ASEAN short of Internet development skills

ASEAN short of Internet development skills

SINGAPORE (DPA): Internet development and e-commerce knowhow are among the top skills most needed by Southeast Asian companies but those mastering them are still in short supply, a nine- country survey showed on Tuesday.

As for non-technical skills, organizations view marketing, change management and strategic planning as most essential.

The survey by the Southeast Asia Regional Computer Confederation covered 9,400 professionals and 2,300 organizations in India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Most of the infocommunications technology (ICT) workers or 45.4 per cent were found to be in software development. ICT management, education, networking and sales accounted for 7 to 8 per cent each, while technical support and ICT consultancy were slightly more than 5 per cent respectively.

Professionals in e-commerce accounted for 0.7 per cent and 1.7 per cent in the Internet. "These figures show that the number of Web-related specialists was comparatively small," the confederation's report said.

Those in Japan and Singapore are being paid the most. About 62 per cent of ICT professionals in Japan earn US$44,000 to $87,000 annually. Some 56 per cent of their Singapore counterparts make $17,000 to $35,000 a year.

About 70 per cent of ICT personnel in countries like India, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka earn less than 5,000 U.S. dollars a year.