Australia sees Sri Lanka as vibrant IT/BPO destination

A recent ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) initiated business mission 2011 to Australia has proved a great success, says the delegation. This success is articulated by Australia seeing Sri Lanka as a vibrant IT outsourcing destination, the delegation attested.

The mission comprised two components — CeBIT Australia Exhibition and the Bespoke Business events. The exhibition was held at the Sydney Darling Harbour Convention centre from 30 May to 2 June.

The Bespoke Business events were held in Sydney and Melbourne during the same four days plus 3 June.  

ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura delivering his addresses at the Bespoke Business events in Sydney and Melbourne stated in particular the great role the Government plays IT/BPO.

Commenting on these events Dewapura said “ICTA is committed to explore potential markets for the Sri Lankan ICT Industry and promote the growth of revenue so that the USD 1 billion by 2016 is reached as planned.”

Similarly, Virtusa Computer Software Vice President and General Manager Sri Lanka, and Sri Lanka Advanced Technology Centre Head and Global Head of Quality Experience Madu Ratnayake focused on the private sector.

A delegation of 15 Sri Lankan IT/BPO firms participated in this mission.  AKLO Information Technologies (Pvt) Ltd, Bileeta (Pvt) Ltd., Eurocenter DDC Ltd., Fossmart Pvt Ltd., HelloCorp (Pvt) Ltd., hSenid Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd., Informatics (Pvt) Ltd., Microimage (Pvt) Ltd., Navantis INC, OrionCity (Pvt.) Ltd., Sapientia Credit Consortium (Pvt) Ltd., Talliance (Pvt) Ltd., Timex BPO (Pvt) LTD., Virtusa (Pvt.) Ltd.,  and ZILLIONe Systems Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd., constituted the delegation.

The mission to CeBIT comprised eight companies namely, AKLO Information Technolo CeBIT Australia Exhibition  gies (Pvt) Ltd., Bileeta (Pvt) Ltd., hSenid Business Solutions (Pvt) Ltd., Microimage (Pvt) Ltd., Navantis INC, Timex BPO (Pvt) Ltd., and ZILLIONe Systems Solutions (Pvt.) Ltd.

These events maximised the visibility for the Lankan ICT industry in Australia targeting New South Wales and Victoria with two types of events organised by ICTA with a committee of industry representatives. They were Business Networking meetings and Sri Lanka Expatriates’ Networking meetings. These events targeted potential investors, ICT analysts, potential business partners and clients for participating Sri Lankan companies, the Australian media and the Sri Lankan Expatriates community.

 The objective of business networking meetings was to facilitate networking opportunities and one-on-one business meeting for Sri Lankan ICT companies with Australian SME’s and ISV’s who are looking for technology companies.

 Sri Lanka Expatriates’ networking meetings helped facilitate dialogue between Sri Lankans working in senior management positions in IT/BPO companies and other large/medium organisations in Australia and the participating Sri Lankan ICT companies.  This resulted in business opportunities/links.

The primary objectives for forging such links was to create awareness about IT/BPO industry and opportunities in Sri Lanka, to build the Sri Lankan IT/BPO industry brand, to encourage the Sri Lankan expatriates to act as brand ambassadors for the industry and to promote business.  

This includes introductions, market access, outsourcing, joint ventures, captives, venture capital as well as technical collaboration in Australia. Over 40 people attended these events. Orion commented on these networking events as follows: “Great way to create awareness for Business in Sri Lanka and an opportunity to explore a new market.”

 “The Sri Lankan pavilion at CeBIT Australia 2011 enabled us to create visibility and to brand Sri Lanka as an ICT outsourcing destination.  This has resulted in new business for the companies that exhibited” commented ICTA Private Sector Development Programme Head Fayaz Hudah.

Navantis claimed that one of the success factors of this event was the ability to attract the right type of people from the expat community.  Companies that had already established business connections in Australia were given the opportunity of having the right kind of country branding and visibility created during the CeBIT. The exhibitors felt that the country and company branding operation was excellent in terms of promoting Sri Lanka as a vibrant outsourcing destination.

hSenid commented on the event declaring  that “It would bring more credibility to companies when they represent as a country pavilion with the endorsement of the government rather than attending as individual firms”. The Sri Lankan pavilion proved a success in branding Sri Lanka as one of the most attractive countries for IT/BPO and will bring about much benefit to the industry in the near future.

The Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) contributed their share in facilitating the mission. From Australia Consuls General for Sri Lanka in Sydney and Melbourne P. D. Fernando and Bandu Dissanayake respectively played an important role towards the success of the mission.   Valuable support was offered by AusLanka Business Council President Dilkie Perera and her committee.  The main objective of the delegation was to promote Sri Lanka as a lucrative ICT outsourcing destination. The companies that participated in the event were able to reach an audience of key ICT personnel in Australia. This gave them opportunities in lead generation and discovery of new prospective customers among CeBIT visitors.

The Sri Lanka pavilion was organised for the above mentioned companies to exhibit their ICT products and services. The stall consisted of a common branding theme for the purpose of country branding and companies had separate booths within the pavilion for their marketing purposes.