News
Issue No. 51 - February/March 2010
Collaboration is the new black
In anyone’s language the ICT sector has developed into a classic paradox: while the appetite for technology has never been greater, in this sector many SMEs are really doing it tough. In this mid/post GFC epoch, prices across in the ICT arena continue to trend down while the services the sector provides continue to hot up as emerging technologies become essential and taken for granted.
The ICT sector continues to bounce along at an unsteady gallop, proving it, too, is not immune from the social and economic ravages being felt by the rest of the business community. The ICT sector suffered its own sub-prime crisis,ahead of the pack. The survivors are beginning to emerge blinking and disoriented into a not-so-brave new world. Once so competitive as to be at war, ICT business owners, developers and entrepreneurs are burying the hatchet. What is evolving is a new, freethinking way of looking across what were fiercely protected turf patches. An ‘old’ word has taken on a whole new meaning. That word is collaboration.
Innovation through collaborative use of available skills and resources (and a willingness to invest in knowledge) has become key to survival and future growth. One might say the ICT sector is begining to embrace the concept ‘with a passion’, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s just infer that there has been some tentative hand-holding and a couple of furtive hugs - a start.
Attempts to work together through a National ICT Industry Alliance seem to have gone the way of the CD but in South Australia, working together has moved beyond talk and into action.
For example: in the past, comparing apples with oranges was onerous task, especially when it came to ICT representative bodies. Choosing which group succinctly represented your particular interests was easy, as long as you were keen to join all of them. In the current economic climate, however, the call to rationalise, merge or just simply break down the silos ha...
