Hidden behind the scenic beauty and safaris, Africa’s IT industry is growing, showing a strong and promising future. Today we are going to discuss the IT industry in Africa, focusing on the industry’s prospects in South Africa.

South Africa is leading the African continent in IT and related business. The nation’s infrastructure, international exposure and talent pool - more competitive than other nations in Africa - has provided an edge. Being more culturally aligned to the West, in comparison to India or other South Asian nations, South Africa is coming up as location for English-based services outsourcing. As costs in India and China are rising, South Africa can establish itself as a preferred location, if it is able to keep the costs down and strengthen its position in technical competence.

It is a sign of growing interest and faith in the IT industry that in South Africa IT businesses and associations have organized themselves and formed Information Industry South Africa (IISA). The association of associations aims to facilitate development of the IT industry in South Africa and communication between the industry’s stakeholders.

The South African labour market has responded well to this demand for IT skills because of

* the good employment opportunities and salary premiums compared to other professions,
* the low barriers to entry (i.e. no specific degree requirements and low initial training requirements)
* the relatively short training period (for programmers it may be only a few months and at times a new skill can be learnt in the matter of days).

Despite the rapid growth in the number of people pursuing IT careers, there still exists a shortage of such skilled persons in the South African IT industry.

Data recovery in South Africa is growing too and more and more people turn to this business and compete for success!