SLASSCOM uplifts ICT, aims for higher ground

Friday, 8 August 2014 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Information Technology (IT) has been visible to some extent in Sri Lanka’s industrial landscape for the past 40 years or so. The field of IT came into existence with the pattern of providing a more efficient approach towards business dealings in particular. Heavy users in Sri Lanka during initial stages used to include bodies such as the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the State Engineering Corporation to name a few. Gradually, the private sector embraced IT as an enabler and through the years, IT steadily evolved. Jayantha De Silva, the President and CEO of IFS Sri Lanka and Chairman for the Sri Lanka Association of Software and Service Companies (SLASSCOM) disclosed the change that this industry had brought forth to the country’s development and infrastructure system. “We need to attribute the success of IT in Sri Lanka to the era of the 1980s, where thereafter, only a limited amount of people with a profound passion for this field actually utilised IT as a business entity. We are in a human capital driven industry and to maintain that standard, talent and competency are crucial attributes for this field,” said Mr. De Silva. ATKearney had ranked Sri Lanka among the top 25 destinations in their global ranking in the last three consecutive rankings whilst Gartner had ranked Sri Lanka at the top of their respective leader boards. “I believe that the Sri Lankan public possess a knack for adaptability and agility towards the work they get engaged in. This put forth with capability in conceptual designing matters a lot in this business entity and it is clear that this is something that subsists within our DNA, in order to carry out such feats,” De Silva added. Education in the field of IT progressively made its way into the country’s edification portfolio, during an informal stage. In order for the masses to be able to embrace the full effect of IT, it was necessary that a formal approach was utilised. “SLASSCOM was the result of the passion that some people harboured in the field of IT and the focal ambition was to uplift the industry into a more formal state. Five years ago, this vision was set and today, we have achieved the target of bringing about a more formal industry towards a more matured stage of uplifting Sri Lankan IT companies towards the level of being stated as globally recognised entities in the field.” Stakeholders in the IT industry need to embrace awareness about the stance this field is taking in order to work towards achieving greater heights. “SLASSCOM cannot achieve targets by itself. Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), being a major government agency for ICT systems implementation in Sri Lanka is one such institution that is working closely with SLASSCOM to achieve this. The field of IT/BPM is a US$ three trillion industry today and this clearly portrays the essence that SLASSCOM is seeking to achieve for Sri Lanka’s IT progression,” De Silva acknowledged. “Talent is our core strength,” he said. “If in terms of price we place a competitive advantage over any other entity out there then Sri Lanka can hold itself out as a preferred destination for the IT/BPM sector. To achieve this, we need to compare ourselves to the competition and we need to find our strength and work on our weaknesses,” De Silva said. SLASSCOM is on the forefront of promoting Sri Lanka as a main destination for aspects such as value addition for instance. De Silva explained that when it comes to the facet of value addition in IT, Sri Lanka can safely disclose that 90% of this entity is covered through process.