SL’s transformation in ICT knowledge sharing, education remarkable: SLASSCOM Chief

The global economy is currently going through a rapid digital transformation where the knowledge-based workforce is required to continuously automate and digitize enterprises at an accelerated pace. 
According to Mano Sekaram, the current Chairman of SLASSCOM (Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies), the national chamber for IT/BPM and knowledge services in Sri Lanka, a well-planned strategy spread across the entire sphere of the industry is what powers Sri Lanka’s continuous momentum.
“What enabled our rapid growth was a planned strategy based on a competent workforce, quality of service and cost competitiveness, a strategy that was propelled by strong collaborations between the public and private sectors,” Sekaram, also Co-Founder and CEO of 99X Technology said.
This momentum of the ICT/BPM industry and the pace of data and service monetization have made the sector a very attractive talent incubator, with the workforce growing by 300 percent, begging the question; What measures are in place to guide our talent to maintain benchmark levels of expertise?
Sekaram assures that there is a tremendous transformation in Sri Lanka when it comes to ICT-related knowledge sharing and education, especially over the last five years. The relevance and vitality of IT education itself has increased exponentially among students, rising in importance alongside the more traditional streams such as medicine, law and engineering. The quality of IT education available in Sri Lanka also plays a crucial part in the bigger picture.
“Understanding the importance of quality IT education, all universities, both local and private, are benchmarking themselves against high global quality standards to ensure that the curricula is current and up to date,” he explains. “The industry itself is actively involved in ensuring this and many professionals in the IT sector, including many from the SLASSCOM board, sit on the advisory boards of universities to bring in trending industry inputs and to ensure quality output. More recently, we introduced CFAS (Certified Finance and Accounting Specialist), to further Sri Lanka’s ambition of becoming a key knowledge-based economy.”
SLASSCOM’s vision for 2022 includes increasing revenue to US$5 billion, creating 200,000 direct jobs, powered by 1,000 startups. This ambition is fast being realized, with Sri Lanka being recognized globally as a promising outsourcing destination. Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company ranked Sri Lanka among the top 30 global outsourcing destinations and within the top 9 in APAC for ICT and BPO in 2011. The National Outsourcing Association (NOA) in UK awarded Sri Lanka as the ‘Outsourcing Destination of the Year’ in 2013 and shortlisted for Offshoring Destination of the year Award in 2014 and 2015. The country was also recognized as the center of excellence for Finance and Accounting Outsourcing and ranked at 16th in the A.T. Kearney’s Global Services location Index (GSLI) in 2014.
“Digitization is imminent. There can be no delaying the digital transformation, and as a country, we need to embrace change and keep up with the frantic pace of digitization happening globally,” Sekaram stated. Currently, ICTA together with SLASSCOM is currently working on setting up the right infrastructure for a knowledge-based economy, focusing not only on Colombo but on regional growth as well, especially in Kandy, Jaffna and Galle.
“The main challenge we face now is the need to triple our capacity. We are doing so by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship and build infrastructure that is conducive for growth. SLASSCOM is actively involved in all these areas, spearheading many initiatives in this regard and working towards bringing about inclusive growth through ICT across the island, from the cities to the grassroots.”
“This is why WEDF 2016 will give Sri Lankan participants the opportunity to benchmark themselves against other global giants that cater to the ICT/BPM industry, along with other export sectors. This forum will create a platform on which we can display our unique strengths to the world and be highlighted amongst the other countries, while learning and identifying the areas in which we require further improvement to become a leading ICT/BPM destination in the global marketplace.”
Sekaram also emphasized on how WEDF 2016 will provide local ICT practitioners with excellent networking opportunities to build new partnerships that could result in greater business and knowledge-sharing benefits in the future.
“It’s time we get onboard the fourth industrial revolution that’s taking over the world today and truly improve our competitive advantage in the global sphere, he concluded.