ICT Trends – Cloud Computing

Anything/Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS)

Anything-as-a-service, or XaaS, refers to the growing diversity of services available over the Internet via cloud computing as opposed to being provided locally, or on premises. The terms "software as a service" (SaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), desktop as a service (DaaS), backend as a service (BaaS), and information technology management as a service (ITMaaS) are classified in the cloud computing nomenclature. The potential to reduce IT support costs through the outsourcing of hardware and software maintenance has seen leading enterprise software companies incorporate SaaS into their overall strategies.

Cloud ProvisioningCloud provisioning is user account provisioning in a cloud environment whereby the user's authorization and settings are configured for services and applications located remotely and delivered over the Internet. The speed of provisioning, the flexible capacity to respond to increased demand, and the more standard architecture operating in the largest public clouds (Amazon Web Services, Google Compute Engine and Microsoft's Azure) has encouraged companies to build out private cloud operations. Gartner predicts that almost half of large enterprises will be engaged in a combined public/private cloud operation often described as "hybrid" cloud computing, by 2017. Xero is a prime example of one of New Zealand’s best known SaaS companies. It provides cloud-based accounting software accessible directly from the internet cloud through a standard browser for small and medium-sized businesses. Xero also promotes the integration of a wide range of third party cloud-based software for managing all aspects of business including CRM, inventory management, and invoicing and job systems; e.g. Quotient (a Xero award winner).NZ TrendsIn the September 2012 IITP TechBlog article, featuring the headline ‘Cloud Computing - A Threat or an Opportunity?’ a total of 71 cloud-category jobs, advertised on Seek ICT NZ, was recorded. Over the past two years this number has increased by 221 per cent to 228 (Fig.1).

Fig 1 Seek ICT Job Adverts – Cloud Category July 2014

Figure 2 illustrates the number of Seek ICT NZ jobs currently advertised using the cloud services XaaS nomenclature.

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Fig 2 Seek ICT Job Adverts – Cloud Computing Services (XaaS) July 2014

Figure 3 illustrates the distribution of cloud category jobs currently advertised by role. Note the number of jobs advertised in the cloud developer category has increased from 17 in August 2012 to 94, an upsurge of over 450 per cent in less than two years.

Fig 3 Seek ICT Job Adverts – Cloud Category by Role July 2014

Additional Information 1. Additional information is available from North Bridge/Gigaom Research - Slideshare: The Future

of Cloud Computing – 4 th Annual Survey 2014 (1358 respondents)2. Cloud Computing Code of Practice – developed by the NZ Cloud Computing industry, facilitated

by the IITP

Job Adverts

The Seek ICT Job ads for July (Fig.4) posted a slight increase of 1.3 per cent on the June figure for all NZ. This was almost identical to the same period in 2013, up just 1 per cent.

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Fig.4 Seek ICT Job Adverts Monthly Trends 2010 –2014 (July)

The Trademe IT job adverts for July increased 13 per cent on last month’s figure of 1,111 although this was slightly down by 1.3 per cent on July 2013 (Fig.5).

Fig.5 Seek ICT & Trademe IT Job Advert Trends to July 2014

Figure 6 illustrates a further increase in Seek ICT job adverts for this month with Auckland (+2.3 per cent) leading the growth for the three main regions, just slightly ahead of Canterbury on +2.2 per cent. According to the Absolute IT insight report of June 2014 the Christchurch ICT market is set to cement itself as a key ICT hub of New Zealand this year with ICT companies in high speed growth mode - an additional 12% of employees plan to recruit staff, up to 86%. The two main motivations for the increase are driven by new projects (21%) and the increased demand of IT from the business (26%).

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Fig.6 Seek ICT Job Advert Trends Monthly Change for July 2014

Figure 7 provides a detailed record of the Seek ICT job advert trends by region for the year to July 2014. Overall the total number of jobs has increased by 56.6 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Fig.7 Seek ICT Job Advert Monthly Trends to July 2014

News Bytes: A to Z

Australia – ARN: Analysis – Skills change, shortage doesn’tBy 2018, the adoption of disruptive technologies will redefine 90 per cent of IT roles.Australia – Sydney Morning Herald: Ambulance Victoria Rushing Data to Hospital as WellAmbulance Victoria has joined the big data movement by establishing a real time data exchange system to provide hospitals greater visibility of incoming patients' needs.

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Ireland – RTE News: The hard reality of the Irish software industryThe starkest finding in the report is that growing shortage of suitable software engineering talent. So severe is it, that as many as half of all software vacancies here are still filled by people being brought in from outside the country (in spite of Ireland’s high rate of unemployment). NZ – Absolute IT Industry Reports: Christchurch insight report June 2013Attracting top ICT talent to Christchurch region & holding on to them is front of mind for Christchurch employers.NZ – IT Brief: IT jobs in NZ… What’s in demand?According to the latest report from specialist recruitment consultancy Robert Walters there is high demand for IT professionals including business analysts, project managers and architects.NZ – NZTech.org.nz: Shadow IT: Tech leaders mentoring young women for a dayShadow IT has been designed as an opportunity for high school female students to literally shadow IT professionals to get a better understanding of the workplace and career choices available to them.NZ – Stuff.co.nz: High demand for cyber expertsThe establishment of a cyber-security lab at Waikato University comes at a time when there is a growing shortage of cyber security experts worldwide.NZ – Stuff.co.nz: Hospital now wired for successPatients in surgery are physically tracked by armbands with radio frequency signals.NZ – Stuff.co.nz: Women hacking Silicon Valley boys’ clubWomen outnumber men in the specific jobs of analysts and advisers working on preventing breaches and strengthening technology defences, according to 2011 and 2013 studies from the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium, or ISC2.NZ – Twitter.com: @Gazza_RBased on Seek ICT job adverts .NET is the top ranked NZ programming language while the TIOBE Programming Community Index (PCI) rates C as the most popular language for the month of June.SA – BizNis Africa: 2014 ICT Skills Survey represents opportunity for sectorThe 2014 annual ICT Skills Survey, which officially kicked off in June 2014, is continuing apace as ICT practitioners and employers are encouraged to take part in the 6th edition of this highly-regarded evaluation of skills requirements and skills acquisition in the ICT sector in South Africa.SA – IT Web: SA suffers slow ICT skills transferSA has a crisis on its hands at the moment in line with the number of graduates from ICT-related courses that needs to be addressed.USA – Computing.co.nz: Salaries soar for cyber security high-flyersWhile CISOs have traditionally reported to the CIO, many of these new blue-chip CISOs are being told to report directly to the CEO and the board and in some cases are actually getting their own seat on the board.USA – Newsroom.Cisco.com: Closing the Technology Skills Gap: Can E-Learning Save the Day?On top of hundreds of thousands of open software and app development, IT management, networking, big data, and user experience design jobs across the world, there will soon be thousands more tech jobs in emerging fields.USA – Tech Republic.com: The state of women in technology: 15 data points you should know Google has announced it will invest $50 million in programs to get girls more interested in STEM education and coding with a "Made With Code" campaign.

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