Nearly 80pc of indigenous IT companies in Ireland plan to hire staff over the next three months but sourcing talent is still challenging 51pc of businesses, a new survey suggests.
The ISA Digital Technology Index (DTI) has probed the health and economic sentiment of Irish IT companies and also found that levels of confidence are up, with 63pc of respondents saying they are more confident about their business now, compared to three months ago.
Seventy-two per cent of survey respondents, in fact, expect revenues from international sales to increase over the coming year, and 27pc said they expect that increase to be substantial.
Eighty-five per cent of survey participants indicated that they see overall revenues increasing as a result of increased international business, as Irish IT companies continue to scale globally.
The DTI has been developed and managed by the Irish Software Association (ISA), in partnership with Tenego Partnering. The index involved a survey of 728 Irish CEOs and founders.
More IT jobs than people in them
The ISA’s chair, Edel Creely, who is also managing director of Trilogy Technologies, said the DTI confirms that the indigenous IT sector in Ireland is flourishing.
“Between multinationals and Irish companies, the IT sector is generating more jobs than there are skilled Irish people to fill them,” Creely said.
“Conservative estimates put the number of IT vacancies at 4,000. According to an EU study, Anticipating the Development of the Supply and Demand of eSkills in Europe in 2010-2015, the EU labour market could face an excess demand of 384,000 IT practitioners by 2015.”
To address this issue and build a strong indigenous export-led IT sector, Creely said Ireland needs to drive more graduates into IT-related college programmes, and adapt the education system as a whole, so it is responsive to the demands of the IT sector.
The DTI will track the health and economic sentiment among IT companies in Ireland’s indigenous software and digital sector each quarter.
