Indeed, ZDNet Asia's IT salary survey reveals that a majority of respondents (58 per cent) are experienced in application development.

In the survey, industry observers noted that Thailand would need to confront several challenges before its goal can materialise. Apart from language barriers and infrastructure deficiency, experts have pointed out a more serious problem - the lack of skilled IT manpower.

"The lack of available skills is the single biggest impediment to the growth of the ICT industry in Thailand," said Dion Wiggins, director of strategic development at the Bangkok-based technology consultant firm Strat-etech Consulting.

He told ZDNet Asia: "All IT related skills are on the critical list and holding back development and growth. A lack of focus from government and a poor IT curriculum in the education sector mean that IT graduates are not well-trained in the skills that businesses require and need to be trained further before they are of use."

ZDNet Asia's IT salary survey showed IT management jobs to be the highest paid. The average annual salary for IT management is Bt1,423,448, 43 per cent higher than the overall country average of Bt994,203.

The second highest-paid group is project development, where the average annual salary is Bt1,268,867.

Across industry verticals, IT professionals are better paid in the legal and finance sector, a trend that is also seen among respondents in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines. Respondents in the IT, Web and telecom sectors command the second-highest salaries compared with other verticals.

ZDNet Asia's survey also shows that years of experience matter, too. Thai IT professionals with more experience command salary premiums.

The average annual salary of respondents with more than 10 years' experience is Bt1,571,384, 58 per cent higher than the overall country average.

The average annual salary for respondents with less than five years' work experience is Bt351,186, compared with the average of Bt797,811 for those with between five and 10 years' experience.

However, Wiggins said the limited supply of good people with the right skills was not enough to meet the needs of Thailand's domestic IT market. This means local IT companies aiming to expand their footprint in global markets will face an even greater challenge.

"This can be addressed to some degree by working with the leading vendors that offer education initiatives and by streamlining the process and making it more attractive to bring in international ICT talent," he added.

To gain insights into Asia's IT workforce and salary trends, ZDNet Asia conducted a survey on the Internet between August 25 and November 6 last year. The survey drew 5,090 respondents from industry sectors such as government, healthcare, IT, services, telecommunications, legal and finance, across seven Asian

countries: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The survey drew 149 respondents across several IT positions, which are broadly categorised into IT management, project development and systems development.