Are your projects failing?

Are you struggling to find enough Oracle developers/dbas with the right skills, experience and training?

Is the business demanding innovation whilst you're focusing your scarce resources on keeping your existing systems up and running?

I.T. has a very poor record when it comes to project successes. Research from Standish group in 1995 established that only 16.2% of software projects were completed on time and on budget.

KPMG International's survey in Nov 2005 of 600 organisations across 22 countries, reported that almost half of respondents had at least one project failure in the previous year.

Statistics from Standish in 2006 show some improvement - just 19% of I.T. projects were cancelled and only 46% were either late or over budget.

You may be in good company but wouldn't you like to stand out from the crowd? (Why not download our free white paper on the most common causes of I.T. project failure and how to avoid them?)

The I.T. skills crisis has been in the news for a while and unfortunately it's not getting any better.

In August 2007, 27% of businesses stated skills shortages were constraining growth and according to Simon McCallum of the department of computer science at Otago University. "Unless the IT sector takes significant action now this problem will restrict growth and cause wage costs to skyrocket".

The New Zealand Herald had this to say in November 2007 "Shortage of workers puts brakes on business" and Westpac economist Dominick Stephens said a lack of skilled workers was the biggest thing hurting business.

This view was supported by comments from senior executives of major New Zealand I.T. companies in January 2008.

Microsft NZ managing director Kevin Ackhurst said the "I.T. skills development is a key challenge for New Zealand".

HP New Zealand managing director Keith Watson said the skills shortage is causing retention problems as people are attracted to high paying roles in other countries.

This was echoed by Unisys NZ HR director Sandra Lyall who said "New Zealand's most talented employees continue to look for better opportunities in the U.S., Australia and Europe".

The Feb 2008 "Skills in the Labour Market" report showed no improvement, reporting that a net 46% of firms had difficulty finding skilled staff in the Dec 2007 quarter, up strongly from a net 29% recorded a year ago.

Don't worry though, New Zealand's not the only country affected: 38% of CEOs/CIOs worldwide reported problems related to I.T. skills shortages (I.T. Governance Institute Feb 2008) and Oracle skills are among the most sought after according to recruitment firm Robert Walters.

As for innovation, consider this: Forrester's July 2007 North American/European Business Technology Online Survey of 186 N.American and European business executives and managers, showed 76% of CEOs thought innovation was more important than increasing efficiency, whereas in a separate survey of 503 IT decision-makers from N. America/Europe, 79% of CIOs thought the opposite.

So if your Oracle projects are failing, there's a severe shortage of Oracle skills and the business wants new Oracle systems for innovation (as well as, of course, improving operational efficiency) what's to be done?

Surely immigration will bring in loads of people with the right skills, won't it? No, the number of long term/permanent immigrants moving to NZ has decreased in recent years.

What about outsourcing? No, even China and India have I.T. skills shortages.

New graduates? No, the number of graduate Computer Science/Information Science students in 2007 was about half that of 2004.

There's only three things you can do and just one of which will help in the short term. You can plug the leaks by increasing staff retention - but that only maintains the status quo and maybe you need some fresh ideas. (Why not download our white paper on improving staff retention?)

You can provide more training for your staff - good for the long-term but no good if you need Oracle skills now.

In the short term the only thing you can do is to partner with a company like Smartsoft whose consultants have honed their skills to a fine edge over many years in the design, development and testing of a myriad of Oracle systems for many different clients in industries ranging from aerospace to utilities.

The bottom line is that you need to ensure your Oracle systems are tightly integrated, reliable and scalable, delivering what your business needs when it's needed and in the format it's needed, fast, effectively and automatically. (Did you know that research by The Standish Group in 2001, discovered that system down-time can cost your company anything up to $10,000/minute?)

For help in making your Oracle systems better, faster and smarter, why not contact us now? Action today could solve your problems tomorrow.