Based on the feedback of our members, it has a fresh new look and feel. It also features a redesigned, user-friendly membership and event registration system. Employees of member companies who sign in using their work e-mail address will automatically be offered member-only pricing and benefits without having to obtain or confirm their member company token.

The events calendar has also been improved, making it easier to stay in touch with the ICT industry in your area.

Feedback on  the new website is welcome - please let us know how we can make it even better.

The Prime Minister has announced a 2020 Summit in to be held in Canberra in April 2008.  Given the limited number of invitees, the PM has stated that 'Contributing a submission to the Australia 2020 Summit is a way for all Australians to be involved in bringing the best ideas forward to address Australia's long term challenges.'

AIIA and Austrade joined forces to take a delegation of ICT companies to the NASSCOM Leadership Forum in Mumbai, India, for the first time. The conclusion from most delegates was that it was a very successful and productive exercise. The Delegation visited Mumbai from 12 to 16 February and attended the Forum from 13th to 15th.

NASSCOM, the National Association of Software and Services Companies, is the Indian counterpart of AIIA, and its membership covers the vast majority of IT revenues in India. The NASSCOM Leadership Forum has become the premier networking event on the Indian calendar to facilitate business contact between Indian and international senior executives in the IT and Telecommunications industry. So, the expectation was that there would be no better opportunity for both first-time and experienced exporting Australian ICT companies to pitch for business opportunities to their Indian counterparts.

And that really turned out to be the case! After being there first hand, the delegates confirmed that NASSCOM has a well entrenched 'networking culture'. There are tools on the NASSCOM site to greatly facilitate networking, and we all experienced situations where complete strangers at the forum approached us and struck up a conversation and exchanged cards. A real hazard for most of us was insufficient stock of business cards – so, a warning for 2009 delegates – bring a few boxes of business cards!

The Business Delegation this year included over 20 people from 16 Australian organistaions from IT, telecommunications, legal and University sectors and Government. Austrade did a terrific job in providing on-the-ground logistics support (a very essential service in Mumbai!), and provided a valuable and informative introductory mission briefing on the Indian ICT industry. Austrade, AIIA and NASSCOM co-hosted a 'pitching session' to a range of potential Indian business partners on 14th February. This was held in one of the conference rooms and was attended by over 70 forum delegates. A number of the delegation members then traveled to Bangalore and New Delhi, where Austrade assisted with setting up and facilitating further business meetings, as they are also did in Mumbai.

One of the vital outcomes expected from this delegation visit is the formation and strengthening of partnerships between the Indian and Australian ICT industries, which have so many complementary capabilities, and can offer each other so much. One of the side benefits of such trade missions is the strong bond that develops between delegates. So as well as 'good business' a lot of 'good fun' was had by all!

The Delegation was represented from the AIIA side by Don Kordick, who chairs the AIIA Exporters Club, and Munish Sharma from Austrade . There are many synergies between the Australian and Indian ICT industries, and following the success of this visit, it is expected that this Business Delegation to India will be the first of many between our two countries in the future.

The following Australian organisations took part in the Delegation

• AIIA
• Austrade
• Compunetix
• Creative Computing
• Development Beyond Learning
• Ipscape
• Henry Davis York
• Melbourne IT
• PCS – the Indian Connection
• Myworkspace Solutions
• NSW DSRD
• Pronto Software
• Pure Commerce
• State Government of Victoria
• The University of Queensland
• University of Wollongong.
  

The AIIA Salary Survey is Australia’s most comprehensive survey of ICT industry salary rates and provides an accurate insight into the current marketplace.  The March 2008 Survey has now been released, and is only available to AIIA members.