THE Isle of Man’s ICT industry is making plans to join forces in a bid to prevent millions of pounds worth of business being lost to companies outside the Island.
It’s estimated that as much as £157 million is being spent outside the Island each year by local companies who believe that large projects, in particular, cannot be handled by Isle of Man ICT experts.
However, the recently formed Manx Information Communication Technology Association (MICTA) believes that this loss of business can be retrieved in the future through a collaboration of skills and resources between local ICT companies.
“A tremendous amount of revenue is going off the Isle of Man,” said Charles Douthwaite of Island Webworks who spoke to members of MICTA last night in Douglas.
“There is a perception that companies cannot get the expertise they want within the Island and also that off-Island companies have better skill-sets. This is most definitely not the case.”
Mr Douthwaite was speaking to a gathering of the Isle of Man’s biggest ICT operations to debate the issue and to formulate a response to the loss of an estimated minimum of £95 million per year to the industry.
“Even if we were to retain just a small percentage of what is currently being lost it would make a big difference to the industry on the Isle of Man,” added Mr Douthwaite. “However, it is clear that we need a collaborative structure and a strategy to achieve this.”
The subsequent debate between representatives of ICT companies showed that there is concern within the local industry about the amount of business which is going off the Island. The question it raised was: what can be done about it?
The opinion which reverberated around the room was neatly summed up by Chris Hall, managing director of Manx Telecom. “We need to be more proactive. For an industry based on communication, we are not necessarily good at communicating.”
A number of people spoke along the same lines, with discussion about companies getting together to jointly promote the services offered by MICTA which has become firmly established in only a very short time, reflecting the concern within the industry about business being lost outside the Island.
There was also strong government support at last night’s meeting with Alex Downie MLC and Ron Berry representing the Department of Economic Development.
Mr Berry, inward investment adviser for the e-business division, said that the problem of business being lost on the Island to outside companies had been around for a very long time and that it was “nothing new”, but agreed that a concerted effort was required to drive forward new initiatives to retain business on the Island, not only in the ICT industry but in many other areas as well.
Mr Downie said the government valued the ICT industry as an important contributor to the Manx economy both in terms of employment and revenue and he saw parallels between the current situation with that of the construction industry 20 years ago which was losing a lot of contracts to companies outside the Isle of Man.
“There is a wind of change and it is blowing quite hard,” he said. “If you [MICTA] can show that there is a real opportunity for the Isle of Man economy to grow in this sector then I think you could win the argument for investment in improving promotion of the industry . . I am happy to set up a meeting within the Department of Economic Development so that you can make a case.”
He added that he felt the ICT industry had the chance to move forward and that the restructure of government now offered “an opportunity” for new business to be generated and he fully supported the concept of ICT companies joining forces to collaborate in the future to prevent business being lost outside the Isle of Man.
