Grant said another issue for the industry is falling IT enrolments in tertiary institutions, which have dropped 70 percent in the last five years."Everyone is saying 2006 is a great year as IT enrolments have only fallen 15 percent," he said.

"Young people think we're nerds, have no social life, cannot communicate and sit in the corner working on PCs.

"This is so far from the truth, but we need to let young people know ICT is a great career choice with plenty of opportunity."

It wouldn't have been an IT conference without a few acronyms. When delivering his presentation on board and audit committee expectations, Rob Goldberg, risk advisory partner at KPMG, offered two pearls of wisdom.

Goldberg said IT professionals should try the Kiss (keep it simple stupid) approach when it comes to governance and think, WIIFM (What's in it for me?) when talking to business colleagues.