have reported up to 200 000 such workers but the new model

estimates that this could be as many as 665 000. Similarly, they have increased

the number of employers in the sector from approximately 4 500 to almost 20 000.

We are not in a position to validate these numbers, since the source is a draft

report. We will follow this up as soon as the final report is published.

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ICT Skills Environment 2014 can be characterised as a year of mixed signals in the ICT skills

environment. On one hand, the size of the global IT market will reach almost

$4 trillion in 2015 – a four-fold increase in the last 15 years. On the other hand,

Microsoft is reducing its workforce by 20% - about 18 000 fewer employees.

The “Internet of Things” is a reality, with hundreds of millions of objects being

connected each year. The new and emerging technologies are creating strong

demand for certain skills sets while the re-shaping of some well-established

players is resulting in the laying off of tens of thousands of practitioners. The five-

year long slowing of the global economy continues to affect the rate of growth in

the ICT sector as its client industries seek to tighten their budgets and reduce

expenditures.

The 2014 IT Skills and Salary Report (Global Knowledge & Windows IT Pro, 2014)

includes the following highlights:

“Professionals are wearing many hats” – across the four main functional

areas (applications/middleware, IT infrastructure, collaboration/

telecommunication and business transformation), more than half work in

two or three areas and one-third works in all four.

“Training matters” – 85% of respondents undertook some training in the

last year, mainly to acquire new skills or update current ones. 61% wanted

the certification of their skills.

“Certain skills stand out” – organisations are focusing on enhancing

security, improving competency in virtualisation, continuing migration to

cloud-based applications and services, revamping network infrastructure

and reviewing resources allocated to servers and storage.

Although the Global Knowledge report has predominantly North American

respondents, its findings resonate with our local environment, emphasising that

the ICT skills environment is a global one in many respects.

The EIU reports that the European Commission (EC) continues to predict that as

many as 900 000 jobs requiring a high level of digital skills will remain unfilled by

2015 (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2012). This against the background that

the EC claims more than half the existing labour force does not have sufficient

skills in this field. In the UK, less than 20 000 people graduated with a IT-related

degree, while e-skills UK estimates they need 140 000 new entrants each year.

At the Orlando Gartner Symposium/Expo 2014, delegates were told that the

current peak skills are in the mobile, user experience and data sciences fields

but in three years from now the focus will be on smart machines, robotics,

automated judgement and ethics. Within seven years, the top jobs in the digital

environment will be integration specialists, digital business architects, regulatory

analysts and risk professionals.

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American IT staffing company Modis suggests that IT security jobs will show the

strongest growth over the period to 2022, followed by big data and mobility

(Modis, 2014). The company’s president believes that the increased use of tablets

and smartphones for work tasks is exacerbating the risks and driving the demand

for skills to mitigate them. Included in the Cisco 2014 Annual Security Report is an

estimate that there are 1 million unfilled (IT) security jobs globally (Cisco, 2014).

The African context The emerging economies in Africa are perceived to be opportunities for above

average growth in the adoption of technologies, as they become better-

connected. Countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Egypt are actively promoting

themselves as desirable locations for technology innovation and

entrepreneurship. With about three-quarters of the 1 billion Africans already

using mobile phones, the acceleration in “mobile money” services is expected to

achieve more than US$160 billion in transaction value by 2016i.

African IT leaders surveyed by IBM in South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Morocco and

Nigeria identified mobile, analytics, social and cloud as critical to business

success, although only half are pushing forward to adoption (IBM Center for

Applied Insights, 2014). A lack of available talent is one of the factors inhibiting

the rate of implementation.

In spite of its early leadership of the continent’s technology sectors, South Africa

has fallen behind in recent years. There are a number of factors contributing to

this slippage, ranging from limited numbers of matriculants and graduates in the

STEM disciplines, through to delayed or failed implementations of technology

projects by government.

In an interview with ITWeb (October 2014), the JCSE’s Professor Barry Dwolatzky

said, “Our problem is huge and should never be underestimated. There are two-

and-a-half times more youth unemployed than adults in South Africa, and 60% in

total on the continent. We’re at risk of losing an entire generation if vital steps

aren’t taken.”

He believes that to fulfil its destiny, Africa needs to become a leading developer

and innovator of digital technology over the next few decades. "Digital

technology provides a good route to absorb some of the youth unemployment.

There are several ways in which this can be done throughout schools, universities

and internships. If we skill Africa's youth, via a pipeline of these kinds of

initiatives, things will change."

It is essential that South Africa makes up for lost time as quickly as possible. The

goals of the National Development Plan cannot be achieved without the

contribution of a fully effective ICT sector. The role of ICTs in development has

been embraced by the leading economic successes around the world and the

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lessons are there to be learned. We have to achieve a paradigm shift to overcome

the appalling fact that only about 10% of the students who enter the basic

education process in South Africa achieve a pass in maths or science subjects

(even with the low 30% pass mark hurdle).

Korea transformed itself into a knowledge economy in about 15 years, through

education, R & D, investment in ICTs and coordination across government

departments. We need to follow this example, to incentivise growth in the private

sector, to expand the quality and relevance of higher education, applied research

and collaboration between universities and industry. Investment in ICT

infrastructure will lead to better service delivery, better governance and

improved international links.

Closing the gap In addition to the participative programmes from the MICT SETA and the

government’s structures for education and skills development, a number of

international enterprises and South African companies make their own

contribution.

Cisco and CA Southern Africa operate their own skills academies to create work-

ready graduates. Microsoft South Africa has trained over 8 000 students through a

programme that matches the skills intervention to the needs of employers, with

an 80% placement rate. MIP uses an aptitude test to select likely candidates for

training in programming – with a 99% success rate. BMW launched it SAP

Competence Hub in Pretoria early in 2014. Zensar Technologies’ SA Graduate

Training & Learnership Programme has sent 200 IT graduates to India on 3-month

learnerships since 2009. Striata partnered with Khuphulanani Training Institute in

2013 to enable learners to start a career in web development.

Excellent as these interventions are, they cannot address the fundamental need

for a quantum leap in the quality and relevance of the teaching in our schools,

without which South Africa will not have the solid foundation needed for its future.

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Survey Process The Skills Survey continues to follow the process established in 2008. Its objective

is to identify the most pressing skills needs from the corporate perspective,

balanced with the view of current skills capacity of the practitioners and their

intentions for future skills development. The questionnaire, devised by the JCSE,

is in a consistent format to track trends and is published as an on-line survey. In

2014, as in 2012, we were assisted in this regard by Eduflex (a Cape Town

company), who offered us the use of their Virtual Assessor™ survey engine and

hosted the on-line access. Our thanks go to their team for great support.

As previously, we acknowledge the assistance of the IITPSA (Institute of

Information Technology Professionals South Africa, the new name of Computer

Society South Africa) and the Information Technology Association in bringing the

survey to the attention of their members.

Any use of this Report (in whole or in part) must acknowledge “2014 JCSE ICT

Skills Survey” as the source. Please direct any queries and requests to

research@jcse.org.za.

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Corporate Responses In this section of the report, we analyse and comment on the responses received

from employers, usually from the executives and managers responsible for ICT

creation, implementation and support functions. Corporate response levels in

2014 are very similar to those experienced in the previous survey.

Provinces All nine Provinces were

represented (2009 to 2012 – 9;

2008 – 5) and 45% (2012: 42% ,

2011 – 34%, 2010: 40%) of the

respondents were located in

Gauteng, 23% (2012 – 24%,

2011: 27% , 2010: 44%) in

Western Cape and 10% in

KwaZulu Natal. This pattern is a

reasonable reflection of the

geographical distribution of ICT enterprises in South Africa.

Respondent Level

26% of the respondents were C-

level executives or Directors

(2012 – 27%; 2011 – 48%; 2010 –

34%; 2009 – 45%) and 38% were

Managers (2012 -40%; 2011 -

42%; 2010 – 30%; 2009 – 25%).

26% of respondents’ job titles

were not clearly executive or

management level.

Type of Enterprise

There was a lower proportion of South African privately-owned (non-listed)

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companies in this survey at 44%, down from 56% in 2012 (2011 - 63%) and, the

same percentage as in 2012, 18% (2011 - 19%; 2010 -13%) were South African

listed companies.

Size of Enterprise

41% of the enterprises have less than 50 employees (2012 – 45%; 2011 - 44%;

2010 – 62%; 2009 – 50%; 2008 – 40%) and 32% have between 50 and 250 staff

members (2012 – 28%; 2011 - 16%; 2010 – 25%; 2008/9 - 20%).

27% of all respondents employ less than 10 people internally to supply ICT

functions (2012 – 31%; 2011 - 39%; 2010 – 45%; 2009 – 40%). This emphasises the

need to pay attention to the effect of policies and incentives on small and medium

enterprises, which are increasingly in danger of “falling off the radar”.

The MICT Sector Size of Employers per Sub Sector

Sub-Sector 0-49 50-149 150+ Total

Advertising 2293 40 11 2344

Film and Electronic Media 2355 98 68 2521

Electronics 2107 40 48 2195

Information Technology 9144 299 143 9586

Telecommunications 1194 75 44 1313

Unknown 1951 17 10 1978

Total 19044 569 324 19937

Source: The MICT SETA OGS, 2014

Number of Levy-Contributing Companies1

Sub-sector

Levy Payers 2010/11

Levy Payers 2011/12

Levy Payers 2012/13

Levy Payers 2013/14

Growth in No Of Companies

2013/14

Advertising 356 436 453 526 16% Film and Electronic Media 211 277 306 654 114% Electronics 458 529 554 378 -32% Information Technology 1 750 1 989 2128 2442 15% Telecommunications 417 514 425 491 16% Grand Total 3 192 3 745 3 866 4491 16%

Source: The MICT SETA OGS, 2014

1Some organisations were unallocated to a sub-sector during analysis and were excluded

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These tables (above), from the SSP (see “Sector Skills Plan correlation”, below),

present us with a challenge. The first shows an estimate of the total number of

companies in the MICT sector, while the second reflects the number of levy

paying employers. This is the first time we have seen the relationship between

the total and the levy-paying companies in the MICT SETA Sector Skills Plan

(SSP).

The latest SSP reports an estimated total of 153 880 employees in the levy-paying

portion of the MICT sector, down from 162 579 in 2013 and 193 032 in 2012

(181 157 in 2011).

Number of Employees by Sub-sector, 2009 to 2013

Source: The MICT SETA OGS

We do note that only 6% of the increased base of employers is submitting a

Workplace Skills Plan, which seems to us to be a very small proportion, even

allowing for the preponderance of small enterprises in the total.

The MICT SETA SSP (MICT SETA, 2014) includes the following comments:

“For smaller employers, it is assumed that those employers not submitting WSPs are

likely to be employing significantly fewer employees than those submitting WSPs.

For medium sized employers, it is assumed that they employ almost a third less than

those submitting WSPs. For larger employers it is assumed that they employ almost

the same. These assumptions were further modelled per sub-sector and the results

there reflected a total of about 439,756 employees in the sector.

“The following table provides an estimation of the potential total number of

employees in the sector based on the modelling assumptions mentioned above.

AdvertisingFilm and Electronic

MediaElectronics

InformationTechnology

Telecommunications

2009 11181 12888 26337 76452 52475

2010 11020 10849 28122 77981 52880

2011 9046 12608 27197 79611 53125

2012 12055 12835 26889 86554 54699

2013 7647 13038 20895 66489 46016

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

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Table 1: Modelling output of the number of employees in the sector

Sub-sector 0-49 150+ 50-149 Total

Advertising 3074 3404 2754 9232

Electronic Media and

Film

1905 2989 17728 22621

Electronics 4891 14306 34629 53827

Information

Technology

19099 39480 115995 174575

Telecommunications 4567 10661 141519 156747

Unknown 1691 892 20172 22755

Grand Total 35226 71732 332797 439756

Source: The MICT SETA OGS, 2013

“A similar model was built with the underlying assumption that given the variety of

employers submitting WSPs, those not submitting are of equivalence in terms of

size. The model based on that assumption reflected a total employment of over

665,000 for the MICT sector.”

This is the first time we have seen the use of this model by the MICT SETA, which

significantly increases the base number of employees in the sector. This means

we will probably have to abandon the conventional wisdom that there are as

many “ICT” practitioners employed in non-MICT companies as there are

indicated above. We will comment on this further, in our review of the data

available from the other SETAs.

Sectors In conjunction with MICT SETA, we set a target level in 2012 of responses from all

of the economic sectors in South Africa, grouped according to the SETA

landscape and indicative of the size and shape of the enterprises using ICT skills

within those sectors. Even with the support of some of the SETAs, little has

changed in 2014, obtaining responses from many enterprises still presenting a

challenge. This was due to several factors, including:

Many companies do not need internal ICT skills, not requiring technical

support for “plug and play” products

Many small and some medium companies who do need technical support

employ third party service providers

Some managers are not willing to respond to a voluntary survey from

another sector in addition to their statutory reporting for their own sector

Of the responding enterprises, 56% were operating in the MICT (including

electronics) sector (2012 – 54%; 2011 – 53%; 2010 - 67%; 2009 – 57%); 10% in

Insurance and 6% in the Education/Training cluster; 5% in Banking and 3% in

Financial Services. The remaining enterprises were drawn from the Construction,

Culture/Arts/Tourism, Energy, Fibre Processing, Health & Welfare,

Manufacturing/ Engineering, Mining, Public Service, Retail/Wholesale, Safety &

Security, Transport and other Services sectors.

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82% of the responding enterprises have been in business for more than 5 years

and only 2 % existing for less than 2 years. This suggests that a high proportion of

the small businesses added to the MICT SETA base since 2012 are still “below the

radar” in terms of participation in this Survey.

Sector Skills Plan Correlation MICT SETA

The JCSE ICT Skills Survey samples the views of employers and practitioners in

the ICT field with the intention of informing decisions about skills development,

particularly but not exclusively in respect of tasks related to software creation,

implementation and support. This work is seen as complementary to the statutory

data presented in the Sector Skills Plan (SSP) (MICT SETA, 2014) produced

annually by the Media, Information & Communications Technologies Sector

Education & Training Authority (MICT SETA).

In examining the relationship between the two, it is important to understand the

difference between them. The corporate data gathered by the JCSE is supplied

voluntarily by executives and managers in response to invitations to participate

published in the media and through various institutions and associations. The

“ICT operations” that they manage will exist within enterprises from all economic

sectors, as well as from those that are seen as ICT companies. However, it is only

the latter group that falls within the ambit of the MICT SETA – its levy payers.

The different rationales for the two documents (this Survey and the SSP) lead to

different views of what should be the same phenomenon. The levy payers’

reports of hiring reflect the reality of filling vacancies, while the respondents to

the Survey tend to indicate what they want, rather than what they get. So, while

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the SSP reflects a recent decline in employment numbers after a period of slow

growth, the Survey traditionally reports a much higher demand – demand that

would be satisfied if supply at the right price was available and not constrained

by external factors.

Readers may refer to the detail in the MICT SETA SSP (op.cit.) but we do note the

following scarce skills numbers for the period 2014-2016, summarised from

Pages 92-104 (the pragmatic scenarios) from that report:

Sub-sector Prev* 2014 2015 2016

Advertising sub-sector 140 686 658 424

Electronic Media & Film sub-sector 50 9 928 10 006 6 831

Electronics sub-sector 530 1 693 1 125 2 272

Information Technology sub-sector 3 200 7 972 7 136 8 671

Telecommunications sub-sector 540 1 073 970 1 460

*The “Previous” column contains the figures taken from the 2012 table in the

MICT SETA SSP. We believe this represented only the data from levy-payers,

whereas the latest numbers in the other columns include the additional numbers

estimated according to the new model adopted by MICT SETA.

We are not able to comment on the “new” numbers from MICT SETA, given that

the source is the draft SSP, but we believe them to be more realistic at over 21 000

scarce skills vacancies, compared to the level of about 4 400 previously

indicated.

These increased numbers need to be seen in the context of the considerably

larger “sector” numbers reported by MICT SETA (see the section on Size of

Enterprise, above). Our previous JCSE ICT Skills Survey reported a vacancy rate

of between 10% and 15%, equating to 20 000 to 30 000 opportunities. Given the

new, larger base from the MICT SETA model, we would scale that up to around

40 000 vacancies, a rate of 7%.

Other SETAs

In the 2012 report, we deliberately reviewed each SETA’s SSP to establish any

references to skills relevant to the ICT job roles. We will not repeat that

information in this report but will highlight new and updated references in the

current crop of SSPs.

AgriSETA

The 2011-2016 SSP update (AgriSETA, 2012) shows that the sector will require in

excess of 100 for the 5 years of Systems Administrators (including ICT Security

Specialists) to replace employees departing the sector. The SSP also indicates

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that between 30 and 40 Web Administrators will need to upgrade existing skills

for each year of the SSP period.

BankSETA

Banks are one of the larger employers of ICT skills, outside of the MICT sector.

Their only notable comment in the 2012-2016 update to the SSP (BankSETA, 2012)

is that, “A new skills area of social media analyst is in the offing. The skill requires

people who can identify customer needs by analysing social media. Trends in the

financial services industry are moving towards relationship building, though the use

of social media to gain an understanding of what clients want and designing an

appropriate offering. There is a moving away from traditional banking skills to more

people-centred approaches. Clients are looking for approachable IB employees.”

CATHSSETA

The 2014-2017 update to the SSP does not mention ICT skills.

ESETA and EWSETA

The Energy & Water SETA SSP for 2011-2016 makes no mention of ICT Skills, The

Energy SETA produced a Scarce Skills Report (JCP International, Undated), which

included the following information under the heading of “SECTORAL NEEDS:

Nuclear & Renewable Energy”:

“The scarce skills identified for this sub-sector include the following:

state physics and hydrology

d to the

energy sector

mechanical, turbine, power conversion, electrical, metallurgical, welding, system,

design (including CAD), instrumentation, quality/ quality control and testing/ non-

destructive testing

lling and IT skills (e.g. computer coding)

In addition, this group also identified the need to engage other SETAs in developing

peripheral skills impacting on the Energy sector e.g. construction of power

stations.”

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EDTP SETA

From the 2011-2016 SSP (EDTP SETA, 2013, pp. 156-162), we glean the following

information. Workplace Skills Plans from schools have indicated that (among

others) Maths, Physical Science and ICT teachers are in the Immediate Scarce

Skills category and that Information Computer Technology and IT Training are in

the Immediate Critical Skills category. The FET colleges show IT Lecturers and

Electronic Technicians in the Scarce Skills group.

Universities indicate a need for 300 Computer/Software Specialists and 200

Systems/Business Intelligence Analysts. At the Universities of Technology, the

focus is on Information Security and Network Security, with 40 Critical Skills

opportunities for each of database administrators and enterprise systems

engineers.

FASSET

In the 2014 update (FASSET, 2014), under the heading “Developments in

Technology”, FASSET states: “Accountants need to stay abreast of changing

technology and the associated business risks. They need to advise their clients on

how to manage the risks and apply new skills to use technology effectively.

Data security is becoming a crucial issue and all businesses have to introduce

additional measures and controls to safeguard data security and to ensure statutory

compliance with the manner in which information is collected, stored, used and

destroyed. This drives the need for information technology professionals and

technicians.” …

“Many of the professional vacancies that organisations had difficulties in filling

require a combination of tertiary (often postgraduate) qualifications, professional

registration and work-related skills.

Some of these vacancies necessitate specialised knowledge in fields other than

finance e.g. law, information technology and engineering.”

As they have done previously, FASSET lists the number of people needed for

occupations where skills shortages are experienced. Relevant to ICTs, the details

are:

Computer Network & Systems Engineer 33

ICT Systems Analyst 30

Developer Programmer 20

Database Designer & Administrator 15

Programmer Analyst 13

This is a much shorter list than in the last report.

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FoodBev SETA

There is no change to the information shown in the 2012 report, indicating the

need for ICT Project Managers (25), ICT Support Engineers (85) and Systems

Analysts (315) over the five year period to 2016.

FP&M SETA

In the 2014 update to the SSP (FP&M SETA, 2014), the main area concerned with

ICT skills is the publishing sub-sector, from which constituency the following

comments are made.

“In the publishing sub-sector, IT skills (related to new technologies) are reported as

the new skill sets required. Corporate publishing and self-publishing are emerging

as the primary markets – publishing companies working with self-publishing, driven

by online demands. A focus of this component of the sub-sector is on personalisation

and this affects the market which is driven by needs of the ‘reading’ market.

However, the market in South Africa is complex with a range from basic literacy to

sophisticated online materials.”

There was no quantification of the relevant skills needs in the update.

HWSETA

There is no mention of ICT skills in the 2013 update to the SSP.

INSETA

The INSETA SSP update in 2011 (INSETA, 2011) does not show the numbers that

were included in the 2007 SSP but does include findings from KPMG and PwC

reports. In particular, the following appears in section 2.11.5.1, headed

“Technology”.

“With the proliferation of technology in an increasingly globalised economy, came

the introduction of multiple channels of production, product distribution and service

provision in the insurance industry. In future it will play a major role in new

applications for actuarial systems, real-time data mining, and various types of

modelling (PWC, 2010a:9). Figure 2-3 (below) shows the most common future

technology or focus areas, based on the survey conducted by KPMG in its South

African Insurance Survey (2010:13), and the percentage of survey respondents who

mentioned them.

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It is clear from [the chart above] that based on the survey, the use of web

technologies, closer interactivity with business partners, and better analysis of data

to improve business, are the most significant areas of future technology.

In addition, in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Strategic and Emerging Issues in South

African Insurance 2010 Survey, respondents were asked to list what they believe will

be the top three technology applications in insurance by the year 2013. Actuarial

systems had the highest score, followed closely by real-time data mining

capabilities. Linkage between insurance and call centre systems and claims

modelling, will also be important. The respondents also generated suggestions on a

variety of technologies, including the following (PWC, 2010a:50):

• Telephone underwriting.

• Data sharing.

• Connectivity with intermediaries.

• Connectivity with clients.

• Capital modelling.

• Underwriting and claims assessment.

• Dynamic financial analysis (DFA) modelling.

New market entrants, changing customer preferences, and market erosion across

product lines demanding creative approaches to product development, as well as a

willingness to keep up with the rapid changes in technology, are all factors which

are impinging on the insurance industry in 2011 and beyond.

Information technology, followed by underwriting and actuarial skills, are

respectively the most important skills shortages according to the PWC study.

Additional support for specific occupations in demand comes from the PWC study,

Strategic and emerging issues in insurance, which was conducted in 2010. This

study found the following skills to be in high demand: information technology,

actuarial skills, underwriting, risk management (specifically related to the

regulatory environment of the insurance sector), and compliance. These skills are,

and will be, in demand over the 2011–2016 SSP planning period. This point is

critical, as WSP and CJI data are limited to 2009–2010, whereas the PWC report

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provides an indication of the future skills requirements of the sector, which clearly

distinguishes the presence of certain differentials between the broader financial

services enterprise and the insurance sector.”

LGSETA

Although this has become LGWSETA, following the split of Water from Energy,

the SETA has not yet published a new SSP, so the data in the only one available is

more than 5 years out of date.

MERSETA

The current merSETA SSP (merSETA, 2011) has fleeting reference to ICT skills.

The Auto Chamber requires 65 scarce skills in the category Managers: ICT

Project Manager: Systems Engineering: IT Specialist. The New Tyre Chamber

seeks 10 scarce skills in the category Professionals: Systems Analyst: SAP Analyst.

No ICT skills were identified in the Metal, Motor or Plastics Chambers.

PSETA

The PSETA SSP (PSETA, 2011) does list a number of occupational categories

under the list of scarce skills, with an indication of the total needed. They include

the following, relevant to ICT skills:

Information & Communication Technology Managers 303

ICT Trainers 6 006

ICT Support Technicians 449

SASSETA

The SASSETA 2013-14 update (SASSETA, 2013) to the SSP lists the following as

scarce and critical skills:

Scarce skills:

Defence fraternity: Cyber Crime Investigators

Justice fraternity: IT Security Specialist

Policing fraternity: Cyber Crime Investigators

State Security fraternity: Network Specialist, Information Security

Organised labour: Information Communication Technology Specialists

NGOs: IT Specialist

Critical skills:

Corrections fraternity: IT (system developer, business analyst and Information

Security)

Legal fraternity: IT Skills/ Cyber Law

Policing fraternity: Computer skills, IT Skills

State Security fraternity: ICT Training Skills, Cyber Crime Investigation Skills,

Business Analyst Skills

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Organised labour: IT Specialist

There is no quantification of the needs.

Services SETA

The 2013-14 update for the Services SETA SSP (Services SETA, 2013) includes

mention of the following scarce skills, without quantification.

Marketing Chamber: Application Development Manager and Software

Developer

Business Services Chamber: Technical (ICT) Support Services Manager

and Software Developer

Project Management Chamber: Computer Network & Systems Engineer

Real Estate Services Chamber: Technical (ICT) Support Services Manager

The following are critical skills, without quantification:

Marketing Chamber: Software development & maintenance

Real Estate Services Chamber: Planning for direct & interactive, social

media, databases analytics

TETA

The Transport sector’s 2014 SSP update (TETA, 2014) mentions the following

scarce skills, without quantification:

Software Developers - Aviation Software Engineer

Information and Communications Technology Installers and Servicers and

Related Occupations - Telecoms Specialists, Telecommunications

Technicians

Information and Communications Technology Installers and Servicers and

Related Occupations - Service Technician – Telecoms (Communication

Technicians)

Database and Network Professionals not Elsewhere Classified - Technical

(ICT) Support Services Manager

Information and Communications Technology Service Managers -

Information Technology Service Manager

W&R SETA

The W&R SETA’s

Update (W&R SETA,

2013) mentioned only

two occupations

relevant to ICT. They

have 21 hard-to-fill

vacancies for ICT

Systems Analysts and

ICT/IT Managers are a

scarce skill.

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Interestingly, the table above is included in the SSP, with little or no reference to

it in the context, beyond the heading of “Emerging Occupations”.

ICT Priorities

Our respondents have shown a slightly more muted view of the top ICT priorities

than in previous years, as indicated by the generally lower values of the 2014

“bars” in the graph. There have also been some changes in the ranking of the top

issues.

To recap, the 2008 Survey identified the top 6 priorities overall, based on the

selection of their own top 3 by each respondent. That analysis showed that

Business Intelligence/ Knowledge Management was quite clearly the top-

ranked priority, followed by Application Development and Software as a

Service. These were supported by Service Oriented Architecture, Web

Development and Mobile Computing.

Our 2009 data was revised to include all identified priorities, and the chart

showed that Application Development was that year’s top priority, with

Business Intelligence/Knowledge Management being pushed into third place

by the (perhaps) surprise entry of Network Infrastructure in second place.

CRM, Information Security and the Operating System were the supporting cast,

although there was little difference between many of these “other” priorities.

We thought that the emphasis on Network Infrastructure in 2009 reflected the

growing realisation that effective broadband access is essential if the benefits of

many of the other areas of development are to be felt.

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Our 2010 data was revised again, to indicate what each respondent thought was

their 1st, 2nd and 3rd priority for the coming year. Application Development

retained its top spot for the second year, with Web Development, Software as a

Service and Business Intelligence/ Knowledge Management just surfacing

above several other contenders for the next most significant issues. We

observed that the spread of interest among the second and third tiers of

“priorities” indicated the wide range of challenges facing enterprise decision-

makers who need to keep their information systems capable of delivering

services that support the changing business needs.

We also commented that if we compare the changes over the three year period,

we could see a significant drop in the importance of Business Intelligence/

Knowledge Management and a significant increase in the interest in Web

Development. We thought the lowered interest in Software as a Service (SaaS)

in 2009 seemed to have been an anomaly and this thought is confirmed by the

2011/12 and 2014 results.

In 2011, we showed the Priority Progression picture over the four years of the

Survey. We could see that Software as a Service was definitely high on the

agenda, albeit as a second priority, while Application Development was still the

firm favourite as first priority. Managers continued to face a wide range of

challenges in applying technology to support business needs and it is notable

that Mobile Computing emerged from the “also ran” ranks in 2011. The

popularity of tablet computers, BlackBerry and other “smart” phones was

cementing the demand for the adaptation and implementation of systems that

offer safe, secure and reliable facilities for mobile workers.

The 2012 results follow a similar pattern to that established in 2011, with

Software as a Service/Cloud Computing now leading the field. Network

Infrastructure and Information Security move into second and third place

respectively, pushing Application Development into fourth slot. However, the

differences between these rankings are not great and we can add Business

Intelligence/Knowledge Management and Database Development to

complete the Big Six of priority issues in the year ahead.

In 2014, the Big Six becomes the Big Five. The ranking of the top five priority

areas remains unchanged from the previous survey – in descending order, they

are Software as a Service/Cloud Computing, Network Infrastructure,

Information Security, Application Development and Business Intelligence/

Knowledge Management (which now includes Big Data/Analytics). It is almost

impossible to separate the next five areas of priority attention – they are:

Database Development, Mobile Computing, Web Development, Data

Storage and Operating System.

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Overall, the Survey results continue to support the view that enterprises have to

utilise a growing range of technologies to meet their business needs. If they fail to

take advantage of the opportunities arising from the innovation in business and

personal technologies, they will lose competitiveness.

Business Capabilities

This chart shows that our respondents still believe that the top capabilities that

will contribute to success for their businesses are Managing Relationships (with

clients/users) and Delivery of Operations to those same stakeholders. In

response to “Which do you need most?” the sought-after capability is planning

architecture and infrastructure, followed by managing development and delivery

of operations in joint second place.

Staff Dynamics As we indicated earlier in this report, it has become more difficult to define the

trends in skills demand, due to the mixed signals being received from employers

in the MICT sectors. There is no doubt that the stagnant state of the South African

economy (the latest growth rate forecast is down to 1,4%) does not encourage

hiring of new employees. However, the demand for technology solutions to drive

efficiency does ensure continued demand for many of the skills relevant to the

design, creation and implementation of those solutions.

We need to contextualise this against the information in the MICT SETA SSP,

which reports the actual staff numbers from its levy payers who submit annual

returns. Under the heading “Size of Enterprise” (above) we indicated that the

MICT SETA reported a significant decrease in employees of around 40 000 (25%)

since 2012. Unfortunately, the MICT SETA SSP does not comment on this

reduction, nor does it identify the employers or employer groups where it has

occurred.

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The lack of properly aligned data from other official sources makes it difficult to

establish corroboration, as is evidenced in the MICT SETA’s own efforts in this

regard.

The pattern of staff retention policies

is similar to previous years, with

small changes in the balance

between choices. Performance

bonuses and professional

development programmes and

continue to lead the preferences,

with increased basic pay as the third

policy, nudging flexible schedules

into fourth place. Comments from respondents suggest that Business Analysts are

one of the hardest skills to retain and that Black ICT professionals, especially

females, are highly mobile.

In 2014, there has been no change in the trend towards line managers and senior

executives holding the reposnsibility for training. As we commented in 2012, line

managers should be able to identify training needs among their teams but the

responsibility for executing the training programmes should rest with a manager

whose role is focused on this activity. Sourcing appropriate interventions and

monitoring their effectiveness is a distraction for operational managers and

should be “outsourced” to the HR function.

The percentage of employers recruiting overseas has declined to 12% (from

18%) in this year’s Survey. The few who indicated their sources showed

preference for India and Eastern Europe.

Corporate Preferences Recruitment Value

The relative importance of

pre-hiring qualifications and

certifications continues to

show two clear leaders and

little differentiation between

the others. Graduate degrees

and diplomas are preferred,

following the pattern set in

2011.

It is interesting that vendor

certificates are least-rated in the recruiting process but are more highly valued as

indicators of ability to support specific products or technologies during the

course of employment.

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Training Methodologies

The 2014 chart is very

similar to the 2012

picture, in respect of the

training methodologies

preferred by employers.

Onsite is still preferred

to offsite and knowledge

sharing with self-study

(discs/ videos/books

and e-Learning) remain

as the top scores onsite.

Offsite, academic

institutions remain ahead

of commercial training

companies as the venue/supplier of choice. This reflects the growing number of

short course programmes offered by tertiary establishments.

Management Development

In the 2014 results, formal

management courses have taken

the lead from mentoring as the

preferred approach to developing

management skills, continuing the

trend shown in 2012, when this

approach moved from fourth to

second place.

There is no doubt that investment

in current and future managers will become more important when the BEE

Council for the ICT sector finally becomes operational.

Local Recruitment

In 2010, when we first asked this

question, on line was the

recruitment source of choice.

Since then, employment

agencies have continued to lead

this field, showing the value they

add by pre-selecting and

verifying candidates, albeit at a

cost to the employer. Universities

continue to head the choice of

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institutional sources, although the gap has narrowed somewhat in 2014.

Skills Needs

The levels of skills demand indicated in the 2014 results are more muted than

previously. The mixed views already expressed are repeated here. For example,

in the project management field, there is a high indication of sufficient resources

now and next year but the current and future need indicators are not as low as

would be expected. We would anticipate a profile more like that of

implementation and support.

The demand for Testing skills is high currently and will stay ahead next year,

while the demand for Programming skills looks to increase next year, as does

Systems analysis and Business

analysis.

The pattern of demand for

programming languages in 2014 is

very similar to that shown in 2012,

with Java, C#, .NET, C++ and VB

the most popular. In the mobile

development space, the top

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programming skills are Java, JavaScript and .NET.

Impact on Business In 2008, all respondents

indicated that the skills

shortage was having at

least a major effect on

their business, with a few

indicating that it was

affecting the viability of

their operations. In 2009,

75% still said that the

skills shortage is having a

major effect on their

business and a few were

still concerned about their viability for this reason. This suggested that the

recessionary influences had not yet filtered through to the IT departments or to

the plans to procure IT solutions that were already in place in the prior year.

In 2010, the 75% shrank to 45%, suggesting that the demand for critical skills

lessened significantly, perhaps because more suitable candidates were

available. However, in 2011, more enterprises were again concerned about the

skills shortage, with two-thirds reporting at least a major effect.

In 2012, there was another small improvement, with 60% of enterprises indicating

that the skills shortage was having a major (or more serious) effect on their

capacity and 40% (34% in 2011) showing that the effect was minor or non-

existent.

In 2014, this pattern continues, with a minor shift of 1% less in the major concern

zone. It is interesting that, in spite of the reduced level of economic activity, the

skills shortage continues to impact management perceptions to this extent.

Following the same

trend, the recession is

having less of an effect

than in 2012, with only

20% (2012 - 21%; 2011 -

34%) of respondents

indicating that it is

harder to recruit their

skills needs.

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Corporate Summary There are three main categories of corporate respondent for the JCSE’s ICT Skills

Survey: the suppliers of ICT products and services and the employers of ICT

skills as part of a non-ICT business, split between commercial and government

users.

We have always attracted a reasonable level of response from the vendor

community, although we would welcome more participants to improve

correlation with the MICT SETA data. However, we do not have a sufficient level

of response from the commercial and government sector users to enable more

detailed examination of the variances between environments.

Our current sample levels do allow us to identify top-level trends and highlight

some issues, but we recognise that the users of this report would prefer to be

able to extract information in more depth about areas of specific interest.

In 2011, we highlighted the need for greater cooperation between the SETAs in

respect of ICT roles performed across the board. We thank the MICT SETA for

their efforts to facilitate this in 2012 but point out that there is still much progress

to be made. It does not make sense that the collection of vital employment data

continues to be disjointed and inconsistent. The use of OFO codes needs to be

fully understood and implemented and the coordination between the SETAs,

StatsSA and the Department of Labour must be improved.

Overall, the ICT skills shortage continues to constrain the developers and users of

technology in their efforts to improve productivity, increase economic activity

and create jobs. We again highlight the failure of the education system to

generate a cohort of young people who are familiar with technology and its

application in daily life, who are interested in developing and implementing ICTs

and who are work-ready when they exit from the system. South Africa cannot

afford this failure.

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Practitioner Responses 711 valid Practitioner responses were received, (2012: 649; 2011: 557; 2010: 1135;

2009: 1471; 2008: 965). This is a small improvement on the 2012 level and we are

satisfied that the sample is large enough from which to draw valid conclusions. In

this section of the report, figures in (brackets) are the 2012; 2011; 2010; 2009

results.

Practitioner Profile Our “average” practitioner respondent

has not changed much in the last 5

years. He’s in his mid-30s, lives in

Gauteng, has more than 10 years’

experience but has only been with this

current employer for 3 years, working

as a manager or a developer.

68% (68%; 64%; 47%; 66%) have a

tertiary diploma or higher qualification

(with almost half of them studying the

field of Computer Science. 69% (68%;

69%; 43%; 70%) are living in Gauteng,

16% (16%; 16% ; 47%; 16%) in the

Western Cape, 7% (7%; 7%; 6%; 7%) in

KZN. The 2010 anomaly between

Gauteng and Western Cape resulted

from a particularly enthusiastic

campaign for practitioner responses by

CITI in that year. All Provinces are

represented in the 2014 respondents, as

they were in the previous 4 years. 21%

(21%; 21%; 20%; 21%) of the

practitioners who responded are

female – from the perspective of

transformation, this is a disturbing lack of change in this particular area, as there

is no indication of achieving gender balance in the sector. However, this is not

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unique to South Africa, as this ratio is commonly found across the industry. Only

8% (8%; 6%; 10%) of respondents are under the age of 25 – showing little

improvement in the low number of new entrants to the ICT sector in recent years.

There is no change to the fact that most respondents work in a small (1-9)

department or a large one (100+). 56%

(57%) have performed their current

role for between 1 and 5 years, 48%

(50%) have worked for their current

employer for between 1 and 5 years

and only 3% (3%) have been in the

industry for less than a year, continuing

the trend shown during 2010-2012. In

2008, this figure was as high as 22%,

supporting the trends identified from

the Corporate respondents of the

drastic decline in hiring in the past

three to four years. 55% (57%) of

responding practitioners have been in

the industry for more than 10 years.

In 2008, 57% of respondents worked in

the ICT sector. In 2009, the figure rose

to 60% and in 2010 it rose again to 72%.

In 2011, the proportion dropped back

below the 2008 level, to 53%, probably

reflecting the decreased participation

from the practitioners in the Western

Cape. In 2012, the proportion of

respondents working in the MICT sector

was 55% and in 2014, it is 54%. With

almost half of practitioners working in

other sectors, this underlines the

pressing need for the coordination of

data from ALL stakeholders in a formal,

credible methodology. We urge the

SETAs to set up a trans-sector

mechanism that acknowledges the

pervasive nature of ICTs and the skills

required to support the technologies. We also urge the industry’s employer

associations to work with government to standardise the nomenclature of job

roles and responsibilities and the levels of expertise and professionalism

associated therewith.

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16% (16%; 15%; 13%; 14%) of responding practitioners are contractors and

would be affected by COSATU’s demand for the banning of Labour Brokers, if the

proposals were to be legislated in the form originally proposed by the

Department of Labour. 78% (79%) are in permanent employment. This

distribution is almost unchanged from 2009. The flexibility of skills resourcing

offered by the existence of the contractor pool is a long-standing vital component

of the ICT industry’s ability to apply labour where and when it is needed.

Practitioner Roles 11% (10%; 10%; 9%; 5%) are working as

C-Level executives or Directors, 29%

(22%; 30 %; 18%; 10%) are managing

Operations or Development, 14% (14%;

15%; 29%; 15%) are in Programming or

Development roles and another 20% (22%;

21%; 17%; 15%) are in Support functions.

As with 2011 and 2012, in 2014 slightly

more than half of the respondents are

“platform” aligned, with Servers and PCs

predominating. This reinforces the

variation from the earlier years of the

survey when only one-third fell into this

category.

In software development and

implementation, database management

systems continue to occupy the largest

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number of practitioners for the second

year, closely followed by significant

numbers involved in customised/

bespoke software. We introduced the

animation and mobile/gaming categories

in 2012, but there has been little growth

in the number of practitioners reporting

in these categories. Web-based

systems/e-Commerce remain important, ahead of packaged software.

The emphasis on servers and DBMS shows the continuing importance of business

intelligence and knowledge management systems to support decision-making.

As Big Data becomes more mainstream in its application, we expect this trend to

continue. Engagement in mobile systems and other communications

infrastructure reflects the continuing trend towards mobile users.

Multi-tasking The average South African ICT

practitioner continues to

perform multiple task sets, with

only a few identifying their role

as “specialist” in nature. An

average of 4,7 (5,0) task areas

are engaging technical

practitioners and 2,9 (3,7) for

the business-focused people.

Only a minority of respondents

describe what they do as involving three or less areas of activity. As we have

commented before, we understand that it is appropriate for complementary roles

to be performed over time, such as design, developing requirements,

programming, testing and maintenance. In small enterprises, skilled

practitioners will be responsible for all phases of management, administration

and systems development.

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This is the sixth year that we

have raised the flag on the

multi-tasking issue. If a

practitioner perceives that they

are performing as many as a

dozen different roles, from

technical consulting to

administration, from

programming to client

management, from business

analysis to outsourcing arrangements, it is difficult to see how they can maintain

focus on specific objectives while juggling these responsibilities. It is unlikely

that they have the required strengths in all these activities or the time available to

carry them all out, which would lead to a degree of underperformance in some

areas. It also leads to over-dependence on the individual concerned, who may

be perceived as “irreplaceable”.

Skills Acquisition As in the previous five years,

respondents showed how they

had acquired their skills in the

past, to qualify them for their

current post, and how they

intended to acquire skills in the

future, to maintain their value in

the job market.

We have changed the

presentation of this response to

indicate the primary contributor

to skills development of the

practitioner. The predominance

of “on the job experience or

mentoring” is fairly constant,

reported by 29% of

respondents in this survey.

Previously, when taken as the

one of many interventions, the

results were (2012 – 80%; 2011

– 80%, 2010 - 89%, 2009 – 86%, 2008 - 90%) in the acquisition of skills to date.

The remaining distribution was largely unchanged. We continue to note that

employers are less enthusiastic about certifications than the practitioners,

reinforcing our suggestion that two factors are at play. Commercial training

providers convince practitioners that their courses will “open doors” and

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practitioners are willing to acquire a certificate even though it may not directly

influence their employment, perhaps as part of their continuing professional

development (CPD).

Looking ahead, there is very little change from the last three years. Skills

acquisition through experience, supported by short courses that lead to

certification (whether vendor-specific or not) are preferred by practitioners.

Pressure of work makes less time

available for continuing

academic studies, even on a part-

time basis, even though this has

become the preferred method of

learning (by a small margin). In

spite of the preference for on-site

learning, almost as many

respondents indicate that the

transfer of knowledge is best

suited to an environment outside

of the actual workplace.

As would be expected from the preference for on the job training, the use of

knowledge sharing and self-study are the preferred self-paced learning sources.

As far as external providers are concerned, the balance between academic,

commercial and vendor is similar to the alignment shown in 2011 and 2012.

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Conclusions The 2014 JCSE ICT Skills Survey reflects the “State of the Nation” in South Africa.

Mixed messages and mixed feelings seem to be the order of the day. There is no

doubt that the depressed state of the economy is lowering the expectations of

employers in terms of short to medium term growth. This is exacerbated by the

lack of leadership from the South African government in some key areas relevant

to the potential growth in the ICT sector – including systems development and

implementation by the State IT Agency and in key Departments, rollout of DTTV

and reallocation of spectrum, access to broadband and an integrated National

ICT Policy.

Many of the “traditional” skills in the ICT sector continue to be in demand, due to

the pervasive nature of the technologies, together with some new (or increasingly

important) ones associated with cloud computing, big data and information

security. However, the scale of the “shortage” seems to be dwindling,

particularly against the backdrop of downsizing by some of the larger employers

in the sector.

We emphasise again the vital need for improvements in the basic education

system, from improved teacher skills to embedding technology across all

schools, if we are to create future generations of “tech savvy” young people who

can use, adapt and improve on the technology of the day. Without that talent pool,

South Africa will always be dependent on the products and services developed

outside our borders. With that talent pool, we will be able to foster innovation and

entrepreneurship to fuel an improved economic and social outlook.

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