ANZ channel meetings highlight local challenges

​Challenges facing the local IT industry were in the spotlight at this year's ANZ Channel Community meetings, hosted by CompTia in Sydney and Melbourne.

More than 120 representatives of the IT channel, as well as other stakeholders, from across Australia and New Zealand attended the November meetings.

Moheb Moses, director, Channel Dynamics and Community Director for CompTIA, outlined the association's objectives in the ANZ region, highlighting its goal to provide a forum through which to discuss industry issues and identify solutions to combat them.

Moses presented findings from CompTIA's International State of the Channel research highlighting some of the major trends for 2016 in the local market. The research found that cloud technology, data-driven business, connectivity, and automation are among the continuing trends that are expected to dominate in the coming year.

According to Moses, another key trend and concern is that of the skills shortage in the IT industry. He says CompTIA is focused on addressing this key issue through a number of different programs. The association talked about its support for the Young ICT Explorers program, a non-profit initiative encouraging students to create ICT-related projects.

"There are predictions we will see a 100,000-person skills shortage in the local IT industry over the next five years," says Moses.

"Meanwhile, youth unemployment will be at 20%. So, one of the biggest things we need to be doing now is support IT and technical skills at school to train up the next generation.

Furthermore, the community members voted to locally invest in two CompTIA industry initiatives in the coming year. The attendees chose to support the Dream IT program, which is a program managed by CompTIA's Advancing Women in IT Community, which aims to show women and girls how the IT industry can be a great place for them to make a career.

The other initiative the local community chose to support is the 'localising content' initiative, aimed at creating resources specifically for the ANZ market.

Jim Hamilton, vice president, Member Communities, CompTIA, says, "2015 has been a great first year for the CompTIA ANZ Community. It is the fastest growing community we've ever launched and we look forward to growing the group further in 2016," he says.