retooling the nigerian national workforce with ict

1

Retooling the Nigerian National Workforce for Business Realities With ICT (Software)

Tomi Davies October 2011

©2011 Tomi Davies, TechnoVision Communications Ltd

2

Content

•  The Global Software Industry

•  The Three I’s - India, Israel, Ireland

•  Principles & Indicators of Development

•  Traditional & Evolving Software World

•  A Nigerian Retooling Framework


3

The Global Software Industry Classification Criteria:

•  Industry Size

•  The total capacity and skills base of a country’s software industry determines its competitiveness

•  Industry size is crucial tin terms of cost-savings and market share potential

•  Industry Maturity

•  A country can make the transition to a higher class where its industry has matured to:

•  Specialising in certain areas of software development

•  Diversifying the range of its products & services

•  Expanding its clientele and markets

•  Exportation

•  The transition from servicing a purely local demand market to an export market is crucial to changes in classification

•  This point marks attainment of excess capacity and attracts higher profit margins in foreign currency

STAGE 3 INDUSTRY

SME-reliant software products and services

STAGE 2 INDUSTRY

Large scale applications customisation & design-

to-order

Developing viable IXP (Internet Exchange Provider) companies and

own national corporations in regional technology markets

Developing ASP (Applications Service Provider) and ISP (Internet Service

Provider) companies with international and regional markets

TIER 1 SOFTWARE ECONOMY

Major Software Exporter

•  Highly industrialized economies •  Concentration on high-technology products •  Established & detailed legal IP & Patent regimes •  Own dominant software and technologies corporations •  Devote enormous budgets to Longer Term R & D


Transition Software Exporter

•  Medium industrialisation but high modernity •  High proportion of services to products •  Compliant regulatory regimes with Tier 1 •  Limited in scale by population and territory •  Major proportion of R&D budgets in medium term projects


Emerging Software Exporter

•  Localised but growing industrialisation and modernization •  Reliant on key skills and specialization for market share •  Outsourced Tier 1 & 2 services and product development •  Reliant on re-use and modification of existing R&D assets •  Process improvement & cost reduction are key offerings

STAGE 1 INDUSTRY

Key services outsourced offshore for assembly locally to reduce costs

In process of developing MSP (Market Services Provider) Companies to a

manage custom large scale access to global markets & niches


Newer entrants from developing nations or newly industrialised countries belong to a new class for category.

They are benefiting from the success of countries in the other three classes

They almost exclusively service the outsourcing needs of matured software economies.

Software Industry Structure

•  Industry Building Components •  Education •  Infrastructure •  Funding & Finance •  Policy & Legislation

•  Stages Of Industry Development •  Establishment of local critical mass and self sufficiency in supply &

workforce •  Escalation of commercial sector via protectionist policies & acceleration SME

sector growth •  Rapid expansion into exports via “natural partner” markets

4

5

The Three I’s - India, Israel, Ireland

CREATION OF COST EFFECTIVE AND LOCALISED INDUSTRIAL HUB FOR EU

SPECIALIZATION IN CORPORATE MARKET DEVELOPMENT

15 YEAR ACCELERATE STRATEGY TO LEVERAGE INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY

HEAVY R&D GRANTS TO PRIVATE COLLEGES & SME INCUBATORS

LOCAL SELF-SUFFICIENCY & SPECIALISED EXPORTS

ISRAELI MNCs PENETRATING NEW AFRICAN INDUSTRIAL MARKETS

30 YEAR STRATEGY TO RAPIDLY ATTAIN LOCAL R&D INDEPENDENCE

MASSIVE INFUSION OF MILITARY FUNDING & CAPTIVE LOCAL MARKET

SERVICES OUTSOURCING & HIGH EXPORT SALES

INDIAN MNCs ACQUIRING OFFSHORE MANUFACTURING & DEVELOPMENT

50 YEAR STRATEGY TO RAPIDLY INCREASE LOCAL CAPABILITIES

HEAVY INVESTMENT INTO VAST NETWORK OF R&D INSTITUTIONS

SIMILARITIES

•  Very high per capita ratio of surplus qualified manpower, devoted to servicing export market

•  Choice of Science and Technology platform as core instrument for economic development

•  Investment in Research and Development as the knowledge roadmap

•  Culturally relevant objectives, parameters and milestones of achievement

•  Use of significant Diaspora communities as “Reputational Intermediaries” to help penetrate export markets

• Concentration on local self sufficiency and attraction of MNC investment and operations to Ireland

• Wide variety of software operations led to a larger portfolio of exports and more varied markets

• Closely linked to Israeli hardware industry, with a focus on system software development

• Military-oriented industry structure led to concentration of expertise into specialized software products for Security, Intelligence and Surveillance markets

•  Trended towards massive export sales ratio of software products & services

•  Focus on Outsourcing: cost-effective process improvements and wide variety of basic but critical BPO/ITeS services to more advanced markets like US and EU

KEY FEATURES CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS COUNTRY

TREND

TREND

TREND

APPROACH

APPROACH

APPROACH


6

Common Principles of Development

FOUNDATION GROWTH

CONSOLIDATION

FOUNDATION

EDUCATION

FUNDING & FINANCE

POLICY & LEGISLATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

CONSOLIDATION

EDUCATION

FUNDING & FINANCE


INFRASTRUCTURE

GROWTH

EDUCATION

FUNDING & FINANCE


INFRASTRUCTURE

Viable Businesses

Vibrant Industry

Skilled Professionals


Development Indicators

•  FOUNDATION •  Critical mass of software engineers and related academic activities ready to

provide products & services for national use and export •  Pervasive consumption of local software products & services for national

needs with growing international demand •  GROWTH

•  Acceptance of local software industry by International Bodies driving its Recognition & Competitiveness

•  Increasing drive towards attaining Self-Financing Status of private sector elements of the software industry

•  CONSOLIDATION •  Focus on penetrating specifically targeted markets based on specialised

industry output •  Significant impact of software industry on GDP through reduction of capital

flight and increase in FDI from national software research & development activities

7

Traditional Software World

Payroll, Accounting, Database Management, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Human R e s o u r c e ( H R ) , F i n a n c e , I n v e n t o r y Management, Production Support System, Word Processing, Spreadsheet, Presentation Software, Graphics, Desktop Publishing, Electronic Mail, Internet Access, Document Management, Electronic Payment…

Evolving Software World

9

WebMail, Search, News, Mobile Money, Imaging, Auct ions, Onl ine Shopping, eProcurement, Social Networking, Location Based Services, Augmented Reality, Video Editing, Download Manager, Online Sales, Streaming, Gaming, Messenger Chat, IVR VOIP Calls, Video Calls, SMS Portals…

10

A Nigerian Retooling Framework

FOUNDATION GROWTH CONSOLIDATION

5 – 10 Years 10 – 15 Years

FOUNDATION

EDUCATION

FUNDING & FINANCE


INFRASTRUCTURE

CONSOLIDATION

EDUCATION

FUNDING & FINANCE


INFRASTRUCTURE

GROWTH

EDUCATION

FUNDING & FINANCE


INFRASTRUCTURE

Invest in educational institutions, skills and assets in order to build

the required critical mass of individuals skilled in software

development

Deploy the infrastructure & policies required to promote private sector participation Promote the absorption of skilled

graduates into the technology workforce & Institutions

Invest in the professional service firms required to develop local

software products and services

Provide the enabling environment for the formal software industry to

develop products, services and markets both locally and offshore.

Promote the Software Industry as a viable, stable and beneficial environment to FDIs and the

Diaspora community

Establish a secure and reliable regime for Intellectual property

and copyright issues necessary to protect investment and capital

1 – 5 Years

Skilled Professionals

Viable Businesses

Vibrant Industry


11

THANK YOU!

Tomi Davies


retooling the nigerian national workforce with ict

Economy & Finance