INFOCOMM technology (ICT) firms in Singapore are seeing good times ahead, with eight in 10 expecting their business to grow this year, according to a new survey by the Singapore infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF).

And nearly half among the 100 respondents polled expect their business to grow by more than 10 per cent this year.

However, staffing is a key worry for many. Nearly half of the respondents are concerned about talent-related issues, with the top three business concerns for the coming year being the ability to recruit the right talent, manpower costs and ability to retain talent.

Both multinationals and local firms rated these staffing issues as top business concerns.

On a keenly debated topic in this year's Budget, workforce productivity, local ICT firms appear to have given the nod to foreigners. Some 28 per cent of respondents felt that local workers are less productive than their foreign counterparts, while only 12 per cent felt the other way. Sixteen per cent felt that foreign workers may be less productive now but over time will surpass local workers.

Around one-third felt that there was no difference, while 12 per cent indicated 'don't know' or 'not applicable'. According to the poll, the three top drivers for productivity are remuneration, management support and using ICT solutions to improve and automate work processes.

SiTF - which has 400 members - conducted its survey last month, prior to the Budget 2010 announcement. Local firms constitute 82 per cent of those polled, with the rest being multinational companies.

The poll also asked respondents for their wish list for the government this year. Some 58 per cent wished for more ICT industry-specific measures, while 22 per cent asked for cost-reduction schemes.

Looking ahead, respondents picked cloud computing, mobile applications, software as a service, virtualisation and green ICT as the top five technologies for 2010.