Dialog signs BOI deal for BPO operations

Wednesday, 9 March 2011 00:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ringing a new earnings revenue as well as a strategic diversification Dialog Axiata has on Monday effected the first move to roll out its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) venture.

Its fully owned subsidiary Dialog Business Services Ltd., (DBS) on Monday entered into a principal agreement with the Board of Investment to establish and operate an IT-enabled services (ITES) venture serving both domestic and global markets.

DBS’ operations will be seeded through the transfer of the contact centre operations of Dialog and the new venture will be operational by next month.

“Dialog Axiata will actively pursue potential catalyst of growth and competitiveness in the ITES sphere including but not limited to the identification of a world class BPO/ITES player as a joint venture partner in DBS,” Dialog Group CEO and Director Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya said.

Going forward the Dialog Axiata contact centre has the distinction of being the first Sri Lankan facility to receive international BPO industry standard Customer Operations Performance Centre 2000 (COPC) certification.

Wijayasuriya expressed confidence that DBS will grow to be an industry leading and internationally competitive ITES provider operating under the aegis of the BOI.

The Government has identified BPO/ITES as a thrust sector. The Sri Lankan IT and BPO industry is projected to grow by 26% in 2011 with export earnings estimated at US$ 390 million for 2010. Sri Lanka has set a target of US$ 1 billion revenue with employment of 100,000 by 2015 in the IT/ BPO industry.

Dialog Axiata last month confirmed its emphatic turnaround in 2010 by posting Rs. 5 billion net profit from a Rs. 12 billion loss in the previous year in addition to celebrating an equally important milestone of being the first BOI firm to surpass US$ 1 billion investment mark. It also signed a fresh BOI agreement to invest a further $ 150 million.