CIMA BPO Roundtable 2008 concludes

The CIMA BPO Roundtable 2008 was held at the Trans Asia Hotel, Kings Court recently. President of the CIMA Sri Lanka Division Aruna Fernando opened the forum stressing on the importance and interest of CIMA with regards to the BPO industry.

Director of Employer and Strategic Development of CIMA Rick Sturge gave his presentation on the Global Perspective of the BPO Economy. Business Processing Outsourced (BPO) is where an organisation contracts with a third party to provide the required back office services.

Organisations prefer to outsource for many reasons some of which are the changing society and technology, pressure to reduce cost, globalisation of finance, the war for talent, the changing role of the finance professional etc.

The changing role of the finance professional is phenomenal and impacted mainly by technology development, market forces and the society structures. BPO has impacted the financial landscapes in which the accounting profession has undergone radical changes.

Dealing with the issue that organisations outsource due to pressure to reduce costs. Cost factor should not be cut extensively however when outsourcing due to the fact that quality has to be retained no matter what, Sturge stated.

Organizations outsource not only with regards to finance activities but also in the areas of Information Technology and Human Resource (HR).

Financial Accounting however is forming the critical hub of the multi-functional sourcing environment. HR on the other hand is providing to be the hardest back office operation to be outsourced mainly due to the lack of availability of qualified professionals.

The finance BPO providers include a mixture of industries and organisations. The Financial Accounting Offshoring (FAO) market has grown by over 45% since the beginning of 2005.

According to Sturge the biggest and overriding barrier with regards to the BPO industry is finding the right talent and retaining it.

He also emphasised on the need of an adequate talent pool in Sri Lanka in order to meet the demand which can only be done on capitalizing on the resources and talent available in the country.

Managing Director of WNS Global Services Dushan Soza who is a front runner in the BPO operations in Sri Lanka, spoke on the impact of BPO Operations in the Indian economy and its potential for Sri Lanka. India currently has secured a staggering 45% out of the total global market off shored.

According to Soza the key drivers that contribute towards India’s success in the BPO industry is the country’s abundant talent, sustained cost competitiveness rapid growth and more importantly the strategic commitment of the government.

The BPO industry in India has now grown to become the county’s key management tool. All the big players in India are consciously encouraged by the Indian government, are now moving into BPO which is a fast growing industry in India.

Soza said that Sri Lanka is considered as a new kid on the block with regards to the BPO industry which has a good potential of becoming a billion dollar business.

Out of the total number of students sitting for the Advanced Level examination in Sri Lanka only around 16,000 qualify for university entrance, tapping into this unused talent pool and providing them with an alternate education will provide the much required talent force for the BPO industry.

According to Soza, Sri Lanka has a high potential for Finance and Accounting Operations (FAO).

One of the country’s biggest drawbacks however is the high cost of professional education with regards to accountancy, legal and IT and therefore the cost of post Advanced Level education must be lowered, if necessary through funded subsidies or education loan facilities in order to attract higher numbers.

The country therefore needs to aggressively focus on increasing the growth of professional qualifications such as CIMA, CFA etc.