The new chair of the ICT Business Section at the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry feels the Maltese ICT industry is facing challenging but exciting times, and much still needs to be done to achieve a better uptake of e-commerce and a more fine-tuned educational system to provide the necessary specialised workforce for the industry.
“Given the economic turbulence that surrounds us and the rapid change in the sector, Maltese ICT companies are having to be more innovative than ever before, and many are venturing beyond our shores to win international business,” according to Claudine Cassar, a successful business woman in her own right with a track record in web development and e-commerce solutions development.
“We have already witnessed a number of local companies that have won large international projects and as time goes by I envisage that more local ICT players will take the plunge. We have the required skills and expertise to be competitive on an international level, so the odds are very much in our favour,”
Despite the progress she has seen in the Maltese ICT industry in the last few years, she identifies particular areas where more investment and progress is needed. One of these is a better skills pool through specialised training.
“As ICT companies specialise they are in need of specialist skills in several areas. To mention some examples we need enterprise resource planning (ERP) consultants and business intelligence (BI) experts. At the moment we have a large supply of generalists but this puts the onus of training on the employer, who might not necessarily have the time and the resources required to provide such training.
“The ICT Business Section has long been advocating the creation of specialist courses leading to graduates who have a much deeper knowledge of particular areas of expertise such as for example database management.
“The provision of top notch ICT professional resources is critical to sustain growth – if local companies cannot find people to employ they will be impacted in a severe manner. More needs to be done at all levels of education, and in particular there needs to be more emphasis on science and ICT in primary and secondary schools.
“We also believe that the ICT institute at Mcast needs to be refocused on specialised hands-on vocational training, and not turned into a second university. University budgets for ICT also need to be increased to allow the Faculty of ICT to cater for more post graduate training.”
Another sector where Ms Cassar sees the need of a big push is e-commerce, the very area where her private business has been operating for more than a decade.
“I believe we are still far behind where we should be. Unfortunately it is clear to me that several retailers in Malta still labour under the mistaken assumption that their competitor is the store around the corner, when in fact they are probably losing more business to online stores based overseas. I do not exaggerate when I say that I buy practically all my needs online, from shoes, to clothes, to pots and pans and even ant bait!
“As Maltese society changes there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that online purchases are going to grow further and, if local retailers do not react, they will soon find themselves out of business.”
Maltese ICT companies are having to be more innovative than ever before and many are venturing beyond our shores to win international business
Besides a push for a more specialised workforce and investment in e-commerce, the new chair of the ICT Business Section of the Chamber of Commerce sees an important role for the Government in supporting the development of the Maltese information society, especially with venture capital and support for start-ups.
“The Government can play a role in stimulating growth and innovation in the sector through focused initiatives, which will incentivise private sector to invest. The great majority of companies in Malta are SMEs and they are all facing difficult circumstances at the moment. I am a believer that, when the going gets tough, the tough should get going – however of course at the end of the day it is in the Government’s interest to help business succeed.
“The country needs to invest in programmes that provide venture capital and seed funding towards the setting up of a business angels network to support entrepreneurs who have new and innovative ideas that have commercial potential. We would also like to see more investment in training and assisting young entrepreneurs to start up and launch new businesses in ICT.
“We also need to invest in programmes to support good companies during the internationalisation process. Succeeding in delivering local services and products outside of Malta can create a lot of economic activity, so any support given by the Government in this area should be seen as an investment that will ultimately reap dividends for all.”
At the end of the day, being a woman in an industry dominated by males is of little consequence to Ms Cassar, but she would still like to see more female participation for the benefit of the industry itself.
“I definitely agree that being a woman should not hold you back. I have never succumbed to that kind of thinking. However, there is no doubt that there are particular challenges for women when it comes to taking up any career, including one in ICT. Unfortunately, girls are often given the impression that IT is a male domain, which leads to them avoiding it when it comes to their choice of subjects.
“Then there is also the fact that the high incidence of men is in itself daunting for some women, who then choose to go into an area where they can expect to be less outnumbered. This has created a vicious cycle. However, this is changing so I look forward to the future positively,” concluded the chair of the ICT Business Section of the Chamber of Commerce.