Increasing the national networking skills across Saudi Arabia is a must for supporting the economic growth says new research

This finding which was released under the sponsorship of General Organization of Technical Education and Vocational Training (GOTEVOT) comes from a new report on the demand for Networking Skills in the Middle East, part of a series from IDC, commissioned by Cisco Systems.

In a press conference held for revealing the results of the study in Cisco Academy at GOTEVOT, H.E. Dr. Ali Bin Nasser Al Ghofais, Governor of GOTEVOT, said that this study clearly shows the gap between the demand and supply of networking skills in the Saudi market, thus leads us to develop a strategic plan for addressing this critical problem.

Saudi Arabia is actively attempting to address the shortages through various human resource development initiatives. These initiatives reflect the importance of ICT skills to society, and the need to ensure the availability of skilled staff. Saudi Arabia's General Organization for Technical Education & Vocational Training (GOTEVOT), created a separate government entity that focuses solely on improving national technical and vocational training. GOTEVOT has significantly increased the number of national Colleges of Education and private diploma programs, and has created specialist areas in the curriculum related to computer technology and other areas.

Dr. Badr Al Badr, General Manager, Cisco Systems, Saudi Arabia, said:

'The networking skills shortage could become critical in hindering technology adoption and economic growth in these high growth markets unless action is taken now. By having the skilled people in place, businesses can take advantage of the productivity gains that can be generated with the rapid advances in technology – and that are being experienced in Europe. We need to continue to work with the Governments of these countries to raise awareness of employment opportunities across the regions, and encourage students to learn and develop both basic and advanced networking technology skills.'

The situation is even more extreme when certain technology areas are singled out. For example, the shortfall between supply and demand in advanced networking technology skills (IP telephony, security and wireless) will be 40 per cent in 2009. Again, this is in contrast to findings from Western and Eastern Europe that showed an average advanced networking skills gap of 15.8 per cent by 2008.

Saudi Arabia is experiencing impressive economic growth and has consistently maintained GDP growth levels. Over the past three years, the Middle East region has recorded some of the highest GDP growth rates in the world.

IDC expects the ongoing economic expansion in the region to have a strong impact on ICT demand, including networking skills. As an example, IDC forecasts demand for IT in the Middle East to increase at a CAGR of more than 16.9% between 2005 and 2009.

This has led to the unprecedented demand for general and more advanced networking skills. Insufficient training programs also compound the situation and increased recruitment from local markets accentuates the need to address the issue through local training schemes.

There is also scope for Internet growth in Saudi Arabia. Overwhelmingly 99% of respondents in the region indicated they mostly use the network for email and internet access. They all indicated that the important of the networking would increase in the future. The potential for network expansion is therefore very big, requiring significantly more skills to support such an expansion.

Investments in hardware equipment are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.6% until 2009, while investments in software products will rise by 11.2% and IT services by 10.8%. To put this in perspective, the Middle East region is expanding at more than twice the Western European CAGR of 5.8%. The economies of the Middle East are clearly expanding at a very fast rate, and as a result investment in IT is increasing across the board.

While there are a number of regional initiatives currently underway in KSA to promote further training in science and technology, the forecasted gaps highlight the need for more work to be done to provide the right training courses and to encourage student enrollment. The study findings represent a call to action to governments, the private sector, educators and individuals to do more to address these needs. If plans are not put into place now, technology adoption, business competitiveness and market growth will be placed at risk.

Phillip van Heerden, Senior Analyst, IDC, said: 'The business environment has evolved in recent years where supply chains compete against supply chains. Organisations are now, more than ever, interconnected entities that depend on the network for integration with their business partners. Not having sufficient networking skills available for this integration influences the competitiveness of not only organisations, but for the country as a whole.'

Vendor-backed initiatives such as Cisco’s Networking Academy Program are already making a difference. The Cisco Networking Academy Program addresses the need for training in networking technologies through structured courses. The program has impacted more that 11,000 academies and 1.9 million students around the world since it began in 1997.