The Aussie dollar and ICT

With the Australian Dollar breaking the 92 US cents barrier recently, and predictions it could reach parity with the US Dollar by Christmas, there's good news and bad news for the ICT industry.

The drop in value of the US dollar means that exporters are worse off unless they are in an "elastic" market such as defence and security hardware, or software and services.

On the flip side, the strong Australian dollar will mean we should start to see imported branded boxes at cheaper prices. This is great news not just for importers, but for environmentally conscious consumers, as most of the leading companies have responsible e-waste recycling programs in place (such as the Byteback program AIIA initiated in conjunction with members and the Victorian Government).

And the almost-parity between the Australian and US dollars is good news for ICT companies wanting to attract workers to Australia. While our industry's chronic skills shortage remains the biggest issue we face, we now have another juicy carrot to help us compete for workers on the global stage.

With more than one million Australians currently working overseas, many of them our best and brightest, the rising fortunes of the Australian Dollar may draw some of the Aussie diaspora home.