The profits of New Zealand's top information technology companies are ballooning, but an IT expert warns a lack of skilled workers could stall progress.
A report carried out by the Technology Investment Network found that, within New Zealand's top 200 high tech companies, IT revenues grew by 16.5% in the past year.
The report's publisher, Greg Shanahan, says the IT sector has shown a lot of promise in recent years, and that's now being fulfilled.
Mr Shanahan says as growth continues, recruiting demands of most companies are not being met in New Zealand and some are having to look overseas.
Chief executive of the New Zealand Technology Industry Association, Candace Kinser, says if this growth continues, software could knock dairy off its perch as this country's largest export product.
But she says a skilled worker shortage is a major barrier to continued expansion, and if 10,000 to 15,000 IT workers arrived in New Zealand today, they could all pretty much walk into jobs.
