FINDING ANSWERS AND SOLUTIONS:
CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SKILLS SHORTAGES
IN RURAL COMMUNITIES
by

Joseph Ivens

PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

UNNERSITYclNORTHERN
BRITISH COLUMBIA
UBRARY
pnnce George, B.C.

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
April2013
©Joseph Ivens, 2013

Abstract

This qualitative analysis examines the causes and effects of Information Technology (IT) labour
shortages in rural environments and relate them to the labour market in Terrace, British
Columbia (BC).
In rural communities with fewer IT job prospects, it can be difficult to attract and retain skilled
IT workers, forming a skills shortage. Some of the effects of this skills shortage can be found in
IT workers being underemployed or undertrained for positions they hold, leading to waste,
inefficiency and lack of productivity. Underemployed IT technicians are a waste of talent which
could otherwise be used to increase productivity and efficiency, while undertrained IT
technicians are prone to costly mistakes. It is important to note that skills shortages are not
restricted solely to rural communities, although they are more pronounced in them.
Some of the effects of a rural IT skill shortage include slower economic growth and technical
disparity over urban counterparts, which can contribute to a less diverse workforce.
This paper will explain if and why there are IT skill shortages in Terrace and rural BC, using
careful study of data in rural communities and it will present realistic solutions to address these
challenges from a management perspective. Growth trends in IT will be explored to project
which skills will require training investment in the future.

11

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

Abstract ... .. .. .. ... .... ...... .... ..... ......... ............... ......... ......... .... ... ...... ...... ....... .... .... ......... .. ........ ... ... .. ..... ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................... .. ........... ... ...... .......... ... ...... ... .. .. .... .. ............... .... ........... ... iii
List of Tables ...... ............. .. .. ....... ..... ... .. ... .. ....... ... .................. .... ........ .. .. ........ ...... .... ........... ... .... .... . v
List of Figures .. .. .. ............................ ...... .. ......... .. .... ................ ........... .... .. ....... ... ..... .... ........ ......... .. vi
Acknowledgements .. ........ ....... ................................. ...... ........ ... .... .. ..... .. ....... .............. ... ............... vii
Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................... ......... .... .................. ... ........ .. ... ... ..... ..... .......... ...... 1
1.1

Preamble .... .... ....... ......... ... ..... ....... ......... ..... ..... ... ....... ..... ...... .... ... ... ........... .... .. .... ........ .. ... 1

1.2 Contributions ... ... ......... .... .... ... ..... ............. ...... ........... ................. ................. .. ..... ........ ..... .. .. .. 3
Chapter 2: Methodology ... ... .. .. ..... ..... ........ .. ... ..... ..... ....... ... .. ... .. .. .... ... ..... .... ... .. ......... ..... ..... .......... 5
2.1 Methodology ..... ..... ... .. .... .. ... .... ............. ... .. ..... ... ................ .. .. ........ ... ... .... ............... ..... ....... .. 5
2.1.1 Literature Review ... ... ... ........................... .. ....... .. ... .... .. .......... .. .. .. ..... ........... ...... ......... ... ... .. 6
2.1.2 Interviews ...... ..... ... ...... ........ ....... ....... ... .... ......... ...... ..... ......... .... ... ...... ...... .. ... .......... ..... .. .... 7
2.1.3 Labour Market Information .. ... .......... .... ........... .. ......... .. ..... ... ..... ... ... .. .... ........ ................ .... 7
2.1.4 Training Review .... ....... ....... .. .. ........ ........ .. ..... ............... .......... ... .. .. ....... .......................... ... 8
2.1.5 IT Skill Projections .... ........... ..... ... ...... .... ... ......... .... ............... ... .. ........... .. .... .. .......... .. ......... 8
Chapter 3: Research ..... .... .... .. ....... ..... ... ........... .. ............. ... ..... ..... ... ......... .... ... .. ...... ....... ............ .... 9
3.1 Literature Review .......... ....... .... .. ........ ... ... ... ...... .... ....... ........ .. ... ... ............ ... .. ....... .. ............... 9
3.2 Statistics Canada Information .... ... .............. .... ..... .. .... .. .......... .... ......... ..... ..... ................. ... .. 14
3.3 Interviews ............. .. .... .. ...... ........ ............ ........ ......... ... .... ........... ......... ....... .... .... ... ............... 16
Chapter 4: IT as A Profession ...... .. ...... ..... ... .. ..... .. ....... ....... ...... .......... .... ... .. ... .... .... ...... .... .... ...... . 20
4.1 Preamble ... .......... ..... ...... ...... .... ................... ... .... ...... .... .......... ... ...... ..... ...... .. ....... ..... .... ....... . 20
4.2 IT Training ......... ..... ............. ..... ... ........... ............... ..... .. ....... .. .. ..... .. .. ... ..... .. .......... ......... .... . 20
4.3 IT Skill Projections ........ .... .. .. ..... ....... ..... ... ..... .. ....... ................. .. ... .. ... ...... ... ....... ... .. .......... .. .. . 24
Microsoft Acquistions ... ....... .. ....... .......... .... .... ....... ........ .... ... ... ..... ...... ... ........ ............ ............. .. 24
Apple Acquisitions .. .... ............ ........ ..... ... .. .. .. ... .......... ......... ............ ..... .... .. .. ....... .. ......... ... ...... .. 25
Redhat Acquisitions ..... .. .... .......... .. .. ..... ... .... ...... ....... ..... .................. ........ ........... .... .. ...... .. .... .... 26
Google Acquistions ..... ....... ................... ....... .... .. .. ............. ... ... .. ... ...... ..... ... ....... ........ ... ... ... ...... . 27
Ill

Chapter 5: Results .......................................... ........... ........................ ..... .............. ... ..................... 30
5.1 Findings and Recommendations ......................................................................................... 30
5.2 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 33
5.3 Conclusion ..................... ...... ......................................... ... ... .... ................................ ........ .. ... 33

IV

List of Tables

Table 1: Microsoft acquisitions in 2012 (adapted from Online sources) ..................................... 25
Table 2: Apple acquisitions in 2012 (adapted from Online sources) ........................................... 25
Table 3: Redhat acquisitions in 2012 (adapted from Online sources) .......... ............. ...... .. .......... 26
Table 4: Google acquisitions in 2012 (adapted from Online sources) ......................................... 27

v

List of Figures

Figure 1 (Statistics Canada 2006) .... .... .. ....................... .... .... ..... .... ...... .......... ... .. ....... ...... ........ ... .. 16
Figure 2: Test Centers Across BC (Google Map extrapolated from pearsonvue.com and
prometric.com site listings) ..... ... ....... ... .. ................... ....... .. ..... ............ ..... ... ................... ....... ........ 22
Figure 3: 2008 BC Stats Population (BCStats) ............... ......... .......... .. ......... ....... .... ... ........ ... .... .. 24

VI

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, thank you to my family who provided me with support and understanding in
taking the UNBC MBA program and in writing this paper.

It was my mom who initially

suggested I enter the MBA program and she has been a pillar of support from the beginning; I
cannot thank her enough for everything she has done for me in my life, especially for not ever
giving up. My dad could not be part of my journey in the MBA program, but ever remains in my
thoughts and memories as the honest, hardworking and quiet man he was. My wife has provided
me plenty of encouragement and worked extra hard to give me additional time for schoolwork;
she has never let me down in the good or bad times . My three children have been constant
reminders why I am in this program and inspire me daily. My sister and brother-in-law have
both supported me on my many trips to Prince George from Terrace for this program, and I have
enjoyed spending time with my two nephews, one of whom only just arrived in my last semester.
Finally, my brother has made a special effort to keep in touch by telephone and has always been
willing to share his thoughts.
I would also like to thank my project supervisor professor Waqar Haque for his guidance and
patience, my fellow MBA classmates, and my studious cat, for lying on my books and keeping
me company late into the night while I type.

Vll

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Preamble

For the purpose of this paper, the meanmg that will be used when referring to IT is the
Information Technology Association of America (IT AA) definition:

"The study, design,

development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based
information systems."

Thus, IT spans a very broad area such as software, hardware,

applications, networking, e-commerce, advanced mathematics and much more.
IT contributes 572,000 jobs, $140.5 billion in revenue, $6.0 billion in Research and Development
investment, $31.4 billion in exports and $11.4 billion in capital to the Canadian economy (IT AC,
2012). Despite these figures Industry Canada has persisted with its definition of Information and
Communications Technologies sectors as an intangible service, (April, 1999).
Global demand for IT services has widely been predicted to expand with the arrival of cloud
computing, which is the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the internet to
store, manage and process data and services. Increasing requirements in business analytics to
make sense of the massive amount of data that rapidly accumulates will require deft ability in
order to distill it into meaningful information. IT skilled professionals are required in every
business both for development and technical support. The chiefiT employers in Terrace support
healthcare, education and telecommunications due to increasing automation and their reliance on
data.

Other employers include consulting firms and retail support for small and medium

businesses as well as home users.

1

In general, IT skills shortages negatively affect all areas, but they are more severe in rural

communities and are a contributing factor to overall economic inequality with urban
counterparts. Past failure to address this disparity has contributed to what is known as the digital
divide. Part of what constitutes the digital divide is a difference in high speed internet which
places rural communities at a competitive disadvantage over urban centers for IT. The digital
divide itself encompasses more than just inequality in urban and rural network access; it is an
overall disparity involving utilization and knowledge of information and communication
technologies among economic, geographic, ethnicity, age and gender factors. George Sciadas of
Statistics Canada defines the digital divide as: " It is commonly understood as the gap between
ICT 'haves' and 'have-nots"' (Sciadas, 2002). The digital divide between urban and rural BC
occurs for more than geographic reasons . There has already been considerable investment to
address and it will require much more investment to solve. Some other IT trends currently
include mobile computing, increasing customer support, and consumerization, which is
technology growth in consumer markets before spreading to business and government
organizations. A key factor in defining consumerization is dual-use of technology in both home
and business markets (Moschella, Neal, Opperman, & Taylor, 2004). These trends will be
explored to understand what skill sets are necessary in the present and in the future and the
resulting implications if existing workers do not retrain to meet market demand.

The research methodology in this paper consists of literature review of rural communities
primarily in North America and also contains data from other parts of the world where
applicable.

There were personal interviews conducted with selected representatives of IT

business in rural communities across Northern BC; these interviews were conducted as per
2

UNBC ethics board guidelines. Further to this, Terrace's market is examined to determine if
IT's lack of growth here is interrelated with the decline of overall economy in Terrace, possibly
limiting its scope to being value added, only bringing extra features to an existing value chain
rather than operating as a separate value chain.

1.2 Contributions

The Canadian government's December 10, 2012 announcement for a skilled trades people
program concentrates on shortages in construction, oil and gas labour while overlooking high
technology industries that may directly or indirectly support these workers now and in the future
(Cohen, 2012). By recognizing the unintended consequences of IT skills shortages, a framework
for possible solutions to these limitations can be determined.

Some of these consequences

include reduced efficiency, decreased productivity and overall economic loss. An analysis of the
skills needed today and projected into the future will save time and effort for workers seeking a
career in IT and those businesses who must utilize IT. The recommended solutions which result
from this analysis can form a starting point for both workers and business in immediate and long
term planning.
The results of this research will explain what constitutes an IT skills shortage, identify the
constraints that cause them, and propose solutions which will target rural areas with focus on
attracting qualified workers and implementing IT in small business.
It was discovered in writing this paper that there is an overall gap in IT training, services and

opportunities not just in Terrace, but in many rural communities. Remote cities that take steps to

3

improve on this situation will gain from greater diversity in their local economies, and will be
better positioned to embrace new and divergent technology as these advances are discovered.

4

Chapter 2: Methodology
2.1 Methodology

The methodology for understanding causes and effects of IT skill shortages was to use a
combination of both primary and secondary data on IT skills shortages in rural communities in
order to gain a better understanding of contributing factors . Primary data was collected because
very little secondary data could be found on IT skill shortages outside of urban areas in both BC
and Canada, making it difficult to come up with a locale specific analysis. A limiting factor in
primary data was a combination of time constraints and a lack of access to subjects. Despite this
limitation, participants included experts from the health, government, education and private
sector vantage points. The recurring themes found in both primary and secondary data serve to
provide a more complete picture of rural IT. General labour force data available on employment
and education levels up to 2006 from Statistics Canada was accessed and used to compare
findings in Terrace's labour market. Newer Statistics Canada information had not yet been
released, and may not have been as encompassing due to changes in long-form census form
completion; long-form census completion became both optional and abbreviated. Local postsecondary institutions were contacted in order to determine avenues of training available to the
general public. The intent in pursuing this course of action was to learn of outcomes from
program completion in terms of employment and local retention. At this time there were no
other post-secondary IT training opportunities beyond Northwest Community College (NWCC)
in Terrace making them the only local resource.

The author's experiences supporting and

implementing IT across Northern BC was drawn upon extensively to aid in making competent
decisions on IT shortages. The author has worked in both public and private sectors, union and

5

non-union IT environments and has supported extremely diverse operating environments, often
finding unique solutions to mitigate scarcity of labour, equipment and information. Information
on market leading publicly traded company acquisitions were analyzed to determine the
knowledge, skills and abilities which would be in demand in the future with the rationale that
publicly traded companies will seldom reveal their future business plans, but the companies they
seek ownership of will reveal the knowledge capital they need. Finally, journal articles from
industry analysts were used to determine which IT skills are expected to be in demand going
forward.

To summarize, the research methods used to achieve this paper's goal of explaining IT skills
shortages, their constraints and to project future skill requirements are listed below:
•

Literature review of IT skills shortages, IT labour shortages, rural IT through the UNBC
Library and online resources.

•

Personal interviews with IT professional participants who operate in a capacity to employ
IT workers

•

Researching available statistical information from post-secondary institutions and
Statistics Canada

•

The author's personal experience as an IT professional with 15 years of experience in the
Cariboo, Kitimat- Stikine, Skeena- Queen Charlotte, and Peace River regions ofBC.

•

Future projections on IT skills that are expected to be in demand

2.1.1 Literature Review

The UNBC Library was used to research articles, and an exhaustive online web search for
research information. In addition, the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC)
6

were emailed requesting information on rural information technology and graciously provided a
paper related to ICT Industry in Canada.

Authors in ComputerWorld.com were similarly

emailed but replies were not received.

An article submission was made to Slashdot

(http://ask.slashdot.org), a well-known webpage IT professionals frequent who tout themselves
as "News for Nerds, stuff that matters," requesting stories on rural IT, but it was not approved by
website moderators for posting.
2.1.2 Interviews

Four IT managers were interviewed from Terrace, Nisga'a Lisims, and Dawson Creek and their
input solicited on questions relating to IT hiring and projecting future skills demand. These four
were chosen because of their diverse experience from four major areas of IT employment in rural
settings; education, health, government and private sector in a rural setting. This provides broad
coverage and is representative of the problem because it includes rural areas of the province
which are experiencing both economic downturn and economic growth, while providing vantage
points of IT from different social aspects.
2.1.3 Labour Market Information

Statistics Canada was searched for information on labour markets including occupation, number
and employment rates in Terrace, BC and Canada. NWCC's current IT program coordinator was
contacted requesting information on enrollment numbers, completion rates and employment
outcomes of their Information & Communications Technology Program since this information is
not available elsewhere. BC Student Outcomes (http://outcomes.bcstats.gov.bc.ca) was accessed
to try and establish a baseline of rural IT outcomes, but information at the time of access was
limited to urban post-secondary institution results.

7

2.1.4 Training Review

Prometric (Prometric, 2013) and Pearson Vue (Vue, 2013) test sites across BC were collected
and plotted on a map to graphically illustrate the geographic complications for IT professionals
interested in achieving industry recognized certifications.

Both were chosen because they

provide test services for the vast majority of recognized certifications for IT professionals
(Montante & Khan, 2001). NWCC's website was accessed to understand the scope oflocal postsecondary institution IT training offered in Terrace.
2.1.5 IT Skill Projections

Four market leading IT company's acquisitions were researched to determine technologies that
are sought by these companies, and will therefore require skills advancement to support or
utilize.

These companies are Microsoft (Microsoft, 2013b), Google (Google, 2013), Apple

(Apple, 2013) and Redhat (RedHat, 2013) and were chosen because they encompass most
modem aspects of IT that people use: mobile telephony, internet and operating systems.

8

Chapter 3: Research
3.1 Literature Review

The literature review examines existing research to provide answers for the following questions:
What are the implications of an IT skills shortage in rural locations for students wanting to
pursue IT as a career and for existing stakeholders? What skills are expected to be in demand for
IT workers going forward?
Throughout this literature search, there was a common theme that an IT skills shortage is a gap
between what employers want or need and what is able to be delivered from the labour market.
When companies with existing IT departments find themselves facing these skill shortages, they
often choose to outsource needed services rather than invest in training for employees. The
ramifications of these shortages are in knowledge, skills and ability and not necessarily in labour
supply.
There is high cost and lack of economies of scale in providing IT services in rural areas (Schafft,
Alter,

&

Bridger, 2006).

This situation is compounded by reduced internet and

telecommunications service outside of urban centers. As some observers argue, "people without
access to Internet telecommunications are less likely to demand these services because they have
not experienced the benefits firsthand" (Schafft et al. , 2006).

In BC, reduced service is

somewhat less pronounced as currently 93 percent of the population have access to high-speed
internet service, with the remaining 7 percent residing on the outskirts of connected communities
and remote areas (Government, 2012).

9

Simply having high speed internet in rural areas does not automatically place these communities
on equal footing with their urban counterparts. There are different definitions of what constitutes
high speed. In the United States, the FCC has mandated that 4 Megabit per second (Mbps) be
the minimum speed to be considered high speed (Commission, 2010), while Industry Canada has
set a recommendation of 1.5Mbps for high speed internet.

The Canadian Radio-television

Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has set a target in 2015 to achieve a minimum 5Mbps
in order to be considered high speed (Hudson, 2011). Under current standards, 1.5Mbps "high
speed" ADSL internet in Terrace is simply not comparable to 1OOMbps high speed cable internet
in Vancouver. This difference in connection speed and level of service between urban and rural
centers has come to be a well known part of the digital divide (Government, 2012). Canada had
boasted an aggressive information infrastructure policy seeking to become the most connected
country by 2000 which was hampered because at the time market liberalization was a goal, yet
so was universal access (Ramirez, 2001).
A large part of what constitutes an IT skills shortage is timing and training of the labour force.
As technologies mature, existing labour markets tend to grow and meet saturation points while
new and emerging IT roles end up with shortages. These shortages form a knowledge barrier
that serve as a major obstacle in maximizing the potential values of any ICT initiatives (Kuk,
2003).

A recurring theme of IT skills shortages is that companies often concentrate on

recruitment instead of retraining and retention of existing employees to meet these needs (Dillion
& Cole-Gomolski, 1999). It is often easier to simply outsource needed skills when there is a lack

of internal expertise and worry about training afterward, as Benefit Management Systems (BMS)
of the UK found when migrating to a new IT system (Donovan, 2002). This could in tum have a
negative effect on existing staff who may wonder about their own long term employment
10

prospects in a company when faced with contractors being brought in to do work which had been
assigned to them.

Despite these concerns, employees overall treat outsourcing as a benign

decision provided it does not affect their own job, although they may question the company's
performance or motives. Layoffs are strongly suggested to be much more negatively regarded
and costly in terms of increased turnover propensity (MAERTZ, Wiley, LeRouge, & Campion,
2010).

International Business Machines (IBM) is a notable global leader in outsourcing IT

support services around the world.

For the first time in 2012 IBM's global IT outsourcing

workforce was estimated to exceed their entire USA workforce (Thibodeau, 2012).

The

implications of this are clear in that IT employment growth appears to be concentrating away
from in-house support.
Outsourcing has become a major part of IT strategy, yet the motivations have been changing
from one of cost reduction to improving business performance by closing the gap in their inhouse capabilities (DiRomauldo & Gurbaxani, 1998). In rural settings there may not be anyone
to actually outsource these capabilities to, and if there is an option to outsource there is no
guarantee of improved performance or reduced cost (Young, 2007) (Young, 2005) .
A specific case of IT skills shortages in the USA found rural hospitals to be less efficient than
hospitals in larger centers (Serb, 2006).

It was explained that the often volatile nature of

technology sometimes causes large investments to lose much of their value through lack of
standardization or lack of industry adoption. These risks and the smaller budgets of rural
American hospitals make IT investments considerably smaller than urban counterparts. With
their remote locations and often lack of specialization, rural hospitals have seen an increased
focus on telemedicine consultations (Serb, 2006), essentially outsourcing expertise in medicine
to urban areas .
11

For labour-force workers at the high school level, IT training is probably better spent on vendorneutral programs that focus on industry standard technologies, fundamentals and encourages life
long career development (Thompson, 2004). Some argue that technical credentials may be a
more important source of IT skills than higher education in that they convey more about the
practical skills that employers care about than do academic degrees (Hadfield, 2005).

A

downfall to building a portfolio of certifications to boost an IT career is the cost and requirement
to continually recertify. In one study, 50% of 100 IT professionals chose not to update their
skills because of costs, with 36% expecting they would have to pay the costs out of their own
pockets (Hadfield, 2005).
Many IT workers use what is informally known as an "IT buddy system," (Stoller, 2011) partly
because it is extremely hard to get people to admit they do not know how to do something
(Stoller, 2011). Not all of the responsibility of meeting training requirements should rest with
workers . Businesses also need to take some initiative to connect with and take advantage of their
community and educational facilities to attain the type of skilled worker they need, looking
beyond the bottom line by providing some internal training (Preston, 2012). A possible source
of internal training in rural communities is e-leaming, which is essentially recorded training
modules delivered electronically. A negative aspect of this medium is that it has a very high
participant dropout rate possibly due to its self-directed nature (Laine, 2003).
Technology rather than business requirements tend to drive most IT departments, with Canadian
training budgets trailing their U.S. counterparts by as much as 70 percent (Stoller, 2011). Skill
requirements in this industry are reasonably unique in that they change quickly and often do not
build on each other. Skills obsolescence and the lack of retraining explain a large part of the
employee turnover in the industry. A focus on recent graduates to fill jobs exacerbates the
12

labour market imbalances, and the difficulties that older workers often experience (Cappelli,
2000). When employers are considering IT employee retention problems, they should look at the
work-life balance, future career prospects and appropriate training for their existing employees
(Banks, 2010).
At the forefront of technology is mobile broadband, which has enabled innovation in new digital
services and makes next generation technologies and applications such as cloud computing
possible. Green ICT industries and sensor technologies are an area to expect future growth (D.
A. Wolfe & Bramwell, 2010). With growth in these areas come challenges for training in new
technologies such as distributed computing, parallel programming and virtualization.
Computerworld, a respected IT magazine in both print and online form has predicted that
Programming and Application Development are expected to be the number one IT skill in
demand for 2013. This is followed by Project Management, Help Desk/Technical Support and
Security (Pratt, 2012). IBM's 2012 Tech Trends report which is based on a survey of over 1,200
IT professionals has placed strong emphasis on four skill areas expected to grow globally. They
are: business analytics, mobile technology, cloud computing and social business. It was noted in
this report that globally only one in ten IT workers has all the skills needed in these areas to be
successful. The report also noted that three out of four students and educators report a moderate
to major gap in their ability to meet workforce demands (Lo, Wyble, & Hupfer, 2012). This
report was covered across Canada in print media and received many comments from Canadian
IT workers. The Financial Post had 48 comments which were overwhelmingly critical, with the
highest voted comment writing:
"There is no shortage of skilled IT workers. There is a shortage of employers who are
willing to train and compensate employees fairly. There is a massive shortage of HR
13

employees who understand IT. They look at hiring IT as a checklist of skills, but since
they don't understand what the terms in the checklist actually mean all they can do is scan
resumes for keywords.

Employers want someone with a decade of experience and

willing to work for minimum wage. People saw how quickly pay disappeared after the
dot com boom. People see IT as boring, low pay, long hours. No one notices you when
you keep things running smoothly. Train people, pay them fairly, you will have no
problem and you will see no shortage (Ovsey, 2012)."

3.2 Statistics Canada Information
The most current census figures for Terrace at the time of writing this paper estimate a total
population of 12,044.

The three cities closest to Terrace's size in BC are Williams Lake

(11 ,066), Dawson Creek (12,257) and Prince Rupert (12,935). These three other communities
will serve as a basis for comparison to Terrace in terms of labour market information. (Ip, 2012)
Terrace had the 41h fastest population decline of mid-sized centres across Canada from 20012006 (Canada, 2010). This dubious distinction was shared with 4 other BC communities outside
of BC ' s lower mainland, the area colloquially known as "Northern BC."

This drop is directly

related to the city' s largest employer Skeena Cellulose mill closing in 2001 and the city's
inability to find a new primary industry to replace it (Force, 2009).
The last available census information from Statistics Canada that breaks down labour markets
according to education level was in 2006, which was well into the mountain pine beetle epidemic
that negatively impacted forest based economies (Patriquin, Wellstead, & White, 2007). At this
time Terrace had 9,805 in the labour force, of these 1,695 or 17.28% did not have a high school
14

diploma or further schooling. This is statistically positive in comparison to Williams Lake at
19.82%, Dawson Creek at 21.88%, and Prince Rupert at 21.57%, but higher than the province of
BC where 287,200 of 2,226,380 (12.9%) did not have a high school diploma or further
schooling. BC itself has a lower than national levels in this statistics, Canada had 2,613,385 of
17,146,135, or 15.24% ofthe labour force without a high school diploma or further schooling.
From Terrace's 9,810 total labour force, 35 workers were classified as Communications
technologies/technicians and support services (CTTSS) with an unemployment rate of 42.9%,
while 40 people were classified as computer and information sciences and support services
(CISSS) with an unemployment rate of 22.2% (Canada, 2006a). This is considerably higher
unemployment than Williams Lake which had an unemployment rate of 0% in this classification,
but only had 25 people listed as participants, yet had 90 CISSS with only 11.1% unemployment,
Dawson Creek had 35 people classified as CTTSS with 28.6% unemployment, 35 as CISSS with
0% unemployment and Prince Rupert at 15 employees in CTTSS with 0% unemployment and
115 CISSS 8.7% for these same respective classifications (Canada, 2006a). The significance of
these numbers is that Terrace has managed to retain IT workers, but have not been able to
employ them in as great of numbers to comparable cities.
The Province of BC fared much better in these classifications than Terrace at 5.9% and 6.3%
unemployment, while Canada as a whole had 6.4% and 6.2% unemployment in these
classifications respectively (Canada, 2006b ).

This reveals that Terrace either has a lack of

demand, or possibly a lack of qualifications in persons who identify themselves in these
classifications. The result of this high rate of unemployment and the low numbers in Terrace is a
less developed IT market than rural peers, the province or the country.

15

50.0%
45 .0%

• Communications
Technologies/Technicians
and Support Services
Unemployment Rate

40.0%
35 .0%
30.0%
25 .0%

• Computer and
Information Sciences and
Support Services
Unemployment Rate

20.0%
15.0%
10.0%
5.0%

• CTTSS and CISSS Average
Unemployment

0.0%

Figure 1 (Statistics Canada 2006)

The implications of the employment statistics and education levels are that lower overall
education levels in rural communities have created an economy supporting unskilled workers,
leaving qualified skilled labour underemployed or unemployed (Bewley, 1995).

Without a

supporting market for IT to expand into, Terrace and cities like it will be at a disadvantage
against their urban counterparts in current technology. In all likelihood as newer technology
builds on or replaces existing technology this disadvantage will continue to grow from a gap into
a chasm.

3.3 Interviews
Four IT managers from Northern BC were interviewed and asked the following four questions:
#1) Have you observed any difficulty in filling IT positions?
Ifyes, go to #2. If no, skip to #3

16

#2) In your opinion, what are/were the difficulties?
#3) Which skills do you seek in prospective IT employees today?
#4) What IT skills do you believe will be in demand over the next 10 years?
The first person interviewed was Mr. Trevor Smith, Technology Systems Manager with School
District #59, a largely Apple Macintosh based school district in Dawson Creek, BC. He had
observed difficulties in filling IT positions; the last hire took six months to fill due to applicants
having a lack of soft skills or job motivation, over qualification or wanting higher wages than the
school district were prepared to offer. There were further difficulties in that the school district
were competing against oil and gas jobs which pay more than the district were prepared to offer.
Trevor felt IT wages in their own district positions had become inflated because of the oil and
gas sector's wage competition. Trevor believes the most important skills in his IT environment
are soft (interpersonal) skills in communicating with users, as well as experience with Apple
Macintosh computers. The school district does provide in house training in Apple Macintosh
support skills. Software programming and networking are also important, but not usually found
in applicants. Finally, predicting future IT skills, Trevor believes soft skills, cloud computing
and networking are the skills he believed will be in demand.
The second person interviewed was Mr. Benjamin Davidson, IT Manager with Nisga'a Lisims
Government, a First Nation in the Nass River Valley of Northwest BC (approximately 97km
North West of Terrace).

He also observed difficulties, mostly from the administrative side

wanting to hire locally when the local talent pool didn't exist due to the low population density.
There isn't high speed internet readily available or computer stores where he operates, making
the IT job market very small. Benjamin explained that local residents who leave the area to gain
17

necessary IT skills tend not to return. The skills Benjamin looks for in prospective IT workers
are security based, since this is an IT area they are lacking at the moment; applicants with
security based certification or courses in network security are desirable.

Projecting into the

future, Benjamin expects cloud computing, collaboration, data synchronization and small custom
application development (for Apple IOS/Google Android devices) skills to be in demand. In
addition, he believes IT staples such as backup cycling, firewall configuration, email/mail server
administration, active directory, and security for mobile devices including laptops. Benjamin did
express that, "ten years is a long time to predict."
The third interview was with Mr. Douglas Lancaster, a former 11 year (2000-2011) veteran with
Northern Health Authority ITS who was based out of Terrace and had direct involvement in
staffing decisions for his department. Douglas also taught the IT course for 4 years at NWCC in
Terrace and developed the college' s local curriculum which was used from 2003-2007. He
stated that he "definitely," had experienced difficulty filling IT positions, due to a lack of
qualified people. Northern Health was not able to fill a vacant Northern Health Client Support
position in Prince Rupert, BC, while the same position in Fort StJohn, BC took over a year to
fill. The skills he looks for are troubleshooting ability, soft skills, and the ability to be trained.
Douglas felt that IT certifications are nice to have, but are not necessary.

The IT skills he

expected to be in demand going forward are information security, cloud computing, desktop and
networking operating systems.
The fourth interview with Mr. Tom Burbee, co-owner of TCSI Consulting, a firm that service
northwest BC specializing in small and medium business IT support; everything from advice and
planning to sales and support. His company has been in operation for fifteen years. Tom had
experienced difficulties in filling IT positions due to fewer people that reside in northwest BC
18

having hands on experience. There wasn't a shortage of such people from larger centers, but it
was difficult to convince them to relocate to Terrace due to its remote geography. The skills
Tom seeks in IT workers are customer service skills, customer service experience, and work
experience. Certifications are not required, but they are an asset; in Tom' s opinion technical
service skills can be taught easier than customer service skills. Tom expects small business IT
skills will be most in demand in rural areas. In particular, skills relating to workstations, small
networks, small server environments and potentially niche areas such as remote networks,
wireless or other communications for remote areas. He believes IT is a customer service
industry, and in order for it to prevail and be successful, customer service skills will an asset
most companies will start focusing on.
In summary, all interviewees experienced difficulty filling positions in their organizations due to

a lack of qualified applications. In northeast BC, there was an additional factor beyond a lack of
qualified applicants due to competition for wages in other jobs. Nearly all interviewees placed
an emphasis on customer service soft skills and cloud computing, and most made a point of
saying certifications are nice to have, but not required.

19

Chapter 4: IT as A Profession
4.1 Preamble

Pursuing IT as a profession in both rural and urban settings has had its own industry specific
challenges. Part of this is due to the lack of standardization in qualifications and an overall
perception of IT often being semi-skilled labour rather than an actual profession (Howell, 1996).
Other issues particular to rural employment are a lack of training, lack of training opportunities
and a lack of available jobs for new workers to enter and existing workers to advance into. This
has a two-fold effect; persons interested in IT often leave the area to find specific training and
possibly not return, while others leave the area to find opportunities not available locally.
Finally, those who choose to stay and find employment may find themselves under employed,
without a career path and underpaid.

4.2 IT Training

Some of the challenges in attracting and retaining IT talent in rural markets may include:
•

Difficulty in accessing relevant vendor certificate training, with unequal access to test
centers in comparison to urban centers

•

Uncertainty of what skills are required in rural communities

•

IT covers very disparate skill sets, including but not limited to mathematical logic,
electrical engineering, customer service, troubleshooting, design and organization

•

The changing face of IT, which observes increased consumerization, mobility and
decentralization with the advent of cloud computing

20

Most IT professional certification exams are written through companies that provide industry test
center services.

The major compames who provide this service for IT professionals are

Prometric and Pearson Vue.

Prometric is notably responsible for major vendor tests from

Microsoft, Apple, and many other corporations. Pearson Vue notably provides tests for Oracle,
Cisco and many other corporations. It is important to note that although both testing companies
provide the same service, their exam portfolios are often mutually exclusive of one another. For
example, Microsoft and Apple certification exams are only available through Prometric Test
Centers, while Cisco certifications are only available through Pearson Vue test centers.
To obtain a list of both Prometric and Pearson Vue sites across BC, both company websites were
accessed and scheduled tests with each vendor and perused lists of test centers available in BC.
Former test sites in Prince Rupert and Prince George were contacted to verify they are no longer
providing exam services. In the northwest there currently no Prometric or Pearson Vue test
centers; although Prince Rupert's campus ofNWCC had hosted a Pearson Vue test center, it no
longer provides this service. The closest test center to Terrace is in Prince George at the College
of New Caledonia campus which only provides Pearson Vue testing.

Between both test

providers there are seventeen test centers across BC, five Pearson Vue and twelve Prometric
centers. From both vendors, only three operate outside the southern portion ofBC.

21

Prometnc
Pearson Vue

Figure 2: Test Centers Across BC (Google Map extrapolated from pearsonvue.com and prometric.com site listings)

Since there are no test centers in Terrace or northwest BC, IT professionals who wish to certify
will require taking at least three days off from work in order to write an exam; one day of travel
to reach a community with a test center, one day to write the exam and one day to return. If an
IT professional pursuing certification is not receiving support from their employer, the cost in
lost wages, time bank depletion, travel cost and lodging act as a deterrent for interested rural IT
workers, as does the possibility it may not contribute to career advancement. An employer who

22

agrees to reimburse a rural IT worker on the condition that they successfully complete
examination raises the stress level with the risk of failing. This forms a barrier to certification
for IT professionals since it does not leave rural residents with an easy way to demonstrate skills
beyond work experience and IT courses unless they developed these attributes before moving to
the region. It is interesting to note that Fort StJohn has two Prometric Test Centers and is in fact
the closest Canadian Prometric test center to Terrace without traveling internationally to Alaska.
The higher concentration in the northeast may be explained by the burgeoning oil and gas
industry in this area.
NWCC provides an IT program which is delivered online at (https://ict.onlinecollaborative.ca).
At the time this paper was written, NWCC was not able to provide statistical information on
student graduation rates or outcomes of program. The only information which could be found on
this topic was from BC Student Outcomes who only had results from BC Lower Mainland and
Okanagan IT programs. Although these outcomes are interesting in their own right, they are not
comparable to rural labour markets and as a result were not included in this paper. With the
Statistics Canada recorded high unemployment rate of IT workers in Terrace and other rural
communities, it is reasonable to expect the outcome of program completion by Terrace residents
was not overwhelmingly positive.
The reason for this disparity in serv1ces is not just location, but demographics, 77% of the
provincial population live in the southwest comer of BC. This difference in population amounts
to an overall difference in infrastructure that presents a hurdle when trying to attract
professionals and access services from outside of this area. Some people will not be willing to
live in communities which do not offer amenities they seek.

23

Infrastructure requires public

capital investment in order to make private capital investment more productive, which reduces
competition for rural investment (Fox & Porca, 2001).

Northeast

2.%

North Coast &
Nechako
Kootenay

cariboo

ThompsonOkanagan

Vancouver Island/
Coast
Mainland/
6
Southwest .........................,......................,~ 0%
Regional share of total population, 200B

Figure 3: 2008 BC Stats Population (BCStats)

4.3 IT Skill Projections
Microsoft, Apple, Redhat and Google corporation acquisitions were examined m 2012 to
extrapolate and project what IT skills will be in demand now and in the near future. Companies
typically make acquisitions to either eliminate a competitor or to pick up necessary knowledge
capital they anticipate needing but do not already have in house.
Microsoft Acquistions
Date Ac uired
June 25, 2012
July 9, 2012
October 4, 2012

Com an Name
Yammer
Perce tive Pixel
PhoneFactor

October 16, 2012

StorSimple

October 17, 2012

Marketin Pilot
24

Business
Social networkin
Multi touch hardware
Two-factor
authentication
s stem
Cloud-storage
appliance
vendor
Marketin automation firm

Table 1: Microsoft acquisitions in 2012 (adapted from Online sources)

Yammer (Microsoft, 2013e) is a social networking website available worldwide for private
corporate use. Since this service is hosted outside of companies that use it, this is a combination
of social networking and cloud computing.
Perceptive Pixel (Microsoft, 2013c) make large screen touch sensitive LCD displays, the
implications of this acquisition are unclear. PhoneFactor offer a solution that provides an extra
level of security for mobile devices such as smartphones, acting as a gatekeeper to online
transactions. StorSimple (Microsoft, 2013d) make local computer hardware infrastructure that
synchronize offsite using cloud computing, a hybrid local and off-site backup storage solution.
MarketingPilot (Microsoft, 2013a) provide software to automate managing marketing activities
in both traditional software and cloud computing offerings.
In summary, Microsoft' s acquisitions in 2012 have largely focused on cloud computing, social

networking, multi touch interfaces, security and marketing.

Apple Acquisitions
Business
July 27, 2012

AuthenTec

Se tember 27, 2012

Particle

Table 2: Apple acquisitions in 2012 (adapted from online sources)

Security
hardware
and
software for PCs and mobile
devices
HTML5 web a firm

Apple ' s acquisitions in 2012 have not been as numerous as others. Chomp produced mobile
application (app) search engine software that examines apps based on their heuristics and not just
their name. The features inherent in Chomp were incorporated into Apple's mobile operating

25

system lOS (Campbell, 2012). This acquisition is in line with Apple's existing strategy of
growing software distribution through channels known as "App Stores," which would be
purchased online and therefore through cloud computing. AuthenTec provide data encryption
and overall computer security software revealing an interest in advancing this part of Apple ' s
business. Particle was a start-up who produced web applications using the newest web browser
language known as Hyper Text Markup Language 5 (HTML5). Apple is thought to have bought
this company not for their products but the talent in the company (Slivka, 20 12)
In summary, Apple's acquisitions for 2012 have been centered on applications distributed via

cloud computing, web application development and security.

Redhat Acquisitions
Date Ac uired
June 27, 2012
Au st28, 2012

Com an Name
FuseSource
Pol ita

Business

Table 3: Redhat acquisitions in 2012 (adapted from Online sources)

FuseSource were acquired by Redhat with the intent to incorporate them into an existing Redhat
product called JBoss Enterprise Middleware.

In layman terms, Middleware is the software

"glue" that some computer software developers use to ease building more complicated software
products. Redhat bought both FuseSource (RedHat, 2012b) and Polymita (RedHat, 2012a) with
intent to expand their middleware ' s Business Process Management (BPM) offerings, which is
designed for business users and IT to collaborate. In the bigger picture, Redhat stated this is part
of their cloud strategy (RedHat, 2012a).
In summary, Redhat's acquisitions for 2012 have been both cloud computing and enterprise

business related.

26

Google Acquistions
Date Acquired
March 16, 2012

Company Name
Milk, Inc

Business
Social Network

April 2, 2012

TxVia

Online Payment

June 4, 2012

Meebo

Instant Messaging

June 5, 2012

Quickoffice

Productivity Suite

July 20, 2012

Sparrow

Mobile apps

August 1, 2012

Wildfire Interactive

Social media marketing

August 13, 2012

Frommer's

Travel Guides

September 7, 2012

VirusTotal.com

Security

September 17, 2012

Nik Software, Inc.

Photography

October 1, 2012

Viewdle

Facial recognition

November 28, 2012

Incentive Targeting Inc.

Digital coupons

November 30, 2012

BufferBox

Package delivery

Table 4: Google acquiSitions m 2012 (adapted from Online sources)
0

0

0

Google has been by far the most prolific in acquiring companies in 2012. Milk, Inc. were known
for a mobile app named "Oink! " used in rating consumer retail goods (B . M . Wolfe, 2012) .
Tx Via was an innovator in delivering Platform as a Service (PaaS), a cloud computing
technology where the company provided the back end for receiving payment. Meebo was an
internet web browser add-in that allowed users to chat with one another using established chat
providers. QuickOffice is a competitor to the ubiquitous Microsoft Office productivity suite that
is geared toward mobile/tablet use. Sparrow is a utility for reading email client with a strong
presence in mobile/tablet markets.

Wildfire Interactive acts as a third party that provides

marketing services for companies to users of social networking sites. Frommer's produces a
27

well-known series of books about world travel. Google's interest in buying this company is said
to be so they can become a trusted guide for travel and local business data (Trachtenberg, 2012).
Google's interest in VirusTotal.com has been rumoured to improve their detection of infected
webpages and files in its own search results (Jennings, 2012).

Nik Software produces

applications for mobile, tablet and personal computers for editing photos and easily sharing them
online. Google's purchase is hypothesized to be in response to Facebook buying a competing
product (Instagram) and offering their services with social networking (Fingas, 2012). Viewdle
was acquired by Google to provide a way for users of their services to automatically recognize
and label faces of subjects being photographed (Kerr, 2012).

Incentive Targeting Inc.

(Targeting, 2013) provides on-the-fly anonymous shopper segmentation to participants.
Essentially, consumer price elasticity and preferences are individually estimated for a participant
based on usage patterns, coupons are presented based on these patterns to maximize retail profit.
Finally, Bufferbox provides anonymous mail drops where customers of online purchases can
retrieve merchandise ordered online (Hartley, 2012). It is not clear what can be inferred from
this acquisition, perhaps Google anticipates a growing need for anonymous mail service or a
future with a greater transient populations who still maintain an internet presence.
In summary, Google' s acquisitions over 2012 have largely focussed on cloud computing, social
networking and mobile/tablet applications.
All four of these companies acquired companies to further cloud computing goals in 2012. The
remammg

acquisitions

were

centered

on

user

security/threat

networking/collaboration and mobile applications (apps).

prevention,

social

Based on these findings, it IS

reasonable to expect that the forefront of IT skills they are focusing on will be heavily reliant on
fast internet speed now and in the near future.

28

As a result of this, computer network

infrastructure in design, implementation and troubleshooting local and wide area networks will
continue to grow to meet demand.

As businesses decide to transition from older network

standards to cloud computing, there is a need for competencies in both legacy environments and
cloud hosted services.

Cloud computing can solve some skill shortage problems in rural

communities by eliminating the need to employ workers with specific skills to administer or
maintain services such as data storage and email.
Social networking will require IT skills such as database administration, user interface design,
data archival/retrieval and data analysis. Security will continue to be important, requiring skills
in computing forensics for detecting and addressing intrusion, auditing security practices,
cryptology and secure handling of sensitive data.

Social networking and office collaboration

can also be expected to increase; this will require IT skills in administrating collaboration
software and integrating it with other systems as needed. Mobile app development will require
skills in software development, integration across platforms and network topologies.

29

Chapter 5: Results
5.1 Findings and Recommendations

Throughout researching this project there have been repeated themes; the major ones have been
cloud computing, a shortage of training opportunities, a reluctance to invest in retraining existing
IT workers and the importance of customer service skills. Terrace and rural BC in general do
appear to have IT skills shortages, perhaps more so in Terrace due to the sustained downturn of
its primary forestry industry (Halseth, 2010). Since IT has not taken the forefront as a dominant
industry in Terrace, it has only been able to grow as a value-added support service.
Some agencies have a mandate to assist in providing training such as BCNET who is committed
to provide shared IT services for higher education and research institutions across BC (BCNET,
2013). This is a boon for pure academic environments, but provides little support for business or
home users and does not address specific training requirements for IT skill shortages. BCNet
also provides a service known as Transit Exchange, which is a high speed network that is
available to business, but is not offered in rural areas.
The BC Chamber of Commerce has made recommendations to the BC Provincial Government to
address technological and engineering skills shortages by providing funding for related programs
at colleges and universities across BC after pointing out talent hired out of the area tend to move
back where they came from, while those trained locally statistically stay within 200km of where
they trained ("Policy & Positions Manual," 2012- 2013).
If these recommendations are followed, it will certainly help to increase local opportunities, but
will not address disparity in internet capability. To address skills gaps with in-house IT workers,
30

the choices are limited to providing training opportunities or outsourcing these requirements
where it makes sense. With cloud computing on the horizon, network disparity between rural
and urban BC will require significant infrastructure investment to overcome limitations.
Unfortunately without the population base to offset the expense, there is a stalemate where rural
IT cannot grow at the rate of urban counterparts because it lacks the infrastructure. To overcome
this, the population in rural areas is required to grow in order to make the capital investment
feasible, unless a new and divergent technology can be realized which will overcome this
limitation.
The main causes of IT skill shortages in rural communities that were discovered are a lack of
overall training and employment opportunities for workers, lack of emphasis for employers to
provide training for in-house IT workers and inferior internet access in comparison to urban
counterparts. To address training concerns, employers should consider investing in yearly IT
training budgets for all staff in order to provide necessary skill upgrades to stay relevant or, to
strategically outsource business IT requirements.
The issue of inferior internet access in rural areas will require massive capital investment that
would need to be coordinated between both government and business. One may consider that in
not having this infrastructure already, it could be a chicken and the egg scenario where it is
unclear what should come first, the population or the infrastructure. It could be argued, "If you
build it, they will come." A feasibility study involving expansion of BCNet's Transit Exchange
network and the Canadian Advanced Research and Innovation Network (CANARIE) into rural
areas might answer this question, although this is beyond the scope of this paper.

31

Throughout the research, cloud computing was almost unanimously found as the primary IT skill
area which will require specific training to support going forward , closely followed by business
analytics and security. Cloud computing is a compelling form of outsourcing that would have a
positive impact on some skill shortages in rural locations. Common cloud computing uses
include file storage and sharing, document creation and collaboration, database hosting and
maintenance, email and offsite backups. There is some concern in using cloud computing of
how to outsource computation without outsourcing control of sensitive data (Chow et al. , 2009).
To mitigate this, companies can employ high security encryption of their data at the possible risk
of irrevocably losing access to this data if access keys are lost.

In addition to these skills,

electronic collaboration, mobile computing, customer service soft skills and networking
knowledge were identified as skill sets that are currently important and poised for growth.
Rural business owners would be wise to concentrate their IT strategic plans around these areas to
remain competitive, and prospective employees in this field would do well to focus their studies
here.
To address short term IT skills shortages, rural business can outsource using cloud computing
solutions when feasible . This can only be accomplished within the limitations of network ability,
availability and privacy concerns. Partnering and sharing of network resources with educational
facilities could help, provided there are clear distinctions made in terms of liability and priority
of data
To help address long term IT skills shortages, rural businesses must invest in basic IT literacy for
their workforce. These skills allow workers to access e-learning as a means of training, and
overall increase a workers employability (Morris, 2009).

32

The digital divide is also likely to

increase if adults who are digitally excluded do not receive help in accessing the benefits that
online access brings (Morris, 2009).

5.2 Limitations
Primary data collection was limited due to insufficient lead time to commence research. A wider
scope of interviewing similar sets in different rural communities would provide a more complete
rural IT employment picture. Projections of future IT skills cannot be completely guaranteed,
although every conceivable effort was made for accuracy.

Information Technology as an

industry strives for efficiency and often evolves in divergent paths. Some constraints such as
network disparity between urban and rural areas may be solved in ways which cannot be
determined in this paper. Other constraints which contribute to the digital divide may require
complex solutions which are more sociological in nature than technical, which is beyond this
paper's scope.
5.3 Conclusion
With the present and future of IT seemingly rooted in fast and efficient exchange of information,
rural areas on the less capable side of the digital divide will not be able to reach technical parity
with urban counterparts without very high investment costs or strategic partnering. Extremely
rural locations will only be able to make limited use of cloud computing, if at all, unless a
divergent technology is discovered that closes the digital divide. A rural business that focuses on
outsourcing physical IT skills will be at a relative disadvantage against urban counterparts who
also outsource due to the limited local labour resources of IT workers. Compounding this is the

33

difficulty of local labour obtaining relevant training, certification and the expense of bringing in
consultants from urban areas.
Cloud computing can mitigate this in areas with sufficient connectivity, but has its own
limitations in terms of data privacy and availability. Even though the costs associated with this
disparity are difficult to quantify, with technology in general being a labour multiplier (Chamess,
2008), a competitive disadvantage in IT will make the cost of doing business higher in rural
areas due to inefficiency, leading to potentially reduced productivity. The simplest solutions
would appear to be rural businesses partnering with institutions that have network capabilities
they are lacking, increase investment training of in-house IT staff where possible or carefully
managed outsourcing and shared training ventures for staff. In conclusion, not having complete
skills or the infrastructure to make full use of technology can at least be partially managed by
having local expertise and industry collaboration in addressing these needs.

34

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