Dear colleagues in the NSW ICT industry
On behalf of the NSW Committee of AIIA, I am pleased to present this record of the 2007 NSW Committee’s activities. In my third year as Chairman of the NSW Committee it has been my privilege to work once again with a group of extremely capable senior ICT executives who have volunteered their valuable time to contribute to the success of the AIIA as a whole, and to the NSW Committee in particular.
In presenting this report, I acknowledge the contributionsmade by my fellow Committee members, and by the many volunteers from our NSW member companies who are involved in our special interest groups.
Focusing on AIIA members
The key objective for the NSW Committee is ensuring that we provide the highest level of support to enable the AIIA to deliver value to its member companies. Therefore, we have focused on how to get buyers in front of our members to understand what they want; on how to get the committee and our members in front of buyers to help them understand how best we can do business together; and how to get in front of the government to make sure that we have the support we need to keep growing our industry.
The NSW Committee is organised along business lines - with a strategic plan framework, a set of success metrics and a regular formal reporting system that allows our committee members to track progress in delivering results to our member companies. It also greatly assists in focusing the efforts of the Committee – committee members are all volunteers so we need to make sure that when the committee devotes time to an area or issue then it is confident it is the best use of that time.
So at the beginning of 2007 we established the following objectives:
- Increase communication of the NSW Committee’s activities to our SIG members, AIIA member companies, key NSW stakeholders, and broader set of industry people
- Contribute to and support the Board and AIIA’s national AIIA agenda and activities
- Develop & manage our relationships with NSW political parties and key government agencies
- Ensure special interest groups deliver value and benefits to our members
- Deliver and improve our business events for people in AIIA member companies and customers
- Ensure our market facing approach delivers on the business needs of people in AIIA member companies
We have made considerable progress inmany areas but I would like to focus on the four that follow:
1. Ongoing relevance of our Special Interest Groups
The SIG program providesa market–based approach to acquiring and collating valuable industryinformation. They also help inform and drive our responses to Government andprovide a basis for selecting future events topics. The SIGs continue to attracta wide range of interested individuals who normally would not necessarily getan opportunity to work alongside each other.
The special interest groups operatingare:
NSW Healthcare SIG - as Australia’shealthcare sector provides key commercial opportunities to AIIA’s member companies.
Females in IT&T (FITT) Group - Females in Information Technologyand Telecommunications (FITT) is a voluntary network of women who have come together to encourage and support women and girls who want to reach their full potential in our industry.
NSW Education and Employment SIG – looks at business opportunities in NSW’seducation, training and employment sector.
NSW Government Business SIG – looks at the key commercial opportunities in the NSW Government sector and to address the impediments in accessing this marketplace.
Northern Sydney ICT Cluster - seeks to develop a cooperative business development environment that will both leverage and reward small and medium businesses in the ICT industry located in the Northern Sydney business area.
NSW.NetCluster - brings together local software companies to engage in co-operative activities, achieve collective competitiveness and develop new opportunities for Australia's software industry.
NSW.Net Cluster - brings together locals oftware companies to engage in co-operative activities, achieve collectivecompetitiveness and develop new opportunities for Australia's software industry.
2. Communication of our activities
We have regularly reported on our progress and activities generally through the fortnightly AIIA Bulletin, and specifically to members of our special interest groups.
Online survey tool, Survey Monkey now being used to get information to help ouractivities align more closely to the needs of people in ICT companies, and to gather evidence to support our contention of ICT as the enabling agent for productivity dividends from private and public sector organisations.
3. AIIA business events in NSW
AIIA events inNSW remain focused on providing people in AIIA member companies with insightsinto the buyers, buying trends and selling opportunities in specific ICTmarketplaces.
In addition, our Special Interest Groups have been successful in running smaller scalefunctions where we have encouraged networking and partnering openings forattendees.
We have participated in joint-hosting events with other business and NSWgovernment agencies where these provided people in AIIA companies with further business intelligence and networking opportunities for people in our industry.
We have continued to face the challenges of getting cut through in a crowdedmarket, identifying appealing as well as relevant topics and then ensuring that the ‘right’ speaker is engaged.
In response the committee has reviewed the events program, developed an approach that we believe will deliver relevant and appealing topics and provide us with a platform for attracting speakers and attendees in 2007 and now 2008.
4. Strengthen the AIIA brand as the peak ICT association
Our focus here remains the same: continue to ensure that our company members see value in being part of this organisation, and that new company members can clearly see the benefits of becoming AIIA company members. Companies joining AIIA are welcomed with a visit program, a meeting with the NSW Committee members at welcome sessions; and formal and informal networking provided by the NSW Committee’s many activities.
In the run up to the2007 NSW election, the Australian Information Industry Association soughtresponses from the NSW Labor and Liberal parties specifically on their approach to:
- developing the NSW ICTindustry, especially growing locally based small-medium ICT companies in NSW
- growing a workforce with ICTskills in NSW to assist in growing the NSW economy
- encouraging a conducive investment climate in NSW; and
- improving the NSW Government’s system of procuring ICT goods and services.
AIIA fully supported the NSW Government State Plan, and commended the Government on identifying key initiatives. AIIA considers that no other industry sector is better equipped to enable the Government to implement its objectives than the Information Industry sector. As the peak body in this sector the AIIA, is seeking to work closely with the NSW Government in a strategic capacity to plan the implementation of the objectives.
The Association also made submissions to the NSW Government on a number of issues such as to the Government’s Reducing Red Tape Taskforce.
Looking forward to 2008
During January 2008, the new NSW committee will meet to review 2007 and then consider which keyareas will drive us forward. There will be many areas we will consider as well as past performance: these will include a review of the impact of NSW Government procurement practices, how to unlock the opportunities within the State, NSW Innovation Strategy and PeopleFirst plans, increasing the leverage and relevance of our Special Interest Groups, driving the success of the NSW AIIA Events program as not just a source of valuable information but also expanding their networking potential.
Certainly I am confident of predicting that the NSW AIIA Committee’s response will include;
- The Special Interest Groups will continue to be market focused and their mission focused on developing valuable industry insights. We will also explore how the SIGs can play a more active role in contributing to the events program
- Our business event programs will be based on market issues – their mission will be to deliver information that you, or your sales and business teams need to know to be successful. We will also consciously focus on what we see as pressure points for the industry; disruptive technologies, tipping points, capital projects potential crisis points, etc
- Our program of developing multi-level contacts throughout government will continue. The benefits of thisapproach supports our aim of maintaining AIIA's influence with our stakeholders at the same time as being somewhat insulated from election results, staff movements and restructuring.
- Leverage our current traction with the NSW Government in working with them to identify roles for the ICT industry in support of the NSW state and ICT plans and thereby further promote the AIIA organisation as the premier source of the ICT industry's opinion and initiatives
- And lastly, as with previous years, this committee will seek to deliver measurable and meaningful results to you, our members.
Acknowledgements
The NSW Committee guides the Association’s interests and activities in NSW. ThisCommittee is an elected group of representatives from AIIA member companies who work on a voluntary basis to assist the Association and the ICT industry.
I acknowledge the contributions by my fellow Committee members of the 2007 NSW Committee:
Craig Baty, Gartner Australasia Pty
Brian Cartwright, PB MapInfo Australia Pty
Catherine Caruana-McManus, IBM Australia and New Zealand Limited
Eddie Geller, Unique World Group
Chris Greig, Macquarie Telecom,
Kevin Harris, TAFE NSW – Northern Sydney Institute
Andrew James, iClinix Pty Ltd,
Charles Lindop, ITFC Pty Ltd,
Maree Lowe, ASI Solutions Pty Ltd
Jon Marks, Unisys Australia Limited
Bruce Pedersen, SMS Management & Technology
Leanne Ramsay, iSheriff
Peter Strohkorb, Canon Australia Pty Ltd
Gil Thew, Wolken Management Services
We thank our many colleagues in our NSW member companies who are involved in our special interest groups, who have contributed to our activities, and who have participated in our delegations to NSW Ministers, Shadow Ministers, government officials in key NSW Government agencies, and other industry associations.
I also acknowledge people in the NSW Governmentand agencies who have involved the Association in policy development and who are strong advocates for our industry.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to congratulate the 2007 NSW Committee for doing a great job this year in representing the NSW industry; in working with the NSW politicians and officials; and importantly, in helping you achieve better business outcomes.
Our 2008 NSW Committee will continue the work of our past Committees in developing and providing value to people in our member companies.
To help us keep this momentum going, we encourage you to become involved with, and participate in, the Association’s NSW activities in 2008. Please don’t hesitate to contact members of the 2008 NSW Committee for assistance and contacts.
Martin Dare
State Chairman – NSW
November 2007