IT professionals in Australia should expect a big year in 2024 as the ongoing transformation continues to redefine their roles within their companies. Those who have certifications and capabilities in areas such as security, data analytics, and business analytics will be highly sought after and valued by employers. Coupled with the current skills shortage, those professionals who strive to develop their skills in line with current trends will do well, regardless of broader economic conditions.
There are budgets for the right solutions
According to Gartner, IT spending in Australia is expected to exceed $133 billion in 2024, up a substantial 7.8% from the previous year (Figure A). This will be driven most significantly by demand for software, including cloud services, which will increase by 12.8%.
Additionally, highlighting the impact of skills shortages, demand for IT services, including managed services, will see spending increase by 8.2%. Organizations that want to adopt innovation will be forced to turn to third parties if they cannot find solutions in-house.
What this means for IT professionals
Upskilling will be critical to the career development of IT professionals this year. Those who focus on obtaining certifications in high-demand areas (especially cloud technologies and artificial intelligence) will be highly valued by organizations.
SEE: Australian IT professionals with the right certifications and experience will find great new opportunities before them.
Additionally, this is a good year for IT professionals to consider moving into managed services and developing an understanding of how organizations operate in a variety of sectors.
Digital services will dominate the corporate mindset
Australian organizations have taken advantage of the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to invest heavily in digital innovation. These investments are starting to bear fruit; As in cybersecurity, cloud platforms, data and analytics, and application modernization, there is now a maturity that is leading to advanced technology solutions and new revenue streams.
Areas such as e-commerce, online marketplaces, FinTech and HealthTech now meet the needs of customers who are digital natives and prefer to consume services that way. In e-commerce, for example, Australia is the 12th largest market and is ahead of markets with much larger populations, such as Brazil.
What this means for IT professionals
With maturity, both organizations and government agencies seek to begin implementing new digital services. For example, in 2024, the Australian government will launch digital IDs after several years of laying the groundwork.
IT professionals will need to be prepared to work in highly agile environments where the focus will be firmly on leveraging digital technology to launch new products and deepen the customer experience.
Cybersecurity will be a crazy fight for compliance
In late 2023, the Australian Government unveiled its Cyber Security Strategy 2023-2030, an ambitious, transformative and far-reaching approach to national cybersecurity that aims to take Australia from being prone to data breaches and losses. to become a global leader.
SEE: Cyber security trends to watch in Australia in 2024.
This strategy will result in new policies and areas of compliance, as well as enhanced penalties for non-compliance, meaning cybersecurity will be an area of increased risk for organisations. Some of the areas of action over the next seven years that will begin to see movement in 2024 include:
- Efforts to improve public-private collaboration and mechanisms for sharing and blocking cyber threats.
- Renewed efforts to address the skills crisis by improving Australia's cybersecurity workforce and skills pipeline.
- New national frameworks to respond to major cyber incidents.
- Investment in community awareness and support for victims.
- Greater investment in the national cybersecurity ecosystem.
- Better efforts to design and implement security in new technologies.
While this aims to improve cybersecurity outcomes across the country, organisations, and particularly small and medium-sized businesses, will struggle to keep up with the rapid movement the government is making in this area.
What this means for IT professionals
Every IT professional in every area should take the time to develop some level of cybersecurity competency. Organizations will look to their IT teams for leadership on this, and the pace of change means that all IT professionals must ensure their cybersecurity skills and certifications remain current and up-to-date.
Where IT professionals should focus on skills development
There is a constant need for IT professionals to act as a bridge between IT teams and the broader business. As organizations increasingly rely on IT to deliver products and revenue streams, IT professionals who better understand the broader role of IT within the business will be highly valued.
SEE: Australian organizations pursue talent as a service to fill skills gaps.
According to Hays, the top five skills IT professionals should focus on in 2024 are:
- Cyber security: Organizations will need to deal with both the proliferation of threats and the changing regulatory environment.
- Complete development: The demand for modernization of applications, applications and digital software will drive the need for full-stack developers.
- Data analysis: In 2024, data analytics skills will be even more crucial for making data-driven decisions and innovations.
- Business analysis: Business analysis skills are important to ensure the alignment and success of IT projects and initiatives.
- Cloud platforms: Cloud platform skills are in demand to manage and optimize cloud services and resources to improve efficiency as required capacity increases.
IT professionals are well positioned to weather the economic storm
Although the broader economy is likely to continue to face challenges this year (Australia still struggles with the cost of living, inflation and global macroeconomic conditions), the IT sector, which can leverage technology to mitigate some of these challenges, should have a strong year. For IT professionals, there is a lot to look forward to.
