Hi,
As some of you may have heard there is currently an initiative underway
to establish a consortium of trade associations, organisations and clusters
under a single marketing banner of ICT-NZ. This initiative is in the very early
stages and currently has the support of the Health IT Cluster, ITANZ, ICONZ, NZ
Wireless Data Forum, NZTE, Computer Society, Software Association and the
Canterbury ICT Cluster. Canterbury Software has also become involved at the
ground level to ensure that ICT-NZ has relevant input from the Canterbury region as it
starts to take shape.
The goal is to establish a credible brand for ICT in New Zealand that can be used
locally and more importantly off-shore. It also aims to improve coordination across
the many and varied support organizations within the New Zealand ICT industry.
This will provide you with greater visibility and access to the support and
services that are available to help you and your business.
The following is an article from last Monday’s Computerworld that
outlines this initiative. We will keep you informed and ask for input as it
evolves.
Thanks Owen
Chairman
Canterbury Software Inc.
Ph:
+64 27 431 2254
Fx:
+64 3 355 4289
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
New
umbrella ICT group '100% pure'
Unified organisation seen as key to promoting a
single Kiwi IT brand
Stephen Bell, Wellington
An
umbrella group for the New Zealand information communications technology
industry has been set up with the aimed of developing the industry and branding
New Zealand as technically excellent, as well as "100% pure".
ICT-New Zealand, as it is called, has been in the making since August and
starts life with nine members. It will focus on the day-to-day development of
the industry. But it will also be linked with NZ Trade and Enterprise’s
“New Thinking” initiative, which aims to brand New Zealand as more than just the familiar land-use
“100% Pure” brand.
The nine founder members are: the NZ Software Association; the Information
Technology Association of New Zealand (ITANZ); ICONZ; Health IT cluster;
Canterbury ICT cluster; Canterbury Software; the NZ Computer Society; the NZ
Wireless Forum and InternetNZ.
ICT-NewZealand's chairman-elect is Malcolm Fraser, who is the vice-president of
the Wireless Forum and was chosen from single delegates put up by each
founder-member organisation. The new umbrella body is already talking to two
further industry associations, Incubator NZ and Unlimited Potential, about
joining.
Fraser said a unified organisation would be able to project a single brand for
New Zealand ICT. This will make for a less confusing image for overseas
organisations seeking to use the resources of New Zealand's ICT community —
so they do not find themselves hunting through NZ's 140-odd ICT industry bodies
to find the one that best fits for their needs.
In forming a single umbrella organisation for New Zealand’s ICT industry,
NZ is copying a “tried and tested model” which has been used with success
in a number of other countries, says David Irving, a committee member of the
new organisation and a former Synergy chief executive and Itanz president.
“Most countries have a single organisation representing the ICT trade,
and in New Zealand
most trades have a single organisation to represent them.”
Those who have chosen the same model include Britain’s
Intellect UK, the Singapore
Infocomm Technology Federation (SITF), ICT-Ireland and India’s Nascom. Last year
Itanz director Jim O’Neill cited the latter as a model for a unified NZ
organisation (Computerworld 29 November, 2004).
At the time, O’Neill said Itanz had been talking to eight prominent
organisations about setting up an umbrella organisation — and, indeed,
ICT-New Zealand has nine founder members.
The degree of separate identity that each member of similar overseas'
organisations enjoys differs from country to country. Some re-badge themselves
as “chapters” of the larger organisation, while others maintain
fully separate identities while still contributing to the umbrella body.
Flexibility will be the key to ICT-New Zealand, says Irving. “We have worked hard on a
structure that will accommodate both models and [various] points in
between.”
Membership will be open not only to existing industry associations, but to ICT
companies and even to individuals. Appropriate rules regarding voting power are
still being worked on. A single membership will allow that member to access
information and services from all constituent bodies.
Won’t this reduce membership subscription income? "Probably,"
says Irving.
But ICT-NZ’s “shared services model” will also decrease
expenditure. All organisation have certain tasks in common, such as managing
membership lists and subscriptions and arranging meetings, and ICT-New Zealand
will be able to merge all these into one.
ICT-NZ has close contact with the government’s Hi-Growth project, which
aims to push NZ’s ICT industry as being one entity. But its mandate is
different, says Fraser “Our thinking is on the same lines, but
they’re concerned with removing blockages to progress. We’re not
about [government policy matters such as] sorting out tax and compliance
problems and ensuring there are enough graduates in the country.” ICT-New
Zealand will focus more on the day-to-day development of the industry, says
Fraser.
End.
